10A NCAC 09.0901 · Violation

Name of Operation: Levi Early Learning Preschool Facility ID: 16000230 Consultant: JENNIFER GARNER Operation Type: Center Case Number: Visit Date: 1/7/2026 Number Present: 1 Completed Date: 1/7/2026 Age: From 3 To 3 Total Minutes: 120 Time In: 09:40 AM Time Out: 11:40 AM 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 November 17, 2025, and is valid through May 17, 2026. Restrictions on the permit include a first shift capacity of 15 children aged 2 to 6 years old; no children in diapers. According to the North Carolina Secretary of State website today as of 10:11am, your corporation Levi Early Learning LLC is current and active. The information on record with DCDEE was verified as correct by Owner/ Administrator Liz Walker. December 1, 2025, you emailed me to let me know you have not yet enrolled children. December 12, 2025, you emailed informing me that you would be at the facility the week of 12/15 that Mon, Wed, Fri 9:30-12:30, and 12/22 Mon and Tues 9:30-2. December 17, 2025, you verified via email that you would be at the facility today, Monday December 22, 2025. I attempted a visit on December 22, 2025. I arrived at the facility at 9:32am and the facility was closed, the lights were off and the door was locked. I waited in the parking lot until 10:10am. The facility remained closed. Today is the first day children have been enrolled and present. 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. One indoor and one outdoor space is approved for use and were monitored. The space is arranged into activity areas that include dramatic play, fine motor/manipulitives, blocks, art, books, music and sensory. The materials and equipment in each activity area are 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 daily schedule was posted and current. One child was enrolled and present. He was observed painting with watercolors, and pretending to be a police officer arresting people. Ms. Walker was actively engaged in play and encouraged conversation by asking open-ended questions. The posted menu was from October 2025. Lunch being served today spaghetti with meat sauce, mixed vegetables, applesauce and milk. The required food items were observed in the kitchen. The Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids website reflected the following information about your facility’s required three-year water testing, lead paint testing, and asbestos testing: Three-year Water Testing was completed August 17, 2024. The Lead Paint and Asbestos application sections were completed August 4, 2025 and no additional action is required. The following violations were observed today: Violation Number Comment Rule 428 A current activity plan was not posted for each group of children for reference. An activity plan was not posted nor available for review. GS 110-91(12); .0508(a) 526 Menus for all meals and snacks were not current or posted where easily seen by parents and cook. The menu posted was from October 2025 and did not reflect the snacks and meal served today. 10A NCAC 09 .0901(b) Child Care programs are expected to achieve and maintain compliance at all times and are required by NC GS 110-90(4) (d) to achieve and maintain an eighteen-month compliance history score of at least seventy-five percent. Any violations documented may impact the compliance history score. Any violations documented must be corrected immediately. On or before January 16, 2026, I must receive a written, dated, and signed compliance letter that describes accurately and in detail how and when the violations were corrected. Please be aware any information submitted by you is legal documentation. If it is determined the information provided in the letter is not true, this may be considered falsification of information. If sufficient information is not received by the due date, a follow-up visit will be conducted. Mail or email the information to: Jennifer Garner, Child Care Consultant PO Box 2234 Shallotte, NC 28459 910-824-1447 If you email the compliance letter, Jennifer.j.garner@dhhs.nc.gov, it must be sent from the email address registered with the DCDEE (this serves as your signature) and the following information must be included: name, position, facility name, and facility ID number. An example is: Jane Doe, Administrator AAA Child Care ID # 12345678 Technical Assistance regarding violations cited: Activity Plan: You must have a current activity plan that reflects the activities planned throughout the day. You must have at least one activity planned for outside daily. You 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. If you need assistance with creating an activity plan please let me know. Menu: Child Care Rule 10A NCAC 09.0901 requires meals and snacks served to children in a child care center to comply with the meal patterns for children in child care. The USDA approved new CACFP meal patterns effective October 1, 2017. For information about the new meal patterns, including very helpful menu checklists and soon to be posted technical assistance webinars, go to the Nutritionnc.com/snp/meal-patterns.htm page of the Division of Public Health. Nutrition rules require that meals and snacks are planned at least 1 week in advance and menus are posted. I suggest you post and date menus weekly, even if you are rotating them. If an unusual circumstance arises and you must change your plans for what to serve, it must be documented on the menu what was actually served. You must also comply with Meal Patterns for Children in Child Care Programs. I suggest you review these requirements as they were revised October 1, 2017. A link to these meal patterns can be found in Child Care Rule 10A NCAC 09 .0901. Additional Technical Assistance: Staffing: You shared as you have not had a child enrolled until