| Conclusion Summary |
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On April 26, 2023, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that The Elegant Child Campus is not providing children with enough food to eat. Five year old children are being served the same amount of food as two year old children. After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Ian Fyfe has found this allegation to be substantiated based on the following evidence:
5 CSR 25-500.202(1)(A)., which states the following: "The provider shall supply and serve nourishing food according to the Meal and Snack Food Chart provided in this rule."
AND
CSR 25-500.202(1)(G)., which states the following: "The acceptable food components and serving sizes for meals and snacks are outlined in the following chart for each age group. Menus and amounts served shall be based on this chart."
AND
5 CSR 25-500.202(1)(D)., which states the following: "Snacks of fruit juice, raw fruit or vegetable, milk, crackers, cheese, peanut butter or similar nutritious food shall be served."
AND
5 CSR 25-500.202(1)(E)., which states the following: "One (1) serving of fluid milk shall be served with each meal."
On May 9, 2023, Compliance Inspector (CI) Ian Fyfe interviewed Lauren Racer. According to Ms. Racer, the facility can no longer provide the appropriate serving amount to the children due to budget cuts. These concerns are occurring at all age groups between the toddler-age group and the 6-year-old group. All of the children between these age groups are being provided the same amount of food.
On May 10, 2023, Compliance Inspector (CI) Ian Fyfe conducted an unannounced inspection to The Elegant Child Campus and conducted a walkthrough of each classroom being used for childcare. During CI Fyfe's walkthrough of the facility, CI Fyfe observed three classrooms not serving milk to the children during the facility's lunchtime. Two of the three classrooms did not have any milk present while the third had milk in the room, but not enough for all of the children present in the room. CI Fyfe observed the facility to be serving chicken, rice, and oranges for lunch in all classrooms. All serving sizes appeared to be the same across all age groups between 14-months-old and 6-years-old despite Ms. Knoke, Ms. Simpson, and Ms. Lindsay all stating that they are aware that children of different age groups are supposed to get different serving sizes.
While present at the facility, CI Fyfe interviewed Director Julie Knoke, Cook Lindsay Wosmansky, Cook Tessa Simpson, staff member Gabriella Fratini, staff member Claire Harter, staff member Linda Korhanner, staff member Jennifer Becker, and staff member Hannah Nevills. Five of the eight staff members interviewed by CI Fyfe had concerns that the children at the facility are not getting enough food to eat. Ms. Wosmansky, Ms. Harter, and Ms. Simpson expressed concerns to CI Fyfe that staff members in other classrooms are purposefully not serving milk, juice, or entire meals that are deemed too messy to the children. Ms. Fratini, Ms. Becker, and Ms. Nevills all informed CI Fyfe that they do not serve milk to the children during their meals as well. All staff members interviewed stated that they had the same morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack on the day of CI Fyfe's inspection. The morning snack was only yogurt while the afternoon snack was only apple slices. Staff members interviewed by CI Fyfe disclosed that the morning and afternoon snack are typically just one food item and that the snacks do not typically meet the licensing guidelines. None of the staff members interviewed by CI Fyfe had knowledge regarding how much food the children in their class should be getting despite the staff members being the ones to portion out the food.
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