Rainbow Childcare Center

R 400.8182 · ................ R 400.8182 Ratio and group size requirements. (3) In each room or well-defined space, the maximum group size and ratio of child care staff members to children, including children related to a staff member or the licensee, must be as shown in Table 4: Age Child Care Staff Maximum Group Size member to Child Ratio 12 1 to 4 a)Infants and toddlers, birth until 30 months of age

On 03/09/2021 the complainant stated that the infant classrooms have been frequently out of ratio in February and March 2021. They did not have a specific date because it was weekly. On 03/10/2021 Ms. Weyer stated that over the past few weeks the child care staff members have been calling in and she cannot get help from other centers. Due to Covid-19 , the company is not allowing child care staff to work at different centers. She has hired two new child care staff to address the ratio issues. She has also looked at the arrival times for the children and adjusted the staff schedules. She has posted for jobs on hiring sites, and she has not enrolled additional toddlers which was the classroom that has had the most staffing issues. Ms. Weyer provided the Infant 1 and Infant 2 name- to- face sheets for the weeks of 02/15/2021, 02/22/2021, and two days in March, 03/08/2021 and 03/09/2021. When Ms. Weyer provided the forms, she noticed that several staff had not signed out on the name-to-face sheet. She stated that she has also been in classrooms and did not sign in on the name-to-face sheets. She plans to remind and retrain the staff on the importance of signing in and out. On 04/22/2021 Ms. McParland stated that the center had a shortage of staff and the Infant 1 classroom would be out of ratio during breaktime. She felt this was due to staff calling in and having to be quarantined due to Covid-19. When she was alone with five infants, there was no one for her to call for help. When a few of the children would go down for nap, the staff would take their breaks leaving one person with five or more children. She has noticed that the center is fully staffed in the infant classroom since the middle of March; she did not know the exact date. She stated that she has not been out of ratio since the additional staff have been hired. Ms. Weyer and Ms. Todd would try to come into the classroom when they could, but they had to take the children 3 to the classroom from the door because the parents are not allowed inside the center due to Covid-19. Ms. Santa stated that staff are calling into work and she has worked in the classroom alone with five children on multiple occasions. She was not sure of the dates, but she would always note the number of children on the name-to-face sheets when she was alone with five children. She was working with Ms. Palokaj on several days and they had nine children. She always told Ms. Weyer when they were out of ratio. Ms. Weyer would come into the classroom to see if they needed help, but she would not stay in the classroom because she had to open the door for the children and escort them to their classrooms. She was also making lunch. Ms. Todd has started calling parents and asking if it would be possible to keep their child home. This has helped with the ratio issues. Ms. Palokaj stated that she has been alone in the Infant classroom with five children and with Ms. Santa with nine children. This has happened frequently. They have been out of ratio for a few minutes to a couple of hours. She was not sure of the exact dates. They have been out of ratio when staff call off without notice and there have been staff that have had to quarantine due to Covid-19 exposure or testing positive. Yesterday, 04/21/2021, she was alone with five children for 30 to 40 minutes. She believes that additional staff should be scheduled to start work before 8:30 am. The problem is there are not enough staff hired to work at the center. Ms. Weyer is trying to hire additional staff. Ms. Weyer would stop by to see if they needed help. This week Ms. Todd asked the parents to keep their children home to help with the ratio issues. On 04/20/2021 and 04/21/2021 I reviewed the Infant 1 and Infant 2 name- to- face sheets provided by Ms. Weyer for the weeks of 02/15/2021, 02/22/2021, and two days in March 03/08/2021 and 03/09/2021. The infant classroom ages of the children are birth-18 months; the child care staff member to child ratio is 1

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R 400.8110 · ................ ............... R 400.8110 Applicant; licensee; licensee designee; requirements. .......................... (6) The licensee or licensee designee shall maintain accurate records detailing daily arrival and departure times for each child care staff member, child care aide, and volunteer.