today, your additional caregiver was no longer employed. You may not be the only caregiver present throughout the day. As your stove and refrigerator are in the separate, locked room at the back of the space you are unable to prepare meals and snacks and supervise children. You must have a second staff present for meal preparation and clean-up. As the only caregiver present you are unable to supervise children when you need to take care of your personal care routines. As the administrator, you must perform administrative duties, during operating hours a minimum of 20 hours each week. During those 20 hours, you may not be a classroom caregiver. You stated today that you had a second caregiver scheduled for today, however they did not show up and had not contacted you, nor responded to your text. You will need to have a second, qualified staff present for at least a portion of each day. Children: All your children must be potty trained fully. You have a restriction of “no children in diapers” on your license. This also prevents children in pull-ups as pull-ups are a form of a diaper. Enrollment: Today you shared that if you did not have a minimum of six children enrolled full-time you were considering closing your facility in February 2026. Please keep me abreast of your enrollment and your facility operational status. QRIS: Today, we reviewed the QRIS and the new child care requirements outlined in section .3200 of the rules, which pertain to the 2-5 Star Rated License. We also reviewed pathway options to determine which best fits the needs of your program, staff, and families. Additionally, we discussed your facility’s needs, answered your questions, and worked with you to establish a timeline for the transition to a new rated license. We reviewed the three pathways: Pathway 1 – Program Assessment: You are eligible for this pathway, which allows your program to demonstrate quality through best practices using the Environment Rating scale. This includes completing a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Plan, meeting Family and Community Engagement Standards, implementing a Curriculum for 4 years olds in 4- and 5-Star programs, and Enhanced Staff/Child Ratios. Pathway 2 – Classroom and Instructional Quality: You are eligible for this pathway, which allows your program to demonstrate quality through smaller groups of children, child-focused planning, curriculum implementation, training and coaching for staff, CQI plans, family engagement, and child observations. This pathway requires curriculum to be implemented for all ages served by the program, ensuring quality practices that are developmentally appropriate for each age group. Child-focused planning through observation of individual growth and development is included in this pathway. Training for early educators will emphasize the skills needed to use curriculum and child-focused planning in daily classroom practices. This pathway intentionally combines the most stringent staff/child ratios for centers to ensure successful implementation of classroom and instructional practices. Pathway 3 – Accreditation and Head Start: (Discussed but not applicable for your facility at this time.) There are seven accreditation options in the accreditation and head start pathway. Facilities with an accreditation that leads directly to a Three Star Rated License are able to increase their star rating based on the Division’s evaluation of education standards for staff members. This evaluation will be based on the same education standards we previously discussed. In addition, Head Start and Early Head Start facilities have a direct pathway to a Five Star Rated License. This will recognize the federal quality performance standards already in place for these facilities that are comparable to QRIS standards. Education Standards: Today, we reviewed your information in WORKS. Once additional staff are hired we will again review education and determine each staff’s stars. Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI): Applies to Pathways 1 and 2 The CQI Plan includes the following: Identification of goal(s), Necessary resources, supports and actions needed to accomplish the goal(s). Document the reason for the goal(s), Annual review of efforts toward completion of the goal(s) Individual CQI planning for each staff member that accompanies the Professional Development Plan, Facility CQI Plan that will be completed by the center administrator. Family and Community Engagement: Applies to Pathway 1 and 2- We reviewed all options included in the following Family and Community Engagement Categories: Educational Opportunity, Engagement & Leadership, and Communication. After reviewing information, you stated that you are most interested in pursuing Pathway 2 – Classroom and Instructional Quality. We completed the QRIS Conversation Template, reviewing the available documents and resources, and you’ve identified the areas where you feel you need support. Training: Child care administrators and staff members shall complete health and safety training within one year of employment unless the staff member has completed the training within the year prior to beginning employment. Complete the health and safety training record as found on the DCDEE website. After the first year, staff must complete the health and safety training topics at least once every five years. You can access these trainings for free on DCDEE’s website www.ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov by going to Provider, Professional Training, and DCDEE Moodle. Child care staff are expected to be well informed about child abuse and neglect issues and adequately trained to prevent and recognize potential maltreatment. The child care administrator and all staff members shall complete Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment training within 90 days of employment. Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment training is available at https://www.preventchildabusenc.org. Additionally, staff who are responsible for supervising groups of school-age children (group leaders) shall be at least 18 years of age and have a high school diploma or its equivalent prior to employment and shall complete the BSAC training within three months of becoming employed. Documentation of training must be kept on file for review. Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR): At least one staff must complete the Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training before June 2, 2026. Once the training has been completed the facility will have four (4) months to go online and complete the EPR Plan. Fire drills will continue to be completed monthly and lock down drills or shelter in place drills will be completed within three months. The trained staff shall review the EPR Plan annually or when information in the plan changes to ensure all information is current. All staff shall review the center's EPR Plan during orientation and/or on an annual basis with the trained staff. Documentation of the review shall be maintained on file. The template for the EPR plan can be found at: https://rmp.nc.gov/portal/portal.aspx. On-going Training: It is your responsibility to keep the staff and training worksheets current for the consultant to review during annual compliance visits. Reminder: After the first year of employment, the child care administrator and any staff who work with children shall participate in on-going training activities annually. Refer to child care requirement 09.1103 for the number of required training hours based on education and experience. 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: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.

GS 110-91 · Violation

Name of Operation: Levi Early Learning Preschool Facility ID: 16000230 Consultant: JENNIFER GARNER Operation Type: Center Case Number: Visit Date: 1/7/2026 Number Present: 1 Completed Date: 1/7/2026 Age: From 3 To 3 Total Minutes: 120 Time In: 09:40 AM Time Out: 11:40 AM 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 November 17, 2025, and is valid through May 17, 2026. Restrictions on the permit include a first shift capacity of 15 children aged 2 to 6 years old; no children in diapers. According to the North Carolina Secretary of State website today as of 10:11am, your corporation Levi Early Learning LLC is current and active. The information on record with DCDEE was verified as correct by Owner/ Administrator Liz Walker. December 1, 2025, you emailed me to let me know you have not yet enrolled children. December 12, 2025, you emailed informing me that you would be at the facility the week of 12/15 that Mon, Wed, Fri 9:30-12:30, and 12/22 Mon and Tues 9:30-2. December 17, 2025, you verified via email that you would be at the facility today, Monday December 22, 2025. I attempted a visit on December 22, 2025. I arrived at the facility at 9:32am and the facility was closed, the lights were off and the door was locked. I waited in the parking lot until 10:10am. The facility remained closed. Today is the first day children have been enrolled and present. 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. One indoor and one outdoor space is approved for use and were monitored. The space is arranged into activity areas that include dramatic play, fine motor/manipulitives, blocks, art, books, music and sensory. The materials and equipment in each activity area are 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 daily schedule was posted and current. One child was enrolled and present. He was observed painting with watercolors, and pretending to be a police officer arresting people. Ms. Walker was actively engaged in play and encouraged conversation by asking open-ended questions. The posted menu was from October 2025. Lunch being served today spaghetti with meat sauce, mixed vegetables, applesauce and milk. The required food items were observed in the kitchen. The Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids website reflected the following information about your facility’s required three-year water testing, lead paint testing, and asbestos testing: Three-year Water Testing was completed August 17, 2024. The Lead Paint and Asbestos application sections were completed August 4, 2025 and no additional action is required. The following violations were observed today: Violation Number Comment Rule 428 A current activity plan was not posted for each group of children for reference. An activity plan was not posted nor available for review. GS 110-91(12); .0508(a) 526 Menus for all meals and snacks were not current or posted where easily seen by parents and cook. The menu posted was from October 2025 and did not reflect the snacks and meal served today. 