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On March 15, 2024, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that: On March 14, 2024, a name to face roll call/attendance sheet was not conducted/completed during a transition time which led Susan Schlussel not to know that Child A (age 5-years-old), was missing out of her class. After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Michelle Honea has 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 supervision."
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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 March 20, 2024, CI Honea conducted an unannounced inspection to the facility and interviewed Director Mary Linear, caregivers Susanne Schlussel, Missy Morrison, Samantha "Sam" Collins, and Child A. Director Mary Linear stated that she was not there at the time of incident. She was told that Susanne forgot Child A inside while she was outside with the other children. She was told by Susanne that the door was open the whole time. She conducted an internal investigation in which she spoke with Missy and Susanne. She had both ladies fill out the incident report and statements of what happened. She did not talk to Sam Collins who was the other teacher outside. She did not talk to Child A about the incident. Sam would have had four children and Susanne would have had six. She did call the parents to let them know what happened and to answer any questions they might have. She did write up Susanne for not following the probation protocol of conducting name to face counts.
Susanne Schlussel stated that she lined the children up by the wall outside to do potty breaks. She did not know how many children she had at the time. She did not take them all inside because she was concerned about leaving the outside teacher Sam out of ratio. She does not know how many children Sam had with her. She was letting the children go inside one at a time to the bathroom. She was signing a child out with the parent and apparently Child A must have darted inside around her. She did not know that Child A had went inside. She did not know where Child A went or what Child A was doing. She did not do a name to face head count of the children while they were lined up or once they were back outside. She thinks the door was open during this time. She did not realize there was not another teacher in the rainbow room at this time. She does remember when teacher Missy brought Child A back outside. She did not realize Child A was missing. She did complete a statement and was written up for not following protocol. She is going to try better in the future by being more verbal with the other teachers, stand at the door to watch the children going inside.
Missy Morrison stated that she had finished a PE meeting with a parent and was about to walk into the orange room to gather her stuff to go home when Susanne opened the door. This happened around 5:15 pm. She only saw three children with Susanne at the door but was not sure how many more were outside. She was not asked to help watch the children, so she went into the orange room to get her things. She did not see Child A come inside the rainbow room or go to the bathroom. Child A walked into the orange room where she was at. She asked Child A what he was doing. Child A said, "They left me in the bathroom". She took Child A outside and asked Susanne if she forgot Child A. Susanne said that Child A was outside. She stepped aside and showed Susanne that Child A was with her. Susanne said, "Oh Sorry". She left Child A with the teachers outside. She wrote a note and left it for the director. The next day she wrote an incident report.
Sam Collins stated the following. She was outside with her 2-year-old classroom. She had four, but one child went home so at the time of the incident she only had three children. She believes Susanne had five or six children at the door. She did see a parent come to check out their child. She saw Susanne get the clipboard to sign out the child and the door was closed. She saw Missy bring out Child A. Missy asked Susanne if she had all the children and Susanne said yes. Missy asked Susanne if she was sure, and Susanne said yes. Missy then showed Child A to Susanne who stated, "Oh Sorry".
Child A stated that he remembers the other day. He went to the bathroom. There was no one in the room when he came out of the bathroom. He found Ms. Missy, and she took him outside.
On March 20, 2024, CI Honea reviewed the following documents: Susanne Schlussel's statement which stated that she did not realize Child A got into the building and she did not know where Child A was. CI Honea also reviewed the disciplinary action form (which was for not conducting the name to face), incident report, and the director's statement.
On March 22, 2024, CI Honea reviewed the video footage (approximately six minutes and fifty-eight seconds long) that appeared to be close to pick up time. CI Honea observed that there was not a date or time on the video which was approximately 6 minutes and fifty-eight seconds long. The video shows teacher Susanne Schlussel opening the outside door to let one child inside to use the bathroom while the others are in line by the door. Teacher Susanne Schlussel does not have a clipboard in her hand. The video shows a father picking up his child and teacher Susanne Schlussel does not sign the child out. The video then shows Child A (wearing a long sleeve black shirt) come to stand just inside the open door. The video then shows another child come inside and run down away from the teacher while teacher Susanne Schlussel steps outside with her back to the children inside and did not sign out the second boy that left. The video then shows the two boys (including Child A) walk further inside out of camera view. Child A then comes back to the door. Approximately five minutes and eleven seconds into the video teacher Susanne Schlussel steps completely outside while Child A is in and out of camera view. Finally, Child A is completely out of camera view. Two other fathers come to pick up their children and teacher Susanne Schlussel is completely outside away from the door. Another parent shows up to pick up their child and there is no visible sign of the teacher. Approximately six minutes and twenty-three seconds into the video Child A runs back towards the door and stops looking back when teacher Missy Morrison walks up behind Child A to take him back outside.
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