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On February 27, 2024, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that children at Timothy Lutheran Church: Mother's Day Out have run off and gotten to other parts of the church without teachers realizing. After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Patrick O'Malley has found this allegation to be substantiated based on the following evidence:
5 CSR 25-300.060 (1)(A), which states the following: "Children shall not be left without adult supervision."
On February 29, 2024, CI O'Malley conducted a phone interview with former staff member Bradley Pierce, who stated that on February 15, 2024, Child A (3-years-old) was found alone in the gym by a teacher at the adjoining preschool. This was the only incident of which he was aware. Mr. Pierce denied being present for the incident himself.
On March 4, 2024, CI O'Malley conducted an unannounced inspection of the facility and conducted interviews with lead teacher Jenna Taylor and teacher Jacinda Nunnally. Ms. Taylor stated that on February 9, 2024, Child A left their classroom unnoticed. Child A was discovered in the facility's gym, one floor above Child A's classroom, after an unknown amount of time by a member of the church. Child A was taken to Ms. Taylor's office and then returned to their classroom. Child A did not have any injuries and was not upset by the incident. The facility did not have cameras. Parent A (parent of Child A) was not informed of the incident.
Ms. Nunnally stated that Child A must have left the classroom unobserved while she was attending to another child. Ms. Nunnally was not aware that Child A was gone until they were returned by Ms. Taylor. Ms. Nunnally was not sure how long Child A was gone.
On March 11 and 12, 2024, CI O'Malley attempted to contact Parent A, leaving voicemails on both occasions.
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