On 03/09/2021 the complainant stated that the toddler classrooms have been frequently out of ratio in February and March 2021. They did not have a specific date because it was weekly. On 03/10/2021 Ms. Weyer stated that over the past few weeks the child care staff members have been calling in and she cannot get help from other centers. Due to Covid-19 the company is not allowing child care staff to work at different centers. She has hired two new child care staff to address the ratio issues. She has looked at the arrival times for the children and adjusted the staff schedules. She has posted for jobs on hiring sites. She has not enrolled additional toddlers which was the classroom that has had the most staffing issues. Ms. Weyer provided the toddler's name- to- face sheets for the weeks of 02/15/2021, 02/22/2021, and two days in March 03/08/2021 and 03/09/2021. When Ms. Weyer provided the forms, she noticed that several staff had not signed out on the name-to- face sheet. She stated that she has also been in classrooms and did not sign in on the name-to-face sheets. She plans to remind and retrain the staff on the importance of signing in and out. Ms. Weyer stated that the Toddler 2A and Toddler 2B classrooms do not have lead caregivers. They left the center in January 2021 and substitute lead caregivers were not assigned. On 04/22/2021 Ms. Koza stated that this morning she and child care staff member Destiny Granger were alone with ten children for 10- 15 minutes between 7:30 am and 8:00 am. The classroom is often out of ratio in the morning before another staff person arrives. Ms. Weyer and Ms. Todd are aware when the class is out of ratio because they bring the children to the classroom. She always lets them know that she is out of ratio when the fifth child arrives, and she is alone, and when the ninth child arrives when someone is working with her. They cannot stay in the classroom to help because they are answering the door and escorting the children to their classrooms. The ratio issue is nothing new; sometimes they receive help and other times they do not. Ms. Todd and Ms. Weyer are not good at communicating when a staff person has called off or an additional child will be attending. Ms. Monte stated that she does not currently work at the center. She thinks that her last day was 03/19/2021. She was in the classroom alone with more than five children on several occasions, mainly during breaktime because there were not enough staff to cover breaks. Ms. Weyer would allow the staff to leave the classroom for break knowing that the classroom would be out of ratio with one staff person alone with five children. Staff would call in and that would be part of the problem with maintaining ratio. She would ask for help when she was alone in the classroom, but she did not receive any help from Ms. Weyer or Ms. Todd. She had no one to go to for help, and because they were ignoring the ratio issue, she quit. Ms. Darga stated there were not enough staff to cover breaks. The center has high staff turnover. Ms. Weyer is still enrolling children without enough staff to cover the number of children that were present. Low wages are the main reason why staff are leaving the center. Staff call in or show up two hours late for work, which is also a problem when it comes to maintaining ratio. Within the last week, the ratio issue has gotten better because Ms. Todd has asked the parents to keep their children home because of the low number of staff working at the center. There are still some days when they have to break themselves, leaving one person in the classroom with five or more children. On 04/20/2021 and 04/21/2021, I reviewed the Toddler 1A, Toddler 1B, Toddler 2A, and Toddler 2B name- to- face sheets provided by Ms. Weyer for the weeks of 02/15/2021, 02/22/2021, and two days in March 03/08/2021 and 03/09/2021. Toddler classroom ages of the children are 18-35 months; the child care staff member to child ratio is 1:4. Toddler 1A On 03

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R 400.8182 · R 400.8182 Ratio and group size requirements. (3) In each room or well-defined space, the maximum group size and ratio of child care staff members to children, including children related to a staff member or the licensee, must be as shown in Table 4: Age Child Care Staff Maximum Group Size member to Child Ratio 12 1 to 4 a)Infants and toddlers, birth until 30 months of age 12

