G.S. 110-91 · Violation

Name of Operation: Rising Stars of Surf City Facility ID: 71000276 Consultant: JENNIFER GARNER Operation Type: Center Case Number: Visit Date: 4/24/2025 Number Present: 31 Completed Date: 4/24/2025 Age: From 1 To 5 Total Minutes: 270 Time In: 09:30 AM Time Out: 02:00 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 for the facility’s first temporary time period visit. The facility’s Temporary License was issued March 31, 2025 and is valid through October 1, 2025. Restrictions on the permit include a first shift capacity of 60 children ages 0 to 12 years old; children under 2 ½ years old in rooms with direct exits only. According to the North Carolina Secretary of State website, your corporation Rising Stars of North Carolina, LLC is current and active. Rising Stars Executive Director LaShanna Williams and facility administrator Mandy Ruth were present and available for consultation. As this is a change of ownership a new building, fire and inspections must be completed prior to the expiration of your Temporary License. Failure to obtain the required approved inspections prior to October 1, 2025, may result in administrative action against your license. I strongly encourage you to request your inspections within the next two months in the event there are any unknown items of non-compliance that must be addressed. The facility had the following items posted/located in a prominent place in the center for parents and available for me to review: the Temporary License, Safe Arrival and Departure Procedure, fire drill log, emergency medical care plan and the Summary of the NC Child Care Law. All approved indoor and outdoor spaces were monitored. Four spaces have been approved and are in use. Daily schedules and activity plans were posted and current. Children in all spaces were observed during free play. Children were drawing, building in blocks, reading and playing with various manipulatives. Materials for toddlers were developmentally appropriate for the children in care to promote the child’s emotional and social development, health and physical development, approaches to play and learning, language development, and communication and cognitive development. Materials were in identifiable grouping such as books, blocks, dolls, pretend play materials, musical toys, sensory toys and fine motor toys. The Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids website reflected the following information about your center’s required three-year water testing, lead paint testing, and asbestos testing: Three-year Water Testing was completed April 23, 2024. The Lead Paint and Asbestos application section has not yet been completed. Violation Number Comment Rule 902 Each child was not attended to in a nurturing and appropriate manner, or in keeping with the child's developmental needs. The caregiver in space 3 grabbed a child's arm and spoke harshly to him in his face. G.S. 110-91(10) One violation was documented today and must be corrected immediately. A compliance letter including detailed information about how all violations have been corrected must be received by May 2, 2025. Include any supporting documentation with your response (if applicable). Your letter will be used as verification that violations have been corrected and compliance is maintained; your written response is considered a legal document so must be accurate and truthful. If you email the compliance letter, it must be sent using the email address registered with DCDEE and include your facility name and ID number. A follow-up visit will be made to verify compliance. If you have any questions, please contact me at 910-824-1447 or jennifer.j.garner@dhhs.nc.gov. Technical assistance regarding violation cited: Child care rules not only prohibit the use of inappropriate discipline but require all children be attended to in a nurturing and appropriate manner. This can only be achieved when staff members recognize and accept age-appropriate behaviors and respond in ways consistent with what is developmentally appropriate for each child. Understanding the stages of children’s development is critical; for example, when a toddler pushes a toy on the floor they may not have skills to verbally express their needs and/or wants. Recognizing this will minimize staff member’s tendencies to become frustrated and use harsh tones with young children who are simply engaging in age-appropriate behaviors. Once you understand that certain challenging behaviors are “typical,” it should allow you to respond in a nurturing and appropriate manner. You must keep your frustration in check by reminding yourself that children are not born knowing how to control and process their emotions; this is learned through caregiver interactions, guidance, and experience over time. Help toddlers navigate their emotions. Recognize and name feelings, then offer guidance on how to manage them. Suggest jumping up and down or visiting the cozy area. Empathize with their feelings and provide acceptable choices to help them feel in control. Comfort them with warm, physical contact, or give them a safe space to work through their negative emotions. RATED LICENSE: Today we discussed the two-component rated license process. As this is a change of ownership you may choose to continue with the points awarded during the last rated license assessment. Under the previous ownership the facility earned 1 quality point for all lead teachers and teachers having more than 5 years of EC work experience in no more than 2 different centers. The facility earned three points in program for meeting minimum requirements, as well as enhanced ratios. The facility earned a 4.07 on the ITERS-R, and a 4.37 on the ECERS-R with an average score of 4.22 across their two assessments. The facility earned one point in education. The facility earned a total of 5 points which is a 2-star license. The facility is planning to apply for a 2-5 star rated license under the new ownership. The DCDEE and the North Carolina Rated License Assessment Project (NCRLAP) are now using ECERS-3, ITERS-3 for environment rating scale assessments. These third editions come with a spiral binding at the top, replacing the current revised editions. Visit the NCRLAP’s website for more information about updated resources, credit hour trainings, and outreach assessment opportunities to help you become familiar with these tools. Education Standards: WORKS is a self-service applicant portal that will be used by an individual applicant to register and maintain their workforce information to support education requirements. The WORKS