State of Michigan DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES. DC D Macomb Christian Early Education Center

Transcription

1 RICK SNYDER GOVERNOR State of Michigan DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES BUREAU OF CHILDREN AND ADULT LICENSING MAURA D. CORRIGAN DIRECTOR May 8, 2013 Jeanine Beck Macomb Christian Schools Lorraine Warren, MI RE: Lic./Reg. #: Investigation #: DC D Macomb Christian Early Education Center Dear Ms. Beck: Attached is the Special Investigation Report for the above referenced facility. Due to the violations identified in the report, a written corrective action plan was required. On April 29, 2013, you submitted an acceptable written corrective action plan. A six-month first provisional license will be issued. If you do not agree to a provisional license, you must notify this office in writing and an administrative hearing will be scheduled. It is expected that the corrective action plan be implemented within the specified time frames as outlined in the approved plan. If you desire technical assistance in addressing these issues, please feel free to contact me. Please review the enclosed documentation for accuracy and feel free to contact me with any questions. In the event that I am not available and you need to speak to someone immediately, please feel free to contact the local office at (248) P.O. BOX LANSING, MICHIGAN (517)

2 Per MCL g, this report and any related corrective action plans must be filed in your licensing notebook. Sincerely, Jennifer DeMuynck, Licensing Consultant Bureau of Children and Adult Licensing Garfield Clinton Township, MI (586) Enclosure

3 MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES BUREAU OF CHILDREN AND ADULT LICENSING SPECIAL INVESTIGATION REPORT I. IDENTIFYING INFORMATION License #: Investigation #: DC D Complaint Receipt Date: 03/12/2013 Investigation Initiation Date: 03/14/2013 Report Due Date: 05/11/2013 Licensee Name: Licensee Address: Macomb Christian Schools Lorraine Warren, MI Licensee Telephone #: (586) Administrator: Licensee Designee: Name of Facility: Facility Address: Jeanine Beck, Designee Jeanine Beck, Designee Macomb Christian Early Education Center Lorraine Warren, MI Facility Telephone #: (586) Original Issuance Date: 09/03/1985 License Status: REGULAR Effective Date: 11/29/2011 Expiration Date: 11/28/2013 Capacity: 100 Program Type: CHILD CARE CENTER 1

4 II. ALLEGATION(S) Child A (four-year-old female) was left alone in the classroom after an assistant caregiver left the building taking the other children outside. III. METHODOLOGY 03/12/2013 Special Investigation Intake 2013D /14/2013 Special Investigation Initiated - On Site Arrival 3:15PM Departure 4:50PM Spoke with Program Director Jeanine Beck and caregivers. 03/18/2013 Contact - Telephone call made Left message for Child A's father. 03/26/2013 Inspection Completed On-site Spoke with Ms. Beck and three caregivers. Arrival 3:10PM and Departure was at 4:30PM. 04/11/2013 Contact - Telephone call made Left message for Child B's mother. 04/11/2013 Contact - Telephone call made Spoke with Child C's mother. 04/22/2013 Contact - Telephone call made Spoke with Ms. Beck. 04/29/2013 Inspection Completed-BCAL Sub. Non-Compliance 04/29/2013 Exit Conference Spoke with Jeanine Beck. 04/29/2013 Corrective Action Plan Received 04/29/2013 Corrective Action Plan Approved 05/07/2013 Corrective Action Plan Requested and Due on 04/29/ /07/2013 Contact - Telephone call made Left message for Child A's father with Child A's grandmother. 05/07/2013 Contact - Telephone call made Left message for Child B's mother. 2

5 ALLEGATION: Child A (four-year-old female) was left alone in the classroom after an assistant caregiver left the building taking the other children outside. INVESTIGATION: On March 8, 2013 Program Director Jeanine Beck called to selfreport an incident involving Child A being left alone in the building. Ms. Beck stated that at approximately 12:05PM lead caregiver Constance Schmidt and assistant caregiver Lora Zech had 13 children in their preschool class. Ms. Schmidt left the building with 8 children to play outside. The remaining 5 children stayed with Ms. Zech to finish their lunch. Once finished with lunch, Child D left Ms. Zech s group and went outside with the others. Ms. Zech opened the door of the room at approximately 12:10PM to the outside and let Ms. Schmidt know Child D was coming out to play. Ms. Schmidt then had 9 children and Ms. Zech had 4 children. Between 12:15PM to 12:18PM Ms. Zech left joined Ms. Schmidt outside with 3 children. Child A had gone to the bathroom and had been left inside the building. Child A left the bathroom and walked down the hallway to Ms. Beck s room and asked Ms. Beck if she could go outside. Ms. Beck took Child A outside to rejoin her class. Ms. Beck stated that Child A s father was notified of the incident when he came to pick Child A up from school. On March 14, 2013 I conducted an unannounced inspection at Macomb Christian School in Warren. I met with Ms. Beck and she reiterated her earlier explanation of the incident that occurred on March 8, Ms. Beck stated that she took Child A outside to find out what had happened. Ms. Beck looked at the clock when Child A came down to her room and it was 12:20PM. When Ms. Beck took Child A outside she observed that Ms. Schmidt was on the far side of the playground, away from the door, with a group of children. Ms. Zech was near the door. Ms. Zech appeared surprised that Ms. Beck was coming out with Child A. Ms. Beck acknowledged that no counts were done when the children were all outside. As a result of the incident Ms. Zech was put on administrative leave and all caregivers had to attend a mandatory training session regarding supervision on March 10, Ms. Zech was not available to interview that day. I interviewed Ms. Schmidt, and she stated that several children had finished their lunch and were getting antsy wanting to go outside. She told Ms. Zech that she was taking 8 children outside and leaving her with 5 children in the building. She explained that a couple minutes later, Ms. Zech called out to her that Child D was coming outside. Ms. Schmidt was with the children looking at an animal through a window of a science classroom for school-aged children on the far side of the playground when she saw Ms. Zech come outside. She said that because her 3

