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On March 15, 2024, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that on March 14, 2024, while classes were sheltering in place due to tornado sirens going off, a 10-month-old infant was left in a classroom alone for ten to fifteen minutes. The Director found the child while doing a walkthrough and brought the situation to other staff members' attention. After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Ian Fyfe has found this allegation to be substantiated based on the following evidence:
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(A)3., which states that: "Caregivers shall provide frequent, direct contact so children are not left unobserved on the premises."
AND
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(A)1., which states that: "Caregivers shall not leave any child without competent supervision."
AND
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(D)1., which states that: "Infants and toddlers shall have constant care and supervision. Home monitors or commercial devices marketed to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) shall not be used in place of supervision while children are napping or sleeping."
AND
5 CSR 25-500.087(2)(F), which states that: "Child care staff shall conduct at least one (1) fire drill each month and a disaster drill at least every three (3) months. The disaster drills shall include tornado drills. The provider shall maintain a written record at the facility of the date, type of drill, time required to evacuate the building, and number of children present during the drill."
On March 18, 2024, Compliance Inspector (CI) Ian Fyfe conducted an unannounced inspection to the YMCA - Edwards Jones Branch - Early Childhood Education Center and interviewed staff members Allison Holzrichter, Traci McCune, and Theresa Corcoran. On March 14, 2024, at approximately 4:15 PM. Ms. Holzrichter instructed all classrooms at the facility to shelter-in-place after tornado sirens began to sound in the facility's area. As Ms. Holzrichter was conducting a walkthrough of the facility to ensure that all classrooms were evacuated properly, she found Child A (10-months-old) alone in the Poppy classroom. Staff members Campbell Felix and Minakkshi Goel were the staff members that were supposed to be caring for Child A at that time in the Tulip classroom. While Ms. Felix and Ms. Campbell were gathering other children in the classroom, Child A had crawled away from the Tulip room and crawled into the Poppy room. According to Ms. McCune, Ms. Felix and Ms. Goel failed to conduct a name-to-face count of the children with their class before sheltering in place. If the two staff members had done so, then they would have known that Child A had crawled away. The facility took shelter until approximately 4:45 PM and Parent A and Parent B (parents of Child A) arrived to pick up Child A at 5:15 PM. Parent A and Parent B were not notified of the incident when they came to pick Child A up but were instead later notified at 6:30 PM with a phone call. Though Parent A and Parent B were upset, Child A is still attending the facility at this time and was present during CI Fyfe's inspection. The facility plans on addressing this incident by conducting tornado drills more frequently and discussing the facility's emergency action plans during an upcoming staff meeting. Upon reviewing the facility's fire and tornado drill record, CI Fyfe observed that the facility had not conducted a tornado drill since July 26, 2023. Additionally, the facility has not conducted a fire drill since August 11, 2023. CI Fyfe obtained video footage of the reported concerns.
On March 21, 2024, CI Fyfe interviewed Parent A (parent of Child A) via phone call. On March 14, 2024, at approximately 7 PM, Parent A received a phone call from the facility's director and was told that Child A was left alone for about ten minutes during a tornado drill earlier in the day. Parent A was not previously notified of this incident. Child A was kept home from the facility on March 15, 2024, while he and Parent B (parent of Child A) met with facility staff. At the meeting with facility staff members, he was told that Child A had crawled into another classroom when his caregivers were gathering the rest of the children to shelter in place. When Parent A asked facility staff members how often they conduct tornado drills at the facility, he was told that the last time that a tornado drill was conducted was in 2023.
On March 22, 2024, CI Fyfe interviewed staff member Megha Goel via phone call. On the day of the reported concerns, she was working in the preschool classroom but was moved to Child A's classroom towards the end of the day. Tornado sirens began to sound shortly after she was moved. When the sirens began to sound, she was working on changing a child's diaper and was told to take that child to the bathroom to shelter in place. The group that she was with sheltered in place for about ten to fifteen minutes before Ms. Holzrichter brought Child A to them. Ms. Holzrichter told the group that Child A was left by himself in the other classroom. She was suspended the following day because of the incident and has not returned to work since.
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