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On Thursday, September 5, 2024, female teacher grabbed Child A, 5-year-old male, by the face, slammed him against the wall, and screamed at him saying, "Shut the fuck up." Other children in the classroom were scared and screaming. After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Christy Hughes and Compliance Inspection Supervisor (CI) Marla Chrisco found that the caregiver did not tell Child A to "shut the fuck up", slam him against the wall and other children in the classroom were not screaming and crying. However, the caregiver did roughly grab Child A several times and place him roughly on the floor and get in his face and grab his wrist. Therefore, these allegations are substantiated based on the following information:
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)3., which states: "Only constructive, age-appropriate methods of discipline shall be used to help children develop self-control and assume responsibility for their own actions."
AND
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)8., which states: "No discipline technique which is humiliating, threatening, or frightening to children shall be used. Children shall not be shamed, ridiculed, or spoken to harshly, abusively, or with profanity."
AND
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)7., which states: "Physical punishment including, but not limited to, spanking, slapping, shaking, biting, or pulling hair shall be prohibited."
On September 10, 2024, CI Hughes and CIS Chrisco observed video footage from September 5, 2024, in the preschool classroom at 4:32 pm and it was approximately 3 minutes long. The video does not have sound. The video time stamp is 16:32. The video showed caregiver Hope Evans entering the classroom and caregiver Ashlynn Reinhold leaving the classroom. Child A is dressed in a white t-shirt with black shorts. Child A began to run around the room moving from area to area. At times he removed buckets of toys off the shelf throwing the toys on the floor. Ashlynn tried to get Child A to stop running by speaking with him. Hope enters the room, and he begins to take his shoes off and throw them. Hope follows him picking up toys and shoes. At 16:32 in the video Hope approaches Child A and picks him up by the shoulders and places him firmly down on the carpet. Child A again gets up running around the room and at 16:34 Hope grabs him by the shoulders and places him roughly on the carpet with his back to the wall. She was directly in front of his face speaking at him. At 16.35 Hope picks Child A up and places him in a chair at the table and pushes his chair into the table and stands behind him to keep him there. Child A then starts to get up and run and Hope then takes Child A by the wrist and moves around the classroom holding onto Child A's wrist. Hope then placed him on a bench and he sat for 10 seconds and when he began to run again, Hope grabbed him by the wrist and once again moved around the room with him. At 16.35 approximately 4:35 pm, Hope takes Child A by the wrist over to the door where someone out of sight removes Child A from the classroom. During the video footage, no children were observed looking like they were scared or screaming or crying.
On September 10, 2024, CIS Chrisco and CI Hughes conducted an unannounced inspection of the facility and conducted in person interviews with Director, Breanna Behrens and Caregivers Hope Evans, Ashlynn Reinhold, Jermain Smith and Child A, Child B and Child C.
Breanna stated that she viewed the video footage and had no concerns with how Hope interacted with Child A. She stated that she did not hear Hope screaming loudly at Child A and that she did not see any children screaming and crying. Ashlynn stated she has only been with the facility for about a month and was in her classroom cleaning when the incident happened. She stated she heard a loud voice but that is not normal for Hope. She stated that the facility's discipline is redirection. Jermain stated the children looked at Hope as a grandma figure of the center. He stated that he was not in attendance the day of the incident but has no concerns with Hope and her interactions with the children. He stated that Child A is a child that needs to be spoken to with a stern voice on some occasions to get his attention. He stated that the facility's policy for discipline is redirection. Hope Evans stated that she works as a floater. She uses redirection for discipline, but she does use physical redirection if necessary. She stated the day of the incident it was "pure chaos" in her classroom and that Child A was throwing things and running around the classroom and she did not want any of the other children to get hurt. She stated that she sat Child A down firmly by the shoulders and told him to stop and that her voice was escalated. She stated she placed her hands on his face to get eye contact and get his attention. She stated that Breanna, Director, came to get Child A after this incident and kept him for the rest of the afternoon.
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