| Conclusion Summary |
|
On June 11, 2026, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received a complaint alleging that the director does not work in the facility. The director only works 20 hours per week from home. Compliance Inspector (CI) Heather Radney conducted an investigation of the allegation and found it to be substantiated based on the following information:
5 CSR 25-500.102(2)(A)1. - 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.
AND
5 CSR 25-500.102(2)(A)2. - Center directors and group child care home providers routinely shall be on duty during the hours of highest attendance a minimum of forty (40) hours per week. If the facility operates less than forty (40) hours per week, the center director or group child care home provider shall be on duty at least fifty percent (50%) of the operating hours.
On June 15, 2026, CI Radney conducted an unannounced inspection of the facility. There was no director present at the facility.
On June 15, 2026, CI Radney conducted interviews with Caregiver Elisa Tigert, LLC Member Rebecca Amendola, and Caregiver Wanda Hendrickson. Elisa reported she is not sure what the director's name is. The director is rarely there. Wanda reported she doesn't know the director's name. She hasn't seen the director there. Someone she doesn't know comes in occasionally to check paperwork. Rebecca reported their director was Ariel Sinclair. Ariel couldn't meet the 40-hour per week requirement to be a director, so she put in her notice last week. Ariel was only working about 20 hours per week.
On July 27, 2026, CI Radney conducted an interview with former Director Ariel Sinclair. She hasn't worked there since June. She never worked 40 hours in the building. The last time she was in the building was June 8, 2026 when she told Rebecca she would not be returning and that was her last day.
On July 27, 2026, CI Radney conducted an interview with Caregiver Melissa Maggard. In the beginning, the director was there 40 hours per week. It dropped sometime to 20 hours per week, because she was homeschooling her children. She saw Ariel in the building a couple months ago.
Based on the information provided, at the time of the report, there was no approved certificated center director responsible for planning, monitoring and managing the facility's daily program, and the former director had not been on duty during the hours of highest attendance a minimum of 40 hours per week.
Additional violations observed during the unannounced inspection include:
5 CSR 25-500.082(1)(I) - All flammable liquids, matches, cleaning supplies, poisonous materials, medicines, alcoholic beverages, hazardous personal care items or other hazardous items shall be inaccessible to children.
On June 15, 2026, CI Radney conducted an unannounced inspection and observed Caregiver Elisa Tigert outside on the playground with 12 children ages 2-5 years old. On the children's picnic table was a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. While Elisa and CI Radney were discussing attendance, a 2-year-old crawled under the table and grabbed the cigarettes. CI Radney pointed it out to Elisa, who promptly took the cigarette pack from the child and the lighter off the table.
AND
5 CSR 25-500.222(2) - An individual file shall be kept to identify each child and enable the provider to communicate with the parent(s) , guardian or legal custodian of the child in an emergency.
On June 15, 2026, CI Radney requested five children's enrollment forms for five specific children. Rebecca was unable to locate and provide four of the five enrollment forms.
|