Creative Academy School Age Program

10A NCAC 09 .0901 · Violation

Name of Operation: Creative Academy School Age Program Facility ID: 96000653 Consultant: BECKY JACKSON Operation Type: Center Case Number: Visit Date: 10/1/2025 Number Present: 16 Completed Date: 10/1/2025 Age: From 5 To 9 Total Minutes: 135 Time In: 02:30 PM Time Out: 04:45 PM Time In: Time Out: List to Use: Center Type Of Visit: Temp Time Period Announced/Unannounced: Unannounced The purpose of today's unannounced visit was to monitor compliance with applicable child care requirements. This is the facility’s first temporary time period visit. The facility’s Temporary License was issued August 15, 2025 and is valid through February 15, 2026. Restrictions on the permit include a first shift capacity of 32 children ages 0 to 12 years old, no cooking allowed, and school age children only. When I arrived, no one was present. The sign on the door stated they were transporting children to the facility. I waited in the parking lot for their arrival. One van arrived being driven by W. Lomanaco, Co-Administrator. The second van arrived shortly thereafter. B. King, Co-Administrator arrived during the visit. Currently all children are enrolled in Space #1, and to use spaces #2-4 as activity areas of the main group. Separate groups are not enrolled in these spaces. After arrival, the children were observed , conducting personal care routines, eating snack, working on homework and creating an art project and playing outdoors. Children were observed arriving and departing during the visit. The snack served today consisted of crackers and raisins. According to the North Carolina Secretary of State website, your corporation Skill Creations, Inc. is current and active. Your last fire drill was completed September 29, 2025 at 4:30pm. The log reflected it took fifty-five seconds to evacuate 15 children and 2 adults. A shelter-in-place drill was conducted on July 21, 2025 at 3:11pm. The last outdoor inspection was completed September 11, 2025. The most recent sanitation inspection was conducted on August 12, 2025 with a Superior classification and 0 demerits. The most recent fire inspection was conducted June 4, 2025. I monitored your classroom environments, outdoor playgrounds, a sampling of staff and children's records and required center records. I used the North Carolina Child Care Requirements and Compliance Listing as basic monitoring tools during the visit. Your classrooms have a variety of developmentally appropriate learning materials and equipment. The license was posted along with the NC Summary of the Law and safe arrival and departure procedures. The emergency medical care plan and emergency telephone numbers were also posted. Activity plans and daily schedules were posted. Three children’s records and three staff files were reviewed today. Using a checklist helps verify information on file and easily identifies missing information. The following violations of child care requirements were observed today: Violation Number Comment Rule 319 Staff/child ratios applicable to a classroom, were not posted in each classroom. The staff/child ratio document posted had not been filled in with information applicable to that classroom. .0713(a)(10), (c) & (f)(3); .2818(e) 526 Menus for all meals and snacks were not current or posted where easily seen by parents and cook. The menu posted was not current. A snack menu for September was posted. 10A NCAC 09 .0901(b) 1314 Emergency information did not name child's health care professional. For one child's file reviewed the emergency information did not list either a doctor or hospital preference. For a second child's file a hospital preference was not listed. .0802(c)(2) All violations must be corrected immediately. Please send me a compliance letter (written statement) describing how and when the above violations were corrected. The compliance letter must be received no later than October 15, 2025. The compliance letter should be sent to me via email, from the email address on file with the Division as the center’s official email address. Contact me if you have questions regarding correction of the violations documented during today’s visit. If you are unable to correct all violations within the specified timeframe, send a compliance letter regarding violations that were corrected and a specific plan to correct the remaining violations. An extension will need to be requested from management. The information required in a compliance letter was reviewed. You should list the item number, specifically stating that the violation has been corrected, explaining when it was corrected, and how it was corrected. You should also explain that you understand the rule regarding the violation. You are also encouraged to state how you will prevent noncompliance in the future. Compliance is not considered finalized until all violations have been corrected. Therefore, if the compliance letter says an item will be corrected, it should be followed-up with another letter once it actually has been corrected. As an example, compliance verification such as “Mulch will be delivered on Tuesday” is not considered corrected until it is followed up with a letter stating something like “The mulch was delivered on Tuesday, September 5, 2024, and now measures nine inches in the full fall zone.” Please let me know if you have any questions regarding how to complete a compliance letter. If you will be unable to correct all violations within the allowed timeframe, you should request an extension. I also observed today that an Emergency Preparedness and Response plan has been created for this program in the Emergency Management Portal. The plan was developed on September 29, 2025. This plan was observed today. I reminded you to review the plan with all current staff and have them sign that this review has occurred. For any new staff, this plan should be reviewed during orientation. I also reminded you that the Ready-to-Go File should also be available for review during monitoring visits. The created plan should be reviewed at least once per year, or as changes occur. We discussed that the final page of the plan lists all reviews in the Emergency Management System. You should print at least this page to document the review. The plan must also be reviewed with staff at least annually, with the review being documented and signed by the staff member. Technical Assistance and Consultation: The following items were discussed during today' visit. You may want to consider them in order to avoid potential violations or improve the quality of your program. Visual supervision is required of all children at all times. A plan should be in place for children who are in the restroom area, putting away bookbags, and who return to the classroom after washing hands to ensure staff maintain visual supervision. Also, when the separate activity area classrooms are used, a plan must be in place to ensure a staff member remains in those areas when they