Montessori Academy of West Covina

Child Care Center Directors Qualifications and Duties: (f) When the child care center director is absent from the center, arrangements shall be made for a ..substitute (1) If the child care center director is absent for more than 30 consecutive calendar days, the substitute director shall meet the qualifications of a director. This requirement is not met as evidenced by: LPA did not observe Certificate of Completion for Step II CCC Orientation which poses/posed a potential health, safety or personal rights risk to persons in care.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

REPORTING REQUIREMENT: The name of the child care center director, and any fully qualified teacher(s) designated to act in the child care center director's absence, shall be reported to the Department within 10 days of a change of child care center director or designee (s). This requirement is not met as evidenced by: LPA did not observe a copy of the LIC 308 Designation of facility responsibility for the interim Director and was not submitted to the department which poses/posed a potential health, safety or personal rights risk to persons in care.

TEACHER-CHILD RATIO

Teacher-Child Ratio: There shall be a ratio of one teacher visually observing and supervising no more than 12 children in attendance, This requirement was not met as evidenced by: Interviews and documents reviewed and received showing, on 09/23/2024 in the morning, there were only 2 teachers with 33 children in one class room before the next staff person arrived to work. This poses an immediate risk to the health and safety of children in care

FIXTURES, FURNITURE, EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

Fixtures, Furniture, Equipment and Supplies All toilets, handwashing and bathing facilities shall be maintained in safe and sanitary operating condition. This requirement was not met as evidenced by: LPA obsered a toilet not working properly and per interviews it was stated one or more toilets are always not working properly or not at all. Interviews also stated that supplies such as soap to wash hands are not always available. This poses an immediate risk to the health and safety of children in care

ADMISSION AGREEMENTS

Admission Agreements: (f) The licensee shall comply with all terms and conditions set forth in the admission agreement. This requirement was not met as evidenced by, the facility advised the parent to take her child home and not follow the schools suspension and expulsion policy. This poses a potential health and safety risk to children in care

Personal Rights--To be accorded dignity in his/her personal relationships with staff and other persons. To be accorded safe, healthful and comfortable accommodations, furnishings and equipment to meet his/her needs.To be free from corporal or unusual punishment, infliction of pain, humiliation, intimidation, ridicule, coercion, threat, mental abuse, or other actions of a punitive nature, etc...This requirement was not met as evidenced by, around August 2022, staff #2 pulled a child's hand out of staff #1 hand and when doing that staff #1 hand flew and hit a door and staff #2 yelled at staff #1 in front of a child.

Teacher-Child Ratio: One teacher may supervise 12 napping preschool-age children without assistance provided that the remaining staff member(s) necessary to meet the overall ratio specified in Section 101616.5(c) is immediately available at the center This requirement was not met as evidenced by: Interviews and documents reviewed and received showing, During nap time one teacher was alone with the 20 children and a few of the children were awake and were not able to sleep. This poses an immediate risk to the health and safety of children in care.

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS

Buildings and Grounds. The child care center shall be clean, safe, sanitary and in good repair at all times to ensure the safety and well-being of children, employees and visitors. The requirement is not met as evidenced by LPA observed tiles on the ceiling in several of the class rooms and hallways to the class rooms had stanied water damaged and some tiles hanging down from the roof from rain buildup. LPA also observed a couple of toilets not working properly (Flusing slowly). This poses a potential risk to the health and safety of children in care.