portal is available online and requires that the user maintain an individual North Carolina Identity Management (NCID) username and password. Only official unopened transcripts will be submitted to the Workforce Education Unit, all other documents will be uploaded by the applicant. All staff need to ensure current education information has been submitted to WORKS and they have requested the appropriate evaluation for their position. Your license will not be delayed due to education information not being processed. It typically takes WORKS 4-6 weeks to complete an evaluation. Your license will not be delayed due to education information not being processed. It typically takes WORKS 4-6 weeks to complete an evaluation. Technical Assistance: Since the change of ownership, you have been working with staff to transition to the Rising Stars way of operating. You are purging toys and materials in poor repair and replacing them. You are currently working on schedules, activity plans and room arrangement. You have reviewed all staff and children’s files and are working with parents obtain missing documents. Staff and children’s files will be reviewed during the next visit. Child Care Rule 10A NCAC 09 .0508 ACTIVITY SCHEDULES AND PLANS states (a) All centers shall have a current schedule and activity plan for each group of children posted for reference by parents and by caregivers. (b) For each group of children in care, the activity plan shall include activities intended to stimulate the following developmental domains, in accordance with North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development, available on the Division's website at http://ncchildcare.nc.gov/providers/pv_foundations.asp: (1) emotional and social development; (2) health and physical development; (3) approaches to play and learning; (4) language development and communication; and (5) cognitive development. Minimum requirements include that four of the five activity areas are offered daily: art and other creative play, children's books, blocks and block building, manipulatives, and family living and dramatic play. The fifth activity area must be offered monthly, as well as weekly opportunities for music, sand/water and science. The materials in an activity area shall be in sufficient quantity to allow at least three children to use the area regardless of whether the children choose the same or different activities. The materials must be available and accessible, that means on the shelfs for children to access independently. Caregivers can guide and encourage children's learning by ensuring that the environment is emotionally appropriate, and invites play, active exploration and movement by children as well as supports an array of experiences. Intentional planning of the environment ensures a safe environment to prevent and reduce injuries and promotes all areas of a child's development. In addition, it helps with classroom management and may reduce challenging behaviors. Trainings: EPR: At least one staff must complete Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training within one year of the effective date of the temporary license. You may contact Region 4 Child Care Resource & Referral for training availability. Maintain documentation of this training. Once the EPR training is completed, you must complete an EPR Plan on a template at the following website https://rmp.nc.gov/portal/portal.aspx within four (4) months. After you complete the Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training, you must conduct either a shelter-in-place or a lockdown drill every three months. Use the Emergency Drill Log to document these additional drills as well as your monthly fire drills. The form is located under the Provider Documents tab on the DCDEE website at www.ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov. Playground Safety: One staff must complete Playground Safety training prior to the expiration of your temporary license on October 1, 2025. You may contact Region 4 Child Care Resource & Referral for training availability. Recognizing and Responding to Child Maltreatment : All staff must complete Recognizing and Responding to Child Maltreatment within 90 days of hire and must complete all required training topics on the staff orientation document which is available on the DCDEE website under provider documents and forms. Health and Safety Training: Health and Safety Trainings must be completed by all staff within one year of employment and every five years thereafter. You can access these trainings for free on DCDEE’s website www.ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov by going to Provider, Professional Training, and DCDEE Moodle. Moodle Support – The Division offers early childhood professionals a wide range of professional development opportunities through our online learning platform Moodle. To get help with Moodle, email DCDEE_Moodle_Support@dhhs.nc.gov or call (919) 814-6326. The Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood-PLUS (MCCYN-PLUS) initiative launched in North Carolina to make it easier for military families to access and afford quality child care from community providers. Licensed child care facilities are now able to participate in MCCYN-PLUS based on their star rating. If you are interested in participating in the military fee assistance program, please visit: https://www.childcareaware.org/feeassistancerespite/feeassistancerespiteproviders/feeassistance/ to review the application process. The DCDEE has a new initiative – Natural Outdoor Learning Initiative. Through this initiative, we hope to increase knowledge and confidence for everyone in developing and implementing best practices to support the creation, programming, and safe use of naturalized outdoor spaces in child care facilities. You can learn more by visiting the NLI website, where you will also find many resources, including an updated Toolkit designed to help you enhance your outdoor learning environment. The downloadable NLI Toolkit is available at: https://naturalearning.org/preschool-outdoor-toolkit Stay up to date with the Division of Child Development and Early Education by visiting www.ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov. This website enables you to view the entire Law and Child Care Requirements for North Carolina as well as download required forms. Click on the “What’s New” tab for important updates impacting child care in North Carolina. 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

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: ratio. Open / not marked corrected.