• Violation

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

  On 09/27/2022 I conducted an unannounced onsite inspection to The Eagle Zone child care center. I interviewed program director, Andrea Blodgett. The two preschool classrooms were finishing up lunch in one room and setting up for nap in the other room. Ms. Blodgett was working in one of the classrooms, so I asked her to email me child information cards and attendance during naptime, which she did email to me this same day. Ms. Blodgett reported that since the incident occurred, they are now only allowing one child at a time to use the bathroom to avoid an incident like this happening again. Prior to this, the children were allowed to use the bathroom freely when they needed to. She indicated the child care staff working the afternoon of the day of the incident were Sandy Morris, and Dean Morris, and that there is also another child care staff member, Melissa Bailey, but she had worked that morning and was not present that afternoon. Ms. Blodgett reported that there approximately 75 children enrolled in the Eagle Zone program, and usually 30-36 children attending the afterschool program. On 11/02/2022 I spoke with Child A, Child B, Child C, and Child D's Mothers. I left a voice mail for Child E's Mother. I did receive a return phone call from Child E's Mother during this investigation. Child A's Mother did have concerns with the care and supervision at the center after this incident occurred with Child A and another child. She dis-enrolled Child A from the center because she could not trust that her child would be adequately supervised. Child A told her that he and another child had went inside to the bathroom together and that this child whispered in his ear asking for a kiss. Child A gave him a kiss. The other child then went into a private stall and came out with his pants down. Child A and the other child "mushed butts together." Child A is one of the youngest children in the program, so Child A's Mother was very concerned that he was allowed in the school building without an accompanying staff member as there could be other people in the bathroom/building, or Child A could have wandered off from the bathroom and had access to the whole school building, or even exited the building as the doors are not locked from the inside. Child B's Mother did have concerns with care and supervision at the center. She reported that children are sent inside from the playground to the bathroom with no child care staff and no one is checking on them. She indicated more than one child is being sent inside together, which is also concerning because things like child-on- child touching happen, or children are messing around and someone gets injured, etc. The children could also easily leave the building out of another exit as the doors 3 are not locked from inside and the children have access to the whole building unattended. Child C and Child D's Mother did have concerns with the care and supervision at the center in regard to allowing the children to go inside unattended to use the bathroom as that gives the children access to the whole building without supervision but did not have concerns with care and supervision in other respects. On this same day I spoke with child care staff, Ms. Bailey, Ms. Morris, and Mr. Morris. Ms. Bailey was not working the afternoon when the incident occurred but did hear about it from others. Ms. Bailey reported that the children were allowed to freely use the bathroom when needed but after this incident they implemented protocol that only one child is allowed to use the bathroom at a time. If they are inside there are bathrooms right near the Eagle Zone room/cafeteria. Children must ask to use the bathroom. Staff communicate to each other which child has left the room to use the bathroom and then they watch for them to come back. Once the child has returned the staff communicate with each other that the child has returned. If a child fails to return in a timely manner, one of the staff will go check on the child

Appropriate care and supervision did not occur when two children were allowed inside the building from outside to go to the bathroom without an adult accompanying them inside. During this time unsupervised, Child A and Child B kissed and "mushed butts together."

Disposition: Substantiated