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On May 20, 2025, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received a report alleging "While room seven was going outside to the playground earlier that day, Child A was left inside unattended for three minutes. The teacher in the classroom at the time, Mary Harter, stated that Child A lined up with the class to go onto the playground, but she did not see him walking out and assumed he had run ahead of the group since she did not see him in the classroom. Another teacher, Cloey Raley, came into the classroom to help with the class and noticed Child A hiding behind one of the small couches. When reporter was notified, she observed on the cameras that Child A was in the classroom unattended for three minutes." After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Caylin Mertz has found this allegation to be substantiated based on the following evidence and rule violations:
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(A)1 which states "Caregivers shall not leave any child without competent supervision."
AND
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 May 28, 2025, CI Caylin Mertz conducted an unannounced inspection and walkthrough at the facility. Over the course of this investigation, CI Mertz interviewed LLC Member April Thomas, Director Megan Beeson, Assistant Director Kandice Attyberry, Caregiver Mary Harter, Child A, Parent A and Caregiver Cloey Railey. Mary indicated she knew Child A was missing as they were exiting the classroom. She asked the group of children if they had seen Child A. One child indicated Child A had gone ahead of everyone so Mary assumed that child was correct. Cloey indicated when she exited the building and spoke with Mary to notify her that Child A had been left inside, Mary appeared unconcerned and acted as if things were normal. After video footage was reviewed with April, Kandice and Megan, Mary was terminated. Video footage was observed dated May 16, 2025 at 3:58 p.m. The video is of Room 7. Caregiver Mary is walking a child from one area of the classroom towards the rest of the class, who are gathered at the door to the playground. As Mary approaches, Child A runs from the door to the child-sized furniture in the middle of the room. He lays down on the couch. Mary appears to glance in the direction of Child A, who is still laying on the couch. Mary approaches the door and pushes it open. Children begin to exit the classroom. After the last child in the group has exited, Mary looks back in the classroom before propping open the door and disappearing from this camera view at 3:59 p.m. Child A continues to lay on the small couch in the classroom. Approximately 25 seconds later, Mary approaches the exterior door which remains propped open. She opens the door but does not enter the classroom before turning around and again exiting camera view. Child A is obstructed from her view as the back of the couch is facing the exterior door. Child A remains unsupervised on the couch in the classroom the entire time. He wiggles around and appears to be talking to himself. At 4:02 p.m., Caregiver Cloey enters the classroom through the door below the camera. As she walks in, she stops and sees Child A laying on the couch. She approaches him and they begin speaking.
Child A indicated he did not want to go outside so he hid from his teacher.
AND
5 CSR 25-500.102(1)(F) which indicates "Caregivers shall be capable of handling emergencies promptly and intelligently."
On May 28, 2025, CI Mertz interviewed Caregiver Mary Harter. On May 30, CI Mertz interviewed Caregiver Cloey Railey. Mary indicated she knew Child A was missing as they were exiting the classroom. She asked the group of children if they had seen Child A. One child indicated Child A had gone ahead of everyone so Mary assumed that child was correct. Cloey indicated when she exited the building and spoke with Mary to notify her that Child A had been left inside, Mary appeared unconcerned and acted as if things were normal. Mary indicated she searched the playground for Child A. Video footage observed does not corroborate that claim. Video footage observed reveals Mary propping open the exterior door, walking to the playground and back to the classroom once for an unknown reason before returning to the playground and standing only feet inside the playground gate until 4:02 p.m. Additional footage shows Mary move towards the play equipment on the playground at 4:03 p.m., where she stood for an additional three minutes before she was notified that Child A was located. Mary did not notify any other personnel that Child A was missing nor did she attempt in any way to locate Child A.
Mary reported knowing Child A was missing but took no action to request help or locate Child A herself; therefore, Caregiver Mary did not handle this emergency promptly or intelligently.
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