On 03/09/2021 the complainant stated that the preschool classroom has been frequently out of ratio in February and March 2021. They did not have a specific date because it was weekly. On 03/10/2021 Ms. Weyer stated that over the past few weeks the child care staff members have been calling in and she cannot get help from other centers. Due to Covid-19 the company is not allowing child care staff to work at different centers. She has hired two new child care staff to address the ratio issues. She has looked at the arrival times for the children and adjusted the staff schedules. She has posted for jobs on hiring sites. She has not enrolled additional toddlers which was the classroom that has had the most staffing issues. Ms. Weyer provided the preschool name- to- face sheets for the weeks of 02/15/2021, 02/22/2021, and two days in March 03/08/2021 and 03/09/2021. When Ms. Weyer provided the forms, she noticed that several staff had not sign out on the name-to- face sheet. She stated that she has also been in classrooms and did not sign in on the name-to-face sheets. She plans to remind and retrain the staff on the importance of signing in and out. On 04/22/2021 Ms. Bryant stated that she does not currently work at the center; her last day was 04/06/2021. Ms. Bryant was left alone multiple times; she was not sure of the exact dates, but it was weekly. The center did not have enough staff because staff would call off without notice, staff were sick with Covid-19, and they could not 15 find new staff to work at the center because they do not pay the staff that much and they could make more on unemployment. She believes that if the center would pay their staff more they would not quit, and the center could find staff to work and reduce the ratio issues at the center. When she was alone in the classroom, she was told by Ms. Weyer to ask for help if she needed when she would open the classroom door. When she asked for help, Ms. Weyer would not stay in the classroom. Ms. Armstrong stated that she was out of ratio in the preschool classroom because staff would call in and Ms. Weyer would not do anything about the situation. She has never worked at a child care center where the program director would not go into the classroom to help when they were out ratio. When she would come into the classroom, she would leave to make lunch and not return. The preschool classroom has not been out of ratio since last Thursday 04/15/2021. Ms. Todd has been maintaining the ratios at the center. Ms. Todd and Ms. Hall-Elzy stated that Ms. Weyer is currently out on leave. They stated that Ms. Todd started calling parents last Wednesday evening 04/14/2021 to ask them to take days off bringing their children until they have enough staff at the center to cover ratios. Ms. Todd has also stopped enrolling families at the center. She acknowledged that the center did not have enough staff to cover breaks. The problem has improved since last week with the parents keeping their children home. Ms. Hall-Elzy stated that the company has hired a recruiter to help the center to hire additional staff because the center is having difficulty recruiting staff. The problem is no one wants to work at the center when they could work at Walmart or Burger King. On 04/20/2021 and 04/21/2021, I reviewed the preschool (discover preschool, preschool, and preschool classes combined) regular and opening daily logs with name- to- face sheets provided by Ms. Weyer for the weeks of 02/15/2021, 02/22/2021, and two days in March 03/08/2021 and 03/09/2021. Preschool classroom ages of the children are 3-4-year-olds; the child care staff member to child ratio is 1:10. Preschool opening On 02/16/2021 Ms. Bryant signed in at 8:00 am and did not sign out. Kristin Tompor Discovery Lead caregiver signed in at 7:20 am and did not sign out. Name to face sheet has eighteen children signed in. There were eight children's first names listed without their last names. On 02/17/2021 opening Manal Tobia, l

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R 400.8122 · R 400.8122 Lead caregiver; qualifications; responsibilities. .................................................. .............................................................. ............ (2) At least 1 lead caregiver shall be assigned to each group of children in a self-contained or well-defined space and shall be present and providing care in the assigned group in the following manner: 13 (b) At least 6 hours per day for programs operating 6 or more continuous hours.

The center did not have a lead caregiver assigned to the Toddler 2A and Toddler 2B classrooms. Ms. Weyer acknowledged that the lead caregivers left the center in January 2021 and she has not found a replacement.

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R 400.8122 · R 400.8122 Lead caregiver; qualifications; responsibilities. (8) A substitute for a lead caregiver shall be appointed for a lead caregiver who has left employment or has a temporary absence that exceeds 30 consecutive workdays until return or replacement. A substitute lead caregiver shall have 90 days to meet the qualifications of a lead caregiver.

A substitute lead caregiver was not assigned to the Toddler 2A or Toddler 2B when the lead caregivers left the center in January 2021.

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R 400.8110 · R 400.8110 Applicant; licensee; licensee designee; requirements. (6) The licensee or licensee designee shall maintain accurate records detailing daily arrival and departure times for each child care staff member, child care aide, and volunteer.

The licensee designee did not maintain accurate records detailing daily departure times for each child care staff member. They maintained arrival times. Ms. Weyer acknowledged that the staff were not properly signing out on the name-to-face sheets.

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R 400.8143 · R 400.8143 Children's records. (11) A center shall maintain an accurate record of daily attendance at the center that includes each child's first and last name and each child's arrival and departure time. Electronic records may be used. If electronic attendance records are used, then they must be available to the department at the time of an inspection. If the electronic attendance records are not available during an on-site inspection, then the center is in violation of this rule.

The staff did not maintain daily attendance with each child's last name on the name-to-face sheets. This was documented on the name-to-face sheets provided by Ms. Weyer.

