R 400.8125 · R 400.8125 Staff; volunteer; requirements. (1) All staff and volunteers shall provide appropriate care and su ervision of children at all times. 7

On March 16, 2023, program director Monique Cunningham self- reported an incident that occurred at Lutheran Immanuel on March 13, 2023. During late afternoon on March 13, 2023, Child Care Staff Members (CCSM) can be seen taking children back and forth to the bathroom on surveillance footage. At around 4:15pm, CCSM 3 is seen taking Child B to the bathroom. While CCSM 3 is still in the bathroom, CCSM 1 brings Child A to the bathroom but never goes into the bathroom, and then leaves to go back to the gym. CCSM 3 comes out of the bathroom leaving both Child A and Child B alone to retrieve a set of clothing for 2 Child B. CCSM 3 gets the clothing from Child B's Father, who has come to pick Child B up. CCSM 3 re-enters the bathroom and then is seen exiting with Child B. Child B and her father leave the building and CCSM 3 never re-enters the bathroom. Child A is alone and unsupervised. On the video footage, Child A's Mother is seen passing CCSM 3 in the hallway as she is walking toward the gym and CCSM 3 is walking away from the bathroom to a class room. Child A's Mother enters the gym, exits the gym, and heads towards the bathroom. Child A's Mother comes out of the bathroom and goes back to the gym. During this period CCSM 1 was seen leaving the gym with another group of children going to the bathroom passing Child A's Mother. Child A's Mother goes back to the bathroom and this time finds Child A. Ms. Cunningham wrote in the incident report that the video documentation shows that Child A was not left alone in the bathroom for more than a minute between CCSM 3 leaving and CCSM 1 coming in with more children. CCSM 1 was in the bathroom when Child A's Mother went to check the first time. The timeline of events that was documented and provided to Licensing by Ms. Cunningham was not correct. The clocked time on the video was off by more than 10 minutes. Numerous attempts were made to receive and save the video footage. None were successful so the footage is not saved in the file. On March 17, 2023, I interviewed Child A's Mother over the telephone. She stated that on March 13, 2023, she arrived at the center and originally went in Child A's classroom. When she arrived, the room was empty. She removed Child A's things, signed Child A out on the attendance system at 4:19PM, and headed towards the gym. On her way she had passed CCSM 3 in the hallway. Child A's Mother went to the gym. When she entered, she saw three CCSMs (CCSM 2, CCSM 4, and CCSM 5) sitting together on the floor against the wall on one side of the gym. When she asked where Child A was, the CCSMs called out Child A's name with no response. None of them seemed to have any idea where Child A could be nor were any of them making any attempt at first to get up off the floor and look or check with CCSM 1. CCSM 1 said, Child A was in the bathroom with CCSM 3 but Child A's Mother had passed CCSM 3 and she did not have Child A with her in the hallway. She went to the bathroom, called out Child A's name and looked under the stall doors. She did not see Child A. She went back to the gym, and someone again told her that Child A was in the bathroom. This time she found Child A in the last stall. Child A's Mother stated that none of the staff seemed to know what to do when a child could not be found. None of them made any attempt to help her at first. Then they got up and looked around the gym. The gym is an open room. You can see 3 from one side to the other. There was a frustration that the CCSMs did not know right away where Child A was in the building. On the way home that evening Child A told her mother that she yelled out for help, but no one answered. So, Child A knew she was alone in the bathroom. From past experience Child A's Mother knew that the year before, CCSMs had left a child out on the playground alone and new policies and procedures had been implemented. Including increased counts and taking children to the bathroom in groups. On March 20, 2023, I conducted an unannoun

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.

R 400.8125 · R 400.8125 j Staff; volunteer; requirements. (1) All staff and volunteers shall provide appropriate care and supervision of children at all times.

On 11/15/2021, I privately spoke with Child A's Mother who reported that Child A attends the center on a full-time basis, Monday to Friday, from 6:30 AM to 4:15 PM. Child A has been enrolled in the center for one year. Regarding the incident involving Child A, I asked Child A's Mother what information she was provided with from the center. The center informed her that while they were outside additional children were dropped off by their parents so when it was time to go inside, they miss counted. It was another preschool classroom and child care staff member, Trudy Rapier, who found Child A sitting outside by the door. Child A's Mother received the incident report from the center which indicated that the class came in around 10:15 AM. The time on the incident report was 11:10 AM, so she is guessing that Child A was alone and unsupervised for almost one hour. Child A's Mother expressed great frustration and disappointment with the fact that Child A's own regular caregivers did not realize she was missing. Child A's Mother was grateful that the weather was decent for mid-November and was 50 degrees. When Child A was picked up by her father, all she told him was that she was alone at day care and does not fully understand what happened. Child A's Mother took Child A back today and spoke with the program director, Nicole Talerico, about what steps she would like the center to take to make her feel more comfortable for Child A to remain enrolled. Child A's Mother did not voice any previous concerns with her daughter's care at the center. Child A's main caregivers are child care staff members, Katy Chitwood and Christine Allen. Currently, Child A remains enrolled in the center. On 11/15/2021, I privately spoke with child care staff member Katie Chitwood. Ms. Chitwood has worked at the center for the last five years with a typical schedule of 6:15 AM to 1:30 PM. On 11/12/2021, the day of the incident involving Child A, Ms. Chitwood indicated that they took the children outside at 9:40 AM. The child care staff members present were herself, Christine Allen, and Selina Schweihofer. Ms. Chitwood was unsure as to the exact number of children that were present at that time. Ms. Chitwood indicated that she came in with one child at 10:00 AM to change a diaper and did not return outside because the rest of the children, along with Ms. Allen and Ms. Schweihofer were going to be coming back inside around 10:15 AM. It was then Trudy Rapier who went outside with her class and found Child A. Ms. Rapier brough Child A inside to the child care room. Ms. Chitwood described Child A to be "upset" and that she stated she "hates Ms. A." Ms. Chitwood estimated that Child A was outside, alone, and unsupervised for "close to an hour." 3 I asked Ms. Chitwood to explain the center's transition of children policy and procedure. Ms. Chitwood described the following "we take the kids out and play with them and talk with each other." Ms. Chitwood explained that when it is time to come in, the children line up, sometimes they count the children and then go inside, but this time they did not count. When asked who provides the training to child care staff members on the transition policy and procedures, Ms. Chitwood responded "we just do it." Ms. Chitwood confirmed that Child A was present at the center today. On 11/15/2021, I privately spoke with child care staff member, Christine Allen, who was very emotional and upset regarding the incident. She expressed great remorse. Ms. Allen has been working at the center since June 2021 and while she works various shifts, she most typically works 6:15 AM to 1:30 PM. Ms. Allen indicated on the day of the incident involving Child A, she was working alongside child care staff members Katie Chitwood and Selena Schweihofer. She recalls there being nine children present between the three of them when they all went outside around 9:45 AM. While they were outside, Ms. Chitwood came inside to change a child's diaper and then two mo

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.