6 attention was diverted, she did not count the number of children coming out with Ms. Zech. When she looked over again, she saw Ms. Beck come out with Child A. She did not know anything was wrong until she saw the facial expression of Ms. Beck. She was told what happened when she brought the children in her care back inside. Ms. Schmidt repeated the school s policy on counting children. Children are to be counted when leaving and entering a building. Ms. Schmidt completed a written statement that is included in the file. After my interview with Ms. Schmidt I went to find Ms. Beck in the building. I observed that a caregiver was visibly upset crying and shaking. When I found Ms. Beck she was comforting the caregiver and explained to me that while I was interviewing Ms. Schmidt in the office, Child B had been left alone in her classroom while her class was playing outside. Assistant caregiver Abby Williamson explained to Ms. Beck and me what had happened. Ms. Williamson stated that since it was a nice day out she wanted to have the 13 children go outside right when the second assistant caregiver, Cali Thomas, arrived. She had the children put on their coats near the door. While they were doing this, another assistant caregiver in the room, Kelly Westwood, was getting ready to leave as her shift was over. Ms. Williamson went to the other side of the room to get a child a tissue, and when she came back she resumed helping the children with their coats. The children keep their coats in a cubby area. Once the children had retrieved their coats they went by the door. Ms. Williamson believed that Child B went back to the cubby area during the time she was away getting a tissue. Once Ms. Thomas arrived, the group went outside. Ms. Williamson acknowledged that she never counted the children either prior to going out or when they were outside. She also did not do a visual sweep of the room before walking out the door. She did not realize that Child B was alone in the building until after they came back in and found Child B curled up with a book reading silently. Child B was left alone from 3:30PM to 3:45PM in her classroom. Ms. Beck clarified with Ms. Williamson that it was not normal to go outside at 3:30PM because it is a shift change for the caregivers and a transition period of snack and puzzles for the children. Ms. Williamson stated that she knew this, but it was a nice day and the children wanted to go outside to play. On March 26, 2013 I completed another onsite inspection. Ms. Beck explained that she was in the process of developing training sessions that would include supervision, ratio and classroom set-up. I interviewed Ms. Zech. Ms. Zech stated that there is usually a third caregiver in the room that goes outside with Ms. Schmidt and the children. The third caregiver was not there that day. Ms. Zech was cleaning up the lunches when Ms. Schmidt left the 4

7 room, and she did not know how many children she had with her. She remembered that Child D went outside, and she let Ms. Schmidt know. When the remaining children were done with lunch, they went outside as a group. She said that when she went outside she did a count and came up with 12 children and then Ms. Beck came out with Child A to make 13 children. Ms. Zech completed a written statement that is included in the file. She stated that she attended the training session on March 10, 2013 regarding supervision. Ms. Westwood was then interviewed regarding the incident that occurred on March 14, 2013 with Child B. Ms. Westwood stated that her normal work time is 7:30AM to 3:30PM. She stated that prior to her leaving; the children were transitioning from snack time to puzzle time. She did a count of the children at snack and had 13 children. She heard Ms. Williamson tell the children about getting ready and going outside as soon as Ms. Thomas arrived. As the children were getting ready to go outside she was cleaning up the puzzles. She saw Ms. Thomas arrive but did not communicate with her about counts or any other information. When Ms. Thomas arrived the children all went outside. She did not count the children as they were leaving. She never saw Child B in the room as she was cleaning up the puzzles. She left and was not present when it was discovered that Child B had been left inside. Ms. Westwood completed a written statement located in the file. I interviewed Cali Thomas about the incident that occurred on March 14, She stated that her normal work time is from 3:30PM to 6PM. On that day the children were ready to go outside when she arrived. She did not know the count was not done and was told that there were 12 children present. When she counted later there were 12 children. She did not know about Child B until everyone came back inside and discovered her alone. She stated that she normally does a face to name count, but that day she did not do a count until everyone had come back in from outside. Ms. Thomas completed a written statement that is located in the file. On April 11, 2013 I interviewed Child C s mother. She stated that she was aware of the situation because Ms. Beck had informed parents. She has no concerns about the care being provided to Child C. The ratios are good and she had been very pleased with supervision. Child C has never come home with any stories that would concern her about care. I have made attempts to contact Child A s father and Child B s mother. I have not received a return call from either parent. APPLICABLE RULE R Supervision and ratio requirements. (1) The center shall provide appropriate care and supervision of children at all times. 5

8 ANALYSIS: CONCLUSION: On March 8, 2013 and March 14, 2013 the center did not provide appropriate care and supervision by leaving children alone in the building while caregivers and other children were outside. VIOLATION ESTABLISHED IV. RECOMMENDATION I recommend that the license be modified to a six-month first provisional license. 5/8/13 Jennifer DeMuynck Date Licensing Consultant Approved By: 5/8/2013 Jacquelin Sharkey Date Area Manager 6