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R 400.8182 · R 400.8182 Ratio and group size requirements. (3) In each room or well-defined space, the maximum group size and ratio of child care staff members to children, including children related to a staff member or the licensee, must be as shown in Table 4: Age Child Care Staff Maximum Group Size member to Child Ratio Not applicable 1to10 c)Preschoolers, 3 years of age until 4 years of age 19

According to the name-to-face sheets provided by Ms. Weyer, and acknowledged by Ms. Weyer, Ms. Bryant, Ms. Armstrong, and Ms. Todd. The center did not maintain the required 1:10 child care staff member to child ratio in the preschool classroom on: On 02/22/2021 From 1:00 pm -2:00 pm Ms. Bryant was alone with sixteen children. An additional caregiver was required. On 02/26/2021 From 2:05 pm- 5:35 pm Ms. Armstrong was alone with eighteen children. An additional caregiver was required. From 1:15 pm- 2:15 pm Ms. Bryant was alone with nineteen children. An additional caregiver was required. Discovery Preschool/Preschool/ Prek opening On 03/08/2021 From 7:48 am- 8:26 am Ms. Bryant was alone with nine to seventeen children with eight of the seventeen being preschool age children. An additional caregiver was required.

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R 400.8110 · 1 R 400.8110 Applicant; licensee; licensee designee; requirements. (6) The licensee or licensee designee shall maintain accurate records detailing daily arrival and departure times for each child care staff member, child care aide, and volunteer.

The licensee designee did not maintain accurate records detailing daily departure times for each child care staff member. They maintained arrival times. Ms. Weyer acknowledged that the staff were not properly signing out on the name-to-face sheets.

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R 400.8143 · R 400.8143 Children's records. (11) A center shall maintain an accurate record of daily attendance at the center that includes each child's first and last name and each child's arrival and departure time. Electronic records may be used. If electronic attendance records are used, then they must be available to the department at the time of an inspection. If the electronic attendance records are not available during an on-site inspection, then the center is in violation of this rule.

The staff did not maintain daily attendance with each child's last name on the name-to-face sheets. This was documented on the name-to-face sheets provided by Ms. Weyer.

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R 400.8112 · R 400.8112 Comprehensive background check; fingerprinting. (2) An applicant or licensee shall do all of the following: (e) Within the department's child care background check system, accurately complete and maintain the connection, disconnection, or withdrawn status of each individual associated with the license. 21

The licensee did not connect Ms. Monte to the center in the CCBC system. Ms. Todd stated that Ms. Monte was transferred to the center in December 2020. She was not sure why she was not connected to the center.

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R 400.8112 · ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... I R 400.8112 Comprehensive background check; fingerprinting. (2) An applicant or licensee shall do all of the following: (f) Immediately disconnect each individual from the system once he or she is no longer a licensee, licensee designee, child care staff member, child care aide, or an unsupervised volunteer under the license.

The licensee did not immediately disconnect Ms. Bryant from the CCBC system. Ms. Bryant and Ms. Todd acknowledged her leaving the center in April.

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R 400.8137 · 1 R 400.8137 Diapering; toileting. (1) Except as provided in subrule (2) of this rule, diapering must occur in a designated diapering area that complies with all of the following: (a) Is physically separated from food preparation and food service.

The complainant stated the Toddler 2 classroom is one large room divided into two well defined spaces by bookshelves and is called Toddler 2A and 2B. There is a bathroom in this room that both sides share. There is only one sink in the bathroom and there is no food prep sink in this classroom. This was noted as a repeat violation on the center's renewal inspection report in February 2020. The 2 center's corrective action plan states that new sinks would be installed by 8/31/20. The center has not completed this and the complainant was informed that the staff fill a jug from the bathroom sink, then fill the children's water cups from that jug to work around the no food prep sink issue. The director Sandra Weyer stated she has put in a work order for the sink, but the company has not installed it yet. She followed up with "facilities" in November and the work has still not been completed. She stated the staff should not be filling a jug with water from the bathroom sink. They should be getting the children's drinking water from the center's kitchen. She stated the sink that will be installed will be a plumbed in sink and used for food preparation. I interviewed the Toddler 2A and 2B staff Savannah Darga, Destiny Granger, and Destiny Kelley separately, but they all said essentially the same information. They all stated they fill the children's drink cups up with water right from the bathroom sink that is also used for handwashing after diapering and toileting. They all stated they do not fill a jug with water and use that for drinking water. I gave technical assistance and consultation to all three staff members and the director to not use the bathroom sink for drinking water and to get their drinking water from the center's kitchen food preparation sink or use store bought water jugs or bottles for drinking water until a food prep sink is installed in the classroom. Note: This center is changing from a Rainbow Child Care Center to a Kindercare and an enrollment application has been submitted. A second sink in this room will be required before the new original license is issued.