10A NCAC 09 .0901(b) Child Care programs are expected to achieve and maintain compliance at all times and are required by NC GS 110-90(4) (d) to achieve and maintain an eighteen-month compliance history score of at least seventy-five percent. Any violations documented may impact the compliance history score. Any violations documented must be corrected immediately. On or before January 16, 2026, I must receive a written, dated, and signed compliance letter that describes accurately and in detail how and when the violations were corrected. Please be aware any information submitted by you is legal documentation. If it is determined the information provided in the letter is not true, this may be considered falsification of information. If sufficient information is not received by the due date, a follow-up visit will be conducted. Mail or email the information to: Jennifer Garner, Child Care Consultant PO Box 2234 Shallotte, NC 28459 910-824-1447 If you email the compliance letter, Jennifer.j.garner@dhhs.nc.gov, it must be sent from the email address registered with the DCDEE (this serves as your signature) and the following information must be included: name, position, facility name, and facility ID number. An example is: Jane Doe, Administrator AAA Child Care ID # 12345678 Technical Assistance regarding violations cited: Activity Plan: You must have a current activity plan that reflects the activities planned throughout the day. You must have at least one activity planned for outside daily. You 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. If you need assistance with creating an activity plan please let me know. Menu: Child Care Rule 10A NCAC 09.0901 requires meals and snacks served to children in a child care center to comply with the meal patterns for children in child care. The USDA approved new CACFP meal patterns effective October 1, 2017. For information about the new meal patterns, including very helpful menu checklists and soon to be posted technical assistance webinars, go to the Nutritionnc.com/snp/meal-patterns.htm page of the Division of Public Health. Nutrition rules require that meals and snacks are planned at least 1 week in advance and menus are posted. I suggest you post and date menus weekly, even if you are rotating them. If an unusual circumstance arises and you must change your plans for what to serve, it must be documented on the menu what was actually served. You must also comply with Meal Patterns for Children in Child Care Programs. I suggest you review these requirements as they were revised October 1, 2017. A link to these meal patterns can be found in Child Care Rule 10A NCAC 09 .0901. Additional Technical Assistance: Staffing: You shared as you have not had a child enrolled until today, your additional caregiver was no longer employed. You may not be the only caregiver present throughout the day. As your stove and refrigerator are in the separate, locked room at the back of the space you are unable to prepare meals and snacks and supervise children. You must have a second staff present for meal preparation and clean-up. As the only caregiver present you are unable to supervise children when you need to take care of your personal care routines. As the administrator, you must perform administrative duties, during operating hours a minimum of 20 hours each week. During those 20 hours, you may not be a classroom caregiver. You stated today that you had a second caregiver scheduled for today, however they did not show up and had not contacted you, nor responded to your text. You will need to have a second, qualified staff present for at least a portion of each day. Children: All your children must be potty trained fully. You have a restriction of “no children in diapers” on your license. This also prevents children in pull-ups as pull-ups are a form of a diaper. Enrollment: Today you shared that if you did not have a minimum of six children enrolled full-time you were considering closing your facility in February 2026. Please keep me abreast of your enrollment and your facility operational status. QRIS: Today, we reviewed the QRIS and the new child care requirements outlined in section .3200 of the rules, which pertain to the 2-5 Star Rated License. We also reviewed pathway options to determine which best fits the needs of your program, staff, and families. Additionally, we discussed your facility’s needs, answered your questions, and worked with you to establish a timeline for the transition to a new rated license. We reviewed the three pathways: Pathway 1 – Program Assessment: You are eligible for this pathway, which allows your program to demonstrate quality through best practices using the Environment Rating scale. This includes completing a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Plan, meeting Family and Community Engagement Standards, implementing a Curriculum for 4 years olds in 4- and 5-Star programs, and Enhanced Staff/Child Ratios. Pathway 2 – Classroom and Instructional Quality: You are eligible for this pathway, which allows your program to demonstrate quality through smaller groups of children, child-focused planning, curriculum implementation, training and coaching for staff, CQI plans, family engagement, and child observations. This pathway requires curriculum to be implemented for all ages served by the program, ensuring quality practices that are developmentally appropriate for each age group. Child-focused planning through observation of individual growth and development is included in this pathway. Training for early educators will emphasize the skills needed to use curriculum and child-focused planning in daily classroom practices. This pathway intentionally combines the most stringent staff/child ratios for centers to ensure successful implementation of classroom and instructional practices. Pathway 3 – Accreditation and Head Start: (Discussed but not applicable for your facility at this time.) There are seven accreditation options in the accreditation and head start pathway. Facilities with an accreditation that leads directly to a Three Star Rated License are able to increase their star rating based on the Division’s evaluation of education standards for staff members. This evaluation will be based on the same education standards we previously discussed. In addition, Head Start and Early Head Start facilities have a direct pathway to a Five Star Rated License. This will recognize the federal quality performance standards already in place for these facilities that are comparable to QRIS standards. Education Standards: Today, we reviewed your information in WORKS. Once additional staff are hired we will again review education and determine each staff’s stars. Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI): Applies to Pathways 1 and 2 The CQI Plan includes the following: Identification of goal(s), Necessary resources, supports and actions needed to accomplish the goal(s). Document the reason for the goal(s), Annual review of efforts toward completion of the goal(s) Individual CQI planning for each staff member that accompanies the Professional Development Plan, Facility CQI Plan that will be completed by the center administrator. Family and Community Engagement: Applies to Pathway 1 and 2- We reviewed all options included in the following Family and Community Engagement Categories: Educational Opportunity, Engagement & Leadership, and Communication. After reviewing information, you stated that you are most interested in pursuing Pathway 2 – Classroom and Instructional Quality. We completed the QRIS Conversation Template, reviewing the available documents and resources, and you’ve identified the areas where you feel you need support. Training: Child care administrators and staff members shall complete health and safety training within one year of employment unless the staff member has completed the training within the year prior to beginning employment. Complete the health and safety training record as found on the DCDEE website. After the first year, staff must complete the health and safety training topics at least once every five years. You can access these trainings for free on DCDEE’s website www.ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov by going to Provider, Professional Training, and DCDEE Moodle. Child care staff are expected to be well informed about child abuse and neglect issues and adequately trained to prevent and recognize potential maltreatment. The child care administrator and all staff members shall complete Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment training within 90 days of employment. Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment training is available at https://www.preventchildabusenc.org. Additionally, staff who are responsible for supervising groups of school-age children (group leaders) shall be at least 18 years of age and have a high school diploma or its equivalent prior to employment and shall complete the BSAC training within three months of becoming employed. Documentation of training must be kept on file for review. Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR): At least one staff must complete the Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training before June 2, 2026. Once the training has been completed the facility will have four (4) months to go online and complete the EPR Plan. Fire drills will continue to be completed monthly and lock down drills or shelter in place drills will be completed within three months. The trained staff shall review the EPR Plan annually or when information in the plan changes to ensure all information is current. All staff shall review the center's EPR Plan during orientation and/or on an annual basis with the trained staff. Documentation of the review shall be maintained on file. The template for the EPR plan can be found at: https://rmp.nc.gov/portal/portal.aspx. On-going Training: It is your responsibility to keep the staff and training worksheets current for the consultant to review during annual compliance visits. Reminder: After the first year of employment, the child care administrator and any staff who work with children shall participate in on-going training activities annually. Refer to child care requirement 09.1103 for the number of required training hours based on education and experience. 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: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.

NC GS 110-90 · Violation

Name of Operation: Levi Early Learning Preschool Facility ID: 16000230 Consultant: JENNIFER GARNER Operation Type: Center Case Number: Visit Date: 1/7/2026 Number Present: 1 Completed Date: 1/7/2026 Age: From 3 To 3 Total Minutes: 120 Time In: 09:40 AM Time Out: 11:40 AM 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 November 17, 2025, and is valid through May 17, 2026. Restrictions on the permit include a first shift capacity of 15 children aged 2 to 6 years old; no children in diapers. According to the North Carolina Secretary of State website today as of 10:11am, your corporation Levi Early Learning LLC is current and active. The information on record with DCDEE was verified as correct by Owner/ Administrator Liz Walker. December 1, 2025, you emailed me to let me know you have not yet enrolled children. December 12, 2025, you emailed informing me that you would be at the facility the week of 12/15 that Mon, Wed, Fri 9:30-12:30, and 12/22 Mon and Tues 9:30-2. December 17, 2025, you verified via email that you would be at the facility today, Monday December 22, 2025. I attempted a visit on December 22, 2025. I arrived at the facility at 9:32am and the facility was closed, the lights were off and the door was locked. I waited in the parking lot until 10:10am. The facility remained closed. Today is the first day children have been enrolled and present. 