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On April 18, 2023, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that: Facility self-reported that Child A, age 3, was left outside alone on the playground today, 04/18/23 for approximately 19 minutes. After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Michelle Honea and Compliance Inspector Supervisor (CIS) Marla Chrisco have found this allegation to be substantiated based on the following evidence:
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(A)1: which states, "Caregivers shall not leave any child without competent adult supervision."
AND
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(A)3: which states, "Caregivers shall provide frequent, direct contact so children are not left unobserved on the premises."
On April 19, 2023, CI Honea and CIS Chrisco conducted an unannounced inspection to the facility and interviewed director Diane Coleman, assistant director Janelle Coleman, and assistant director Hannah Crull-Sher. Director Diane Coleman and assistant director Janelle Coleman have put steps in place such as training, better name to face, and a new rollcall sheet that requires staff to check children every 30 minutes. Parent A was notified immediately and continues to take Child A to the facility without concerns that Child A will be harmed.
On April 25, 2023, CI Honea conducted interviews with teacher Christopher Nichols and teacher Kennedy Abernathy. Both teachers stated that name to face checks were not completed and neither teacher realized that an extra child was placed in the classroom so they thought they had everyone. Both teachers stated they did not realize that Child A was left outside. Teacher Kennedy Abernathy realized Child A was not in the room during diaper changing and Christopher found Child A outside alone at 12:38pm. Christopher stated that was approximately 20 or 25 minutes after they had come back inside with the class, without Child A.
On April 25, 2023, CI Honea reviewed the classroom video that shows the class went outside at 11:25 a.m. Staff Christopher Nichols then comes back inside and assistant director Hannah Crull-Sher is seen dropping off one child to him in the classroom. Staff Kennedy Abernathy is then seen coming back into the classroom with the children from outside at 12:19 p.m. CI Honea observed fifteen children inside the classroom on the video footage and Child A was not one of them. CI Honea also observed that neither Christopher nor Kennedy conducted a head count or name to face count of the children once inside. Child A was found outside at 12:38 p.m. which left Child A outside alone for approximately nineteen minutes. There is no video footage of the outside playground.
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