complaint·October 21, 2022

Allegation: Administrator does not prevent daycare children from being bullied. According to the allegation, the administration does not prevent children in care from being bullied at the facility. A written letter from Staff #5 to parent of C1, dated June 2020, states Child #1 (C1) “teases and bully’s other children”. Incident Reports from the file of C1 state that on 6/26/19, C1 spit on a classmate, and on 7/8/19 C1 pulled a girl’s hair. Interviews by LPA revealed the following disclosures: Staff #1 (S1) stated C1 had been taking other children’s snacks “on and off for at least a year” and that there was no way to prevent it, other than “hovering over” C1. S1 also stated C1 had bullied and teased children “numerous times” and made fun of a girl for being overweight. S1 stated, “there was nothing I could do about that other than talk to him, but it didn’t stop the behavior”. S1 stated C1 bullied children almost weekly, and staff would handle the situation by talking with C1, but it did not prevent C1 from bullying another child, and “in fact, it didn’t seem to affect him at all”. When asked if children’s personal rights had been violated at KinderCare, S1 stated “Probably, I mean name calling”. When asked if staff were able to prevent children from being bullied, S1 stated “No”. Staff #2 (S2) stated “I know of about 4 of the kids in our class that did not want to come to school in our class. Maybe 5 that I know of” due to C1 bullying and teasing children in care. S2 stated the bullying and teasing had been occurring for the past year. According to S2 bullying and teasing were addressed by staff by talking to C1 or bringing it to the attention of the director. When asked if talking to him or telling the director prevented C1 from bullying another child, S2 answered, “No, it would happen again”. S2 stated parents had come to S2 regarding C1 bullying children, stating C1 was “bullying their child and they don’t want to come to school anymore. I had a few parents say they wanted to take their children out of the school”. S2 stated several children came to S2 saying C1 “called them fat, ugly and losers. He would tell kids their mom is ugly. I have one little girl that never wanted to eat lunch here because he would call her fat.” When asked if staff were able to prevent children from being bullied, S2 stated “No. I was not able to stop him from doing what he would do.” When asked if a child’s personal rights had been violated, S2 stated, “yes”. Page 2 of 4 Staff #3 (S3) stated C1 has “absolutely” teased or bullied children “multiple times a week for as long as I have been here. Some favorites of bullying for C1 were cry-baby, they are lying, babies”. S3 stated “children would complain when C1 would bully them or hurt them and would ask why C1 was allowed to do the things he was doing”. S3 stated S3 would reply to children’s concerns stating, “they should only worry about what they can control”. When LPA asked S3 if a child’s personal rights had been violated while at KinderCare, S3 replied “In instances where C1 has hurt other kids and we couldn’t protect them, ya. Knowing the personal rights, I just read, threats, intimidation, ridicule, no, I was not always able to protect them”. Staff #4 (director) stated C1 bullied children a couple of times per week, saying “you are stupid, you are an idiot, loser”. S4 stated the staff would respond to the bullying by teachers talking to C1”. S4 stated children and parents came to S4 regarding the behavior of C1, “parents would ask me, Why is he still here?” When asked if children’s personal rights were violated while at KinderCare, director stated, “Yes, of course. We were trying to protect everyone’s personal rights. I tried my best.” Based on the information gathered, and interviews conducted, staff were not able to prevent children in care from being bullied. Therefore, the preponderance of evidence standard has been met, and the above allegation is SUBSTANTIATED. California Code of Regulations, Title 22 Chapter 1 are being cited on the attached 9099D. Deficiencies that are being cited need to be cleared to protect the children’s health and safety. LPA Lilli Babcock informed facility representative, Maricruz Flores, that this report dated 10/21//2022 documents 1 Type A citation which shall be posted for 30 consecutive days as there is an immediate risk to the health, safety, or personal rights of children in care. Also, LPA Lilli Babcock informed the facility representative to provide a copy of this licensing report dated 10/21/22 that documents any Type A citation to parents/guardians of all children currently enrolled by the next business day or the next day the children are in care, and to any newly enrolled parents/guardians for 12 months from the date of this report. A signed Acknowledgement of Receipt of Licensing Report (LIC 9224), or other written statement, must be placed in the child's file for verification. Page 3 of 4 A notice of site visit was given and must remain posted for 30 days. Failure to comply with posting requirements shall result in an immediate civil penalty of $100. Exit interview conducted and report was reviewed with Director, Maricruz Flores. Page 4 of 4