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On April 4, 2024, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that on April 3, 2024, staff member Risha Watson-Mantia, slapped/tapped Child A (2-years-old) on the left wrist with a pair of glasses after Child A had taken them from another student. There were no marks or injuries from the incident. 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)(C)7., which states that: "Physical punishment including, but not limited to, spanking, slapping, shaking, biting, or pulling hair shall be prohibited."
On April 11, 2024, Compliance Inspector (CI) Ian Fyfe conducted an unannounced inspection to Kindercare Learning Center LLC and interviewed staff members Julie Johnson, Sarah Langford, Irisha Watson-Mantia, and Samantha Nelson. All staff members interviewed by CI Fyfe provided consistent information. On April 3, 2024, at approximately 5:30 PM, Ms. Watson-Mantia hit Child A (2-years-old) on the left wrist with a pair of glasses after she saw Child A take the glasses from Child B (3-years-old). Child A became upset after being hit and was comforted by Ms. Langford. Ms. Langford was present in the classroom when the incident occurred and heard the hit while she was putting a new liner in the trashcan. Ms. Nelson sent Ms. Watson-Mantia home for the day after Ms. Langford reported the incident to her. Ms. Watson-Mantia received additional training and a final warning due to the incident. Child A did not appear to have any marks, bruises or injuries following the incident.
On April 18, 2024, CI Fyfe interviewed Parent A (parent of Child A) via phone call. On April 3, 2024, Parent B (parent of Child A) was informed about the incident and was sent home with an accident report. Parent A spoke to Ms. Johnson about the incident via phone call on April 4, 2024, and met with her in-person on April 5, 2024. Parent A did not observe any injuries on Child A following the incident but did not notice a change in behavior in the following days.
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