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. One indoor and one outdoor space is approved for use and were monitored. The space is arranged into activity areas that include dramatic play, fine motor/manipulitives, blocks, art, books, music and sensory. The materials and equipment in each activity area are 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 daily schedule was posted and current. One child was enrolled and present. He was observed painting with watercolors, and pretending to be a police officer arresting people. Ms. Walker was actively engaged in play and encouraged conversation by asking open-ended questions. The posted menu was from October 2025. Lunch being served today spaghetti with meat sauce, mixed vegetables, applesauce and milk. The required food items were observed in the kitchen. The Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids website reflected the following information about your facility’s required three-year water testing, lead paint testing, and asbestos testing: Three-year Water Testing was completed August 17, 2024. The Lead Paint and Asbestos application sections were completed August 4, 2025 and no additional action is required. The following violations were observed today: Violation Number Comment Rule 428 A current activity plan was not posted for each group of children for reference. An activity plan was not posted nor available for review. GS 110-91(12); .0508(a) 526 Menus for all meals and snacks were not current or posted where easily seen by parents and cook. The menu posted was from October 2025 and did not reflect the snacks and meal served today. 10A NCAC 09 .0901(b) Child Care programs are expected to achieve and maintain compliance at all times and are required by NC GS 110-90(4) (d) to achieve and maintain an eighteen-month compliance history score of at least seventy-five percent. Any violations documented may impact the compliance history score. Any violations documented must be corrected immediately. On or before January 16, 2026, I must receive a written, dated, and signed compliance letter that describes accurately and in detail how and when the violations were corrected. Please be aware any information submitted by you is legal documentation. If it is determined the information provided in the letter is not true, this may be considered falsification of information. If sufficient information is not received by the due date, a follow-up visit will be conducted. Mail or email the information to: Jennifer Garner, Child Care Consultant PO Box 2234 Shallotte, NC 28459 910-824-1447 If you email the compliance letter, Jennifer.j.garner@dhhs.nc.gov, it must be sent from the email address registered with the DCDEE (this serves as your signature) and the following information must be included: name, position, facility name, and facility ID number. An example is: Jane Doe, Administrator AAA Child Care ID # 12345678 Technical Assistance regarding violations cited: Activity Plan: You must have a current activity plan that reflects the activities planned throughout the day. You must have at least one activity planned for outside daily. You 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. If you need assistance with creating an activity plan please let me know. Menu: Child Care Rule 10A NCAC 09.0901 requires meals and snacks served to children in a child care center to comply with the meal patterns for children in child care. The USDA approved new CACFP meal patterns effective October 1, 2017. For information about the new meal patterns, including very helpful menu checklists and soon to be posted technical assistance webinars, go to the Nutritionnc.com/snp/meal-patterns.htm page of the Division of Public Health. Nutrition rules require that meals and snacks are planned at least 1 week in advance and menus are posted. I suggest you post and date menus weekly, even if you are rotating them. If an unusual circumstance arises and you must change your plans for what to serve, it must be documented on the menu what was actually served. You must also comply with Meal Patterns for Children in Child Care Programs. I suggest you review these requirements as they were revised October 1, 2017. A link to these meal patterns can be found in Child Care Rule 10A NCAC 09 .0901. Additional Technical Assistance: Staffing: You shared as you have not had a child enrolled until today, your additional caregiver was no longer employed. You may not be the only caregiver present throughout the day. As your stove and refrigerator are in the separate, locked room at the back of the space you are unable to prepare meals and snacks and supervise children. You must have a second staff present for meal preparation and clean-up. As the only caregiver present you are unable to supervise children when you need to take care of your personal care routines. As the administrator, you must perform administrative duties, during operating hours a minimum of 20 hours each week. During those 20 hours, you may not be a classroom caregiver. You stated today that you had a second caregiver scheduled for today, however they did not show up and had not contacted you, nor responded to your text. You will need to have a second, qualified staff present for at least a portion of each day. Children: All your children must be potty trained fully. You have a restriction of “no children in diapers” on your license. This also prevents children in pull-ups as pull-ups are a form of a diaper. Enrollment: Today you shared that if you did not have a minimum of six children enrolled full-time you were considering closing your facility in February 2026. Please keep me abreast of your enrollment and your facility operational status. QRIS: Today, we reviewed the QRIS and the new child care requirements outlined in section .3200 of the rules, which pertain to the 2-5 Star Rated License. We also reviewed pathway options to determine which best fits the needs of your program, staff, and families. Additionally, we discussed your facility’s needs, answered your questions, and worked with you to establish a timeline for the transition to a new rated license. We reviewed the three pathways: Pathway 1 – Program Assessment: You are eligible for this pathway, which allows your program to demonstrate quality through best practices using the Environment Rating scale. This