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Compliance Inspector (CI) Jessica Graham investigated the allegation that on February 4, 2025 caregiver Kenzie Sutton was observed yelling at Child A (age 3-years-old). Kenzie Sutton was very close to the child's face and yelled "get away from me". Kenzie Sutton then pushed Child A resulting in the child falling to the ground on her stomach. Child A was crying and appeared to be in pain, however there were no visible injuries to the child. Staff members Rachel Furguson and Ms Triyanka observed the incident. This allegation is substantiated based on the following rule violations:
5 CSR 25-500.102(1)(E) which states: "Caregivers shall have the knowledge and needs of children and shall be sensitive to the capabilities, interests, and problems of children in care."
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 February 6, 2025, CI Graham observed the incident report for Child A. The report was dated 2/4/2025 at
10:30 am and was written by Sarah Williams. The report stated the following:
"I, Sarah, was told about an incident from another teacher involving Child A. The teacher in question was in the room so, I, Sarah, removed Child A from the room while I waited to see the video and hear back from HR and GM. The teacher in question, pushed Child A down after yelling in her face. I removed Child A from the classroom, I checked for any marks on arms, stomach and back, ask if Child A was ok. She stated "yes" and asked how her day was she said "good". I called and spoke with Parent A on the phone. We sent Parent A the video clip via email."
On February 6, 2026, CI Graham observed the employee disciplinary action forms for Priyanka Jain and Kenzie Sutton. These forms were written by each employee with their statement of events and was dated February 4, 2025.
Priyanka's form stated the following:
"I was doing craft with other kids and Child A was crying whole time. I do heart she was saying "all done" in a loud voice but I didn't know I should me and say something I keep doing with kids and if I want to step in or not or tell the supervisor. I am sorry i didn't know about this policy...but i will always remember and pay attention what other teachers"
Kenzie's form stated the following:
"I (Kenzie) was trying to re-direct Child A, In the video it does look like I pushed her, but I just grabbed her arm to re-direct and she threw her self forward"
On February 6, 2025, CI Graham received the video footage from Kids & Company dated February 4, 2025. This video shows the classroom with caregivers Kenzie Sutton and Priyanka Jain. There are fourteen children present, ages 3-years-old to 4-years-old. Child A has long blond hair and is wearing a light blue long sleeve top and pink pants. Kenzie has on a black shirt with while lettering on the back. Priyanka is wear all black. The video is two minutes long. There is no audio.
-At the beginning of the footage, Kenzie and Priyanka are sitting at separate tables close to each other. Child A is by Kenzie along with other children.
-Time stamp 0:09 Kenzie is seen looking at, possibly talking, to Child A.
-Time stamp 0:12 Kenzie points towards the back of the room while looking at Child A.
-Time stamp 0:13 Kenzie pushes Child A away on the back with her right hand and Child A falls to the ground landing on her stomach. Kenzie turns back to the table. Priyanka does not look up.
-Child A lays on the ground until time stamp 0:20, when she gets up. She appears to be crying.
-Child A walks to the back of the room with her hands in her mouth and goes to her cubby.
-Child A grabs and item from her cubby and sits on the carpet.
-Both caregivers remain at the tables not addressing the children.
On February 6, 2025, Sarah Williams, caregiver, said that she was told about the incident with Kenzie Sutton and Child A by Rachel Furguson, caregiver, who observed it from another classroom. She was told that Kenzie yelled in Child A's face and pushed her. This happened around 10:15am. Sarah went into the classroom and talked to Child A, asking if she was okay. Child A was new in this classroom so Sarah moved her back to her old classroom. Sarah was not able to view the video footage from the incident until 1:00pm. She did have concerns after viewing the footage and contacted the general manager. Kenzie was shown the video and Kenzie agreed that the footage looked bad. Kenzie was seen pushing Child A. Kenzie was put on administrative leave and then terminated. She spoke to Priyanka Jain, caregiver, who was also in the classroom and she said that she didn't witness the incident.
On February 11, 2025, Rachel Furguson, caregiver, said she was in a classroom that connected to the room that Child A was in. Child A was crying and standing next to Kenzie. She could hear Kenzie yell at Child A "no" in her face and told her to leave her alone. She then saw Kenzie push Child A and she fell down. Priyanka was in the room as well but did not help out. This was not Child A's normal classroom and she was upset.
On February 11, 2025, Parent A stated that she was called about the incident and Sarah explained what happened and sent the video footage. This was not the normal classroom for Child A and she had never been with Kenzie before. There had been a lot of inconsistencies with the classrooms and Child A was moved around due to ratios.
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