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On September 1, 2023, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that on August 29, 2023, at approximately 11:40 AM, a 5-year-old child was eating lunch on the floor of a 1-year-old classroom, containing four 1-year-olds and one staff member. After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Ian Fyfe has found this allegation to be substantiated based on the following evidence:
5 CSR 25-500.132(5)(B), which states that: "The infant/toddler unit shall not care for children older than two (2) years unless the total number of children in attendance at the time is four (4) or fewer."
AND
5 CSR 25-500.112(1)(A), which states that: "Birth Through Two (2) Years. Groups composed of mixed ages through two (2) years shall have no less than one (1) adult to four (4) children, with no more than eight (8) children in a group;"
On September 12, 2023, Compliance Inspector (CI) Ian Fyfe conducted an unannounced inspection to La Petite Academy, Inc. and interviewed Director Jill Buzzell, Assistant Director Rae Andrews, Preschool Caregiver Hailey Valentine, and Toddler Caregiver Selia Kaleach. Ms. Buzzell, Ms. Valentine, and Ms. Kaleach were all familiar with the reported concerns. On August 29, 2023, Child A (5-years-old) was placed in Ms. Kaleach's toddler classroom to help calm down after becoming overwhelmed in Ms. Valentine's preschool classroom. Child A was in the toddler classroom for two to five minutes, and then returned to Ms. Valentine's classroom. There were four toddler-aged children present in the classroom when Child A was in the room. CI Fyfe observed all classrooms to have their appropriate age groups while present at the facility.
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