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On March 24, 2026, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received a complaint alleging that attendants took a group of preschool children to the facility's park. Children in the group who allegedly hid were not accounted for and the attendants left the park without them. An attendant returned to the park shortly after to retrieve the children. The park is across a parking lot and down an alley from the building. It is in the same block but not on the primary plot the daycare is on. Compliance Inspector (CI) Heather Radney conducted an investigation of the allegation and found it to be substantiated based on the following information:
5 CSR 25-300.040 (1) - Supervision and basic care shall be provided at all license-exempt facilities.
On March 31, 2026, Compliance Inspector (CI) Heather Radney conducted interviews with Director Abbi Steward and Caregiver Fred Vogle. Abbi reported the incident did happen on February 12, 2026. There were two children left outside alone on the playground: Child A, 2 years old and Child B, 3 years old. Angelina Levins, Kaylee Nordby, and Fred Vogle were the caregivers present, and there were nine children total in the group. They returned from outside, and she was in the lunch room. She heard Child A's mom say "Where's Child A?" Angelina thought another child was Child A, so she kept calling his name. When Angelina realized it wasn't him, she just stood there and looked panicked. That is how she was alerted that there were children missing. She instructed Kaylee to run outside to get the children. They were unsupervised for approximately four minutes. Fred reported he was sent out to bring in the children and teachers. He never entered the playground. The two teachers lined everyone up, and he asked if they had everyone and they said "yes". They all came inside. When Child A's mother came asking where he was, they checked the rooms and bathrooms. Abbi and Child A's mother went outside to look. They brought the children back inside.
On May 5, 2026, CI Radney conducted an interview with Caregiver Angelina Levins, Caregiver Kaylee Nordby, and Parent A (Child A's Parent). Angelina stated that she and Kaylee were outside with Fred, she doesn't know how many kids were out there. Fred went on break and said there were 10 children. Abbi walkied them and said to come back inside when they had eight children. Fred came back outside and told them to line up and go inside. She told Fred there were still nine children. Fred lined everyone up and said there were seven children. She argued and said there were nine and Fred said she needed to quit arguing; he said there were seven kids. She knew there were nine, but she didn't know who was hiding. Fred handed her and Kailey a rope to take their classes inside. He was rushing them inside. When they went inside, all three classes when into her classroom. Immediately Child A's mother was there asking where he was. She looked at Kaylee and said, "That's who is outside." Kaylee ran outside. Abbi came in and asked what was happening. She said, "I told Fred there were nine children, but he said there were seven." Abbi said "Oh my gosh!" and ran outside with Kaylee. Abbi and Kaylee came in with Child A and Child B. She knew there were two children left on the playground and came in anyway because her supervisor told her to stop arguing with him about the numbers. It was approximately two minutes that the children were unsupervised on the playground. She was responsible for Child A. Kaylee was responsible for Child B. She does not believe it was her responsibility to argue with Fred or find the two children who she knew were missing. It would have been Fred's responsibility, because he was the one arguing that they had every child accounted for.
Kaylee stated that she, Angelina and Fred were outside. Fred is the supervisor. She was brand new. They were lining up to go inside. Angelina told Fred she thought there were more children, and Fred argued. She was trying to corral the kids they had. Child A's parent was there to pick them up. She ran outside to see if Child A was outside, and they saw Child A and Child B outside. Child A and Child B appeared scared and were looking for them. She and Abbi came inside with the two children. She was responsible for Child B. They had just walked in when Child A's mom was there. Angelina said, "Where's Child A?" Angelina asked Abbi, "Where's Child A?" Angelina made it known that they couldn't find Child A. Somebody said "Go outside and check." It was the last place they had been. Child B wouldn't have been noticed if Child A's mom hadn't come at that moment. The children were outside unsupervised between three to five minutes.
Parent A (Child A's parent) stated that she arrived to pick up Child A. When she went inside, Angelina said, "Child A, Child A" and there's another little boy that looks similar to him, so she was calling to him. Angelina looked at her and said, "Where is he?" and she said, "I don't know. You tell me." Angelina was looking under tables and around the classroom. She went and looked in the cafeteria and bathroom. Angelina said, "Maybe he went to another classroom." Angelina asked another teacher, "Where's Child A?" The other teacher said, "I don't know. I don't have Child A." She started to panic. Fred came walking down the hall. Fred went to the office where Director Abbi was and said "Is Child A here with you?" Child A wasn't in the office with the director. The director said, "What is going on?" The teachers said, "We can't find Child A." They frantically looked in the hallways and other classrooms. The new teacher and Abbi went out the door and about a minute or minute-and-a-half later, they came back in with Child A and another child. They didn't realize Child A or Child B was missing. She was told it was approximately five-six minutes that they were outside unattended.
On March 31, 2026, CI Radney received and reviewed video footage from Growing with Grace Preschool and Daycare. The video is of the inside hallway of the preschool. The video is time stamped 5:07 p.m. and seven children are arriving in the video from being outside, along with their caregiver Angelina. Fred and Kaylee enter the video from the opposite direction as Angelina at 5:07 p.m. Parent A enters at 5:09 p.m. Angelina, Kaylee and Parent A appear to be speaking. Caregivers and Parent A look around classrooms and other areas. Kaylee walks up the stairs to go outside at 5:09:55. Abbi walks up the stairs to go outside at 5:10:08. Child A appears with Kaylee at 5:12:25 p.m.
On March 31, 2026, CI Radney conducted an unannounced inspection. The playground is not connected to the daycare building. The playground is located across a parking lot and alley drive.
Based on the information provided, Child A and Child B were left without adult supervision for approximately four to five minutes when Caregivers Angelina Levins, Kaylee Nordby, and Fred Vogle brought the rest of the group of children inside from the playground.
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