are occupied, and the main group remains supervised as well. I did not observe lapses in supervision today, however none of the activity area rooms were used during the visit. We discussed the items that must be included in the staff medical files. The staff members health assessment (physical), TB test, and health questionnaire must be in these files. The emergency information form must be in the regular personnel file. The documentation of review for both the Emergency Medical Care Plan and the Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans must be clear in which plan was reviewed. The current sign off document stated the Children’s Emergency Medical Care Plan was reviewed. All staff files must be on-site, including both Administrators. Care should be taken to ensure they are updated as training, new forms, and policy reviews are conducted. The schedule posted must reflect both part day programming as well as full day programming. If you have early release days that neither of those schedules accurately reflects, then a third schedule may be needed. All outlets must be in use or covered before children arrive for the care. A plan should be in place where the staff check all areas to ensure safety and health requirements are met before the children arrive. The staff were observed plugging in lamps and other electronic devices into uncovered outlets after the children’s arrival today. The outlets observed were in one of the special activity area rooms that was not used during the visit. We discussed that when staff prepare snacks before the children’s arrival they should check for the health and safety requirements. You should ensure that all experience and education is clearly documented in the staff files. Experience should be documented on the application or attached resume. Education should be documented with WORKS status letters or copies of certificates. I reminded you that this documentation will be essential for future rated license assessments. When new staff are hired, they may bring in Health and Safety training they have completed within the last year only. Trainings that were completed more than a year before hire are not accepted. New staff have 90 days to complete Recognizing and Responding to Suspicion of Child Maltreatment and CPR/First Aid certifications. They must complete the remainder of the Health and Safety trainings within one year of employment. RATED LICENSE: We discussed that at the end of the temporary time period, you have the option to apply for a Two through Five star rated license. I reminded you today that our Rated License system, or QRIS, has been modernized, and new system will apply to your facility. I encouraged you to review the pathways information on the QRIS modernization section of our website. I provided you with the summary pages for Pathways One and Two during today’s visit. We discussed that Pathway Three is available, however it is difficult to become accredited during the Temporary Time Period. I encouraged you to begin to determine which pathway will be requested so that time is available to conduct any self-study or assessments required, or to implement any curriculum, observations, formative assessments, or to complete any additional training or mentoring needed. I also provided you with information from the North Carolina Raed License Assessment Project regarding the self-study and assessment processes. Your temporary license cannot expire, and the process cannot be held awaiting the results of ERS assessments or education evaluations. I also encouraged you to ensure all staff have requested evaluations for their positions using the WORKS system and that their current status letter is on file. I reminded you that only information in the WORKS system at the time of processing will be used to determine the staff education level achieved. The application form can be found in the provider documents section of our website. The Importance of Providing Quality Child Care Providing quality child care is essential for children. There is ample research demonstrating that high-quality child-care experiences have many benefits to children and society and that quality child care is linked to children’s improved school performance. 1. The Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers Study and a follow-up study done several years later found that quality child care is primarily related to higher staff/child ratios, administrators’ prior experience, wages, higher staff education levels and staff members’ continued participation in formal and specialized training. This study found that children attending higher quality centers scored better in math and language skills, had more positive interactions with peers, and had fewer behavior problems. 2. The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study followed children from their preschool years through age 40 and found that high-quality preschool programs significantly increased children’s future contributions through increased intellectual and social development, school success, economic performance, and reduced commission of crimes in adulthood. One of the most quoted results of this study is that for every dollar invested in children’s early care and education there is a $17 return to society in terms of crime and education savings, increased taxes collected, and welfare savings. There are many other studies including the Abecedarian Project, the Arnett Caregiver Interaction Study, and the NC Rated License Assessment Project. What the research tells us, in a nutshell, is that high quality child care has a positive impact on children’s later school success. The key to quality experiences for children is interaction with and stimulation from educated, trained teachers. The neuroscience associated with brain research is complicated, but its lesson is simple: babies' brains develop at astonishing rates in the first few years after birth. Young children have a tremendous capacity to learn from the moment they are born, but optimal development hinges on the experiences provided for them by the adults who take care of them. Child Care Rules were revised July 1, 2025, and a new rule book was posted to the DCDEE website. You should discard any old versions of the rules and ensure you are referring to the most current rule book when reviewing or researching requirements. A follow up visit may be conducted in the near future to verify compliance with violations documented during the visit. Please contact me at (910) 824-0123 or at becky.jackson@dhhs.nc.gov if I can be of assistance. If the operator fails to correct any documented violations within the established time period, the Division of Child Development and Early Education may deny, suspend, terminate, or revoke any permit to operate (10A NCAC 09 .2000). All information in this report has been reviewed with me today.I understand that it is my responsibility to maintaincompliance with applicable NC Child Care Requirements at all times