Incident investigation·March 2, 2022

On March 2, 2022, Licensing Program Analysts (LPAs) Monique Ayala and Isabel Ortega conducted a case management inspection to follow up on an Unusual Incident reported to the department by telephone on 02/25/2022; this incident was reported timely. LPAs were greeted by head of school who guided LPAs on a tour of the facility. Upon arrival, there were 54 children and 9 staff present today. Description of the incident : On 02/24/2022, child 2 used her water bottle (Hydroflask) to hit child 1 on the forehead. Staff 1 noticed C1 was hit but did not know what caused the incident between C1 and C2. S1 placed an ice pack on C1's forehead and wrote incident reports for both children. The center also notified C1 and C2's parents of the incident. During this inspection, LPAs interviewed staff, parent of C1, children, obtained pictures of where the incident occurred, obtained a copy of the facility roster and staff files. Per assistant head of school, on the day of the incident there were 19 children present with 3 staff. Facility was in ratio compliance during the time of the incident. The information obtained during interviews conducted revealed that S1, S2 and S3 did not observe the incident. S2 was in close proximity, but due to the hill in the middle of yard there was a visual obstruction for S2 to have a visual on C1 and C2 when the incident occurred. LPAs observed the play yard and informed head of school that the big hill in the middle of the yard is a visual obstruction to sufficiently supervise the children in care. The facility is being cited a Type B deficiency according to Title 22 Regulation 101229(a)(1). An exit interview was conducted, a copy of this report along with appeal right and Notice of Site visit was provided to Head of School.