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R 400.8167 · R 400.8167 Indoor space. ......................................... ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. (1) The required square footage of indoor space per child must be at least the following: (a) Fifty square feet for infants and toddlers.

The complainant stated they believe the Toddler 2 classroom is not licensed for capacity correctly. The Toddler 2 room is one large room divided into two well defined spaces by bookshelves and is called Toddler 2A and 2B. It is licenses for 10 toddlers on each side. The licensing report states each side is 547 square feet, but the complainant believes that is the total square footage for both rooms combined. Therefore, each room, 2A and 2B, are approximately half of that size (273 square feet) and do not have enough square footage (50 square feet per child) required for the number of children currently allowed in the room. The director Ms. Weyer stated the classrooms have been the same for years and no changes have been made. She stated although the Toddler 2A and 2B classrooms are licensed for the capacity of 10 children, they only have 8 children on each side to coincide with ratio requirements. Toddler 2A and 2B have a 1:4 ratio. The original licensing study report and the subsequent addendum reports all say the Toddler 2A side is 547 square feet and the Toddler 2B side is 547 square feet and the capacity of each side is 10 children. I remeasured each side and both the Toddler 2A and 2B sides were 20 ft. x 20 ft. for a total of 400 square feet. This would accommodate 8 children on each side. Ms. Weyer stated this is fine since they never go over 8 children on either side. Note: This center is changing from a Rainbow Child Care Center to a Kindercare and an enrollment application has been submitted. The rooms will be remeasured for the new original license.

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R 400.8182 · R 400.8182 Ratio and group size requirements. (3) In each room or well-defined space, the maximum group size and ratio of child care staff members to children, including children related to a staff member or the licensee, must be as shown in Table 4: Age Child Care Staff Maximum Member to Child Ratio Group Size a) Infants and 1 to 4 12 toddlers, birth until 30 months of age b) Preschoolers, 1 to 8 16 30 months of age until 3 years of age

A second complaint came in as I was investigating the original complaint. This complainant stated in one of the 1:4 classrooms, they had enough 4 staff, but then one staff went on break leaving two staff with 12 children. "Office" staff came to the room and made a second staff member take their break, leaving the third staff member alone with 12 children. When the first staff member came back from break, they asked the third staff member to go on break, but she refused because then the first staff member would be alone with 12 children. An "office" staff member finally came to the room to help and allowed the third staff member to go on break. This is not the first time this has happened. There are plenty of staff to prevent ratio issues, they just are not utilized efficiently. A boy was also taken out of the 1:4 toddler ratio and put in the 1:8 preschool ratio, which put the preschool class out of ratio because there were 10 children with one staff member. The complainant did not leave any contact information, so I was unable to contact them for more information regarding what classrooms, children, and staff members this affected. During the onsite inspection, I did a ratio check in all the infant, toddler, and preschool rooms on the north side of the building. Each room's ratio was as follows: Infant 1 — 4 infants with 1 staff member — the room was in ratio. Infant 2 — 8 infants with 2 staff members — the room was in ratio. Toddler 1A — 4 toddlers with 1 staff member — the room was in ratio. Toddler 1B — 6 toddlers with 1 staff member — all the children were sleeping, and the second staff member was on their break — the room was out of ratio. Toddler 2A — 4 toddlers with 1 staff member — the room was in ratio. Toddler 2B — 8 toddlers with 2 staff members — the room was in ratio. Discovery Preschool — 8 preschoolers (2 -3 year) with 1 staff member — the room 1/2 was in ratio. I interviewed the staff members in these classrooms separately, and the infant and toddler staff members Savannah Darga, Destiny Granger, Destiny Kelley, Heather Black, Emma McParland, and Hailey Worton all stated essentially the same information. They all stated they are sometimes out of ratio, but not very often, and it generally happens at naptime when staff go on break. Once all the children are asleep, one of the staff members will take their break and they rotate their breaks throughout naptime. If a child wakes up, they let the "office" staff know and someone will come and help. They will also move children to different rooms if needed to make sure ratios are covered. The Discovery Preschool (2 -3 years) staff member Kristin Tompor stated her '/2 room is sometimes out of ratio and that it generally happens in the morning, not at 9th naptime. She stated in the morning she will get a child and be out of ratio for one 9th to two hours if no one is able to help. She stated when she gets a child, she lets 5 the "office" know. If they are busy, she will call the Toddler 2 staff to see if they can help.

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