includes completing a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Plan, meeting Family and Community Engagement Standards, implementing a Curriculum for 4 years olds in 4- and 5-Star programs, and Enhanced Staff/Child Ratios. Pathway 2 – Classroom and Instructional Quality: You are eligible for this pathway, which allows your program to demonstrate quality through smaller groups of children, child-focused planning, curriculum implementation, training and coaching for staff, CQI plans, family engagement, and child observations. This pathway requires curriculum to be implemented for all ages served by the program, ensuring quality practices that are developmentally appropriate for each age group. Child-focused planning through observation of individual growth and development is included in this pathway. Training for early educators will emphasize the skills needed to use curriculum and child-focused planning in daily classroom practices. This pathway intentionally combines the most stringent staff/child ratios for centers to ensure successful implementation of classroom and instructional practices. Pathway 3 – Accreditation and Head Start: (Discussed but not applicable for your facility at this time.) There are seven accreditation options in the accreditation and head start pathway. Facilities with an accreditation that leads directly to a Three Star Rated License are able to increase their star rating based on the Division’s evaluation of education standards for staff members. This evaluation will be based on the same education standards we previously discussed. In addition, Head Start and Early Head Start facilities have a direct pathway to a Five Star Rated License. This will recognize the federal quality performance standards already in place for these facilities that are comparable to QRIS standards. Education Standards: Today, we reviewed your information in WORKS. Once additional staff are hired we will again review education and determine each staff’s stars. Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI): Applies to Pathways 1 and 2 The CQI Plan includes the following: Identification of goal(s), Necessary resources, supports and actions needed to accomplish the goal(s). Document the reason for the goal(s), Annual review of efforts toward completion of the goal(s) Individual CQI planning for each staff member that accompanies the Professional Development Plan, Facility CQI Plan that will be completed by the center administrator. Family and Community Engagement: Applies to Pathway 1 and 2- We reviewed all options included in the following Family and Community Engagement Categories: Educational Opportunity, Engagement & Leadership, and Communication. After reviewing information, you stated that you are most interested in pursuing Pathway 2 – Classroom and Instructional Quality. We completed the QRIS Conversation Template, reviewing the available documents and resources, and you’ve identified the areas where you feel you need support. Training: Child care administrators and staff members shall complete health and safety training within one year of employment unless the staff member has completed the training within the year prior to beginning employment. Complete the health and safety training record as found on the DCDEE website. After the first year, staff must complete the health and safety training topics at least once every five years. You can access these trainings for free on DCDEE’s website www.ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov by going to Provider, Professional Training, and DCDEE Moodle. Child care staff are expected to be well informed about child abuse and neglect issues and adequately trained to prevent and recognize potential maltreatment. The child care administrator and all staff members shall complete Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment training within 90 days of employment. Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment training is available at https://www.preventchildabusenc.org. Additionally, staff who are responsible for supervising groups of school-age children (group leaders) shall be at least 18 years of age and have a high school diploma or its equivalent prior to employment and shall complete the BSAC training within three months of becoming employed. Documentation of training must be kept on file for review. Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR): At least one staff must complete the Emergency Preparedness and Response in Child Care training before June 2, 2026. Once the training has been completed the facility will have four (4) months to go online and complete the EPR Plan. Fire drills will continue to be completed monthly and lock down drills or shelter in place drills will be completed within three months. The trained staff shall review the EPR Plan annually or when information in the plan changes to ensure all information is current. All staff shall review the center's EPR Plan during orientation and/or on an annual basis with the trained staff. Documentation of the review shall be maintained on file. The template for the EPR plan can be found at: https://rmp.nc.gov/portal/portal.aspx. On-going Training: It is your responsibility to keep the staff and training worksheets current for the consultant to review during annual compliance visits. Reminder: After the first year of employment, the child care administrator and any staff who work with children shall participate in on-going training activities annually. Refer to child care requirement 09.1103 for the number of required training hours based on education and experience. 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

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Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.