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On April 14, 2026, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation of it was reported to Director Julie Tobnick that teacher Caitlyn hit Child A in the head with a chair that is plastic on top and metal on bottom. This occurred during the week of March 16, 2026, on either March 18 or March 19, 2026. On April 14, 2026, Compliance Inspector (CI) Christy Hughes conducted an unannounced inspection of the facility and found the allegation to be substantiated based on the following information.
5 CSR 25-500.102(1)(E) which states: "Caregivers shall have knowledge of the needs of children and shall be sensitive to the capabilities, interests, and problems of children in care."
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5 CSR 25-500.102(2)(A)1. which states: "An approved certificated group child care home provider or center director shall be an adult who is responsible for planning, monitoring, and managing the facility's daily program."
On April 14, 2026, CI Hughes conducted in person interviews with director Julie Trobnick and caregivers Savannah Neff, Olivia Barnett and Emma Dohle.
Julie stated that it was brought to her attention immediately after it happened on March 12, 2026, by Kaitlyn's co-worker Emma. She viewed the video of the situation, and it was bad, but she did not report it to abuse and neglect. She knows that she is a mandated reporter but it is the lead teacher who should call the hotline. The video showed that caregiver Kaitlyn placed the chair on Child A's head and hit it with the bottom of the chair seat. She had no idea if the parents were notified as it is the lead teacher's responsibility to notify parents when an incident occurred and write up a report. She did not check to see if the staff followed through with talking to the parents, contacting the hotline, or writing a report. She wrote a disciplinary report on Kaitlyn about the incident and there was no other disciplinary action taken. Kaitlyn would get frustrated with the children and say things under her breath and some of the staff did not like working with her. A staff member reported that Kaitlyn picked up a child by one arm, but she reviewed video, and it never happened. There were no concerns from parents. Kaitlyn started in the preschool class and did not do well with them, so she was moved into the 2-year-old classroom. Kaitlyn volunteered to go into the infant/toddler classroom at times. The video footage of the incident is no longer available to be viewed.
Savannah stated that Kaitlyn was stacking the chairs and Child A walked by and Kaitlyn made contact with Child A's head with the bottom of a chair on purpose. Child A cried and Kaitlyn consoled Child A. Emma left the classroom to go and tell Julie the director. She did not write the reports because she is not the lead, but Emma, the lead teacher, should have written the incident report. She doesn't think Kaitlyn meant to hit him that hard. The situation was very unprovoked. She did not feel a bump but it scared Child A and that is why he cried. Assistants aren't allowed to speak with the parents. What she saw was wrong and she had not seen Kaitlyn do anything to any other child. Kaitlyn has a good connection with the children, and the children like her.
Olivia stated that she was not at the center the day of the incident. Kaitlyn and Emma called her to tell her what had happened. Kaitlyn was messing around with Child A and the chair ended up hitting his head harder than she intended. She asked to see the video, and it looked like she was trying to be funny and hit harder than she should. She has never seen her mishandle or get aggressive with any child. Emma was upset about the situation and went and told Julie what had happened. Kaitlyn moved rooms a lot due to personal reasons with other staff members.
Emma stated that Kaitlyn was getting the children settled. Child A needs a little extra guidance, and she felt Kaitlyn was annoyed with Child A. Kaitlyn hit Child A's head hard with the chair and Child A cried. Kaitlyn told her, "It wasn't that hard." Emma informed the director of what had happened. She didn't contact the parents or write an incident report because she was not the lead teacher in the room. Kaitlyn had another issue with a child getting hurt and did not know what happened. Kaitlyn uses harsh tones and is not attentive to the children and she moved children very roughly. She was moved to different rooms after being told multiple times. Emma did not call the parents because she did not feel it was her job. She also did not write up an incident report.
CI Hughes observed a disciplinary report form stating that Kaitlyn Casey was written up for hitting a child on the head with a chair (on purpose).
On April 22, 2026, CI Hughes conducted in person interviews with Parent A and Parent B (parents of Child A), and Child A.
Parent A stated that Child A will not be returning to the facility. Parent A did not have any concerns until he received a phone call from Family Services that Kaitlyn had hit Child A on the head with a chair. The facility did not inform them of the situation. Parent A gave Child A a bath about a month ago and found a bump on their head. Child A was acting normally the day of the incident. Parent A felt like things were added into the Procare app at the end of the day but not when the incident first occurred. Child A had their 3-year-old checkup, and everything looked fine.
Parent B stated that they were referred to the facility by a family friend. Parent B did not have any previous concerns and there were no previous concerns with caregiver Kaitlyn.
The children go into the church on a weekly basis and Child A had an injury previously from running into one of the church pews. Injuries were reported by the caregivers, sometimes by phone calls and sometimes by the app. Parent B felt like they were always moving teachers around.
On May 15, 2026, CI Hughes conducted an interview via phone with caregiver Kaitlyn Casey. Kaitlyn stated that she doesn't like to say out loud what happened because it sounds worse than it really was. The children had just come in from outside so she grabbed a chair so that she could read them a book to settle them down. After the stories the children got up to move around, and she went to put the chair away and Child A came over to her to say something. She very gently took the chair and tapped Child A on the top of the head. Another caregiver checked Child A's head and there was not a bump. The tap was not super hard, and Child A cried for about a minute. It was a harmless joke that didn't go well. One of the other teachers went to talk to Julie. Julie had a discussion with her, and she signed off the disciplinary report and Julie told her to sign out and go home and cool off. She was terminated on April 24, 2026.
On June 6, 2026, CI Hughes conducted a second interview via phone with director Julie Tobnick. Julie stated that she watched the video of the incident and thought it looked bad and thought at that time she should call the Child Abuse and Neglect hotline but after speaking with caregiver Kaitlyn and learning that she did not mean to hit Child A on top off the head, she decided it wasn't abuse or neglect. Julie allows her lead staff members to call the families when an incident occurs and doesn't always follow up to be assured the incident was reported. She knows that her name is on the facility as director. She was provided guidelines from her superior of what her position entails. CI Hughes reminded her again that she is responsible for planning, managing and monitoring the facility's daily program.
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