complaint·May 12, 2021

Page 2. The Department received a complaint on 2/24/2021 alleging facility is operating out of ratio. The complainant party stated, recently on three different days in the morning during drop off there have been 20 or more children with 1 staff in the first classroom as you walk into the childcare. During the investigation LPA Odom interviewed complaining party, director, 6 staff members, and 4 parents. LPA reviewed the children\342\200\231s roster, personnel records, and February 2021 sign in sheets. Children were not interview due to enough information gathered. During an interview on 3/1/2021, Director (S1) stated, in the last few months I\342\200\231ve had trouble with staff retention. Two staff recently left; it did not work out after a few months on the job. S1 stated, I have been looking for new staff to hire, but it\342\200\231s been difficult to find qualified teachers. S1 stated, the facility has not been out of ratio even though work schedule is from 9:00am to 6:00pm, I\342\200\231ve been coming in at 7:00am to assist with the childcare. S1 and Staff #4 (S4) cover lunch breaks for staff. LPA interviewed 6 staff members on 3/1/2021, 3/2/2021, 4/2/2021, and 4/14/2021. Four out of the six staff members stated, facility has been out of ratio on different occasion and different days. Staff #7 (S7) stated, on multiple days in the morning before 7:45am Staff #6 (S6) had to assist the front office to take temperatures of the children arriving, leaving Staff #5 (S5) alone in the Tows classroom with more than 12 children in care. On more than one occasion the Tows classroom has been out of ratio for about 10 minutes. Staff #3 (S3) stated, in the afternoon as teachers begin to leave home, they will drop off 1 or 2 extra children in S3\342\200\231s classroom making it 13 or 14 children in care with S3 alone. This has happened about 10 times. S4 stated, facility is usually out of ratio from 7:00am to 9:00am until most of the teachers arrive, having to mix and shuffle children around. S1 continues to enroll children in the childcare even though there isn\342\200\231t enough staff. Staff #2 (S2) stated, there is usually too many children in the Twos classroom. S1 enrolls too many children and not enough staff. LPAs attempted to interview 8 parents, however only 4 parents were interviewed on 4/30/21 and 5/4/21. Three out of the four parents stated, due to the COVID-19 pandemic children are dropped off at the front office, and parents don\342\200\231t go inside the classrooms. All the parents did not have any concerns with the childcare. Continue to page 3. Page 3. In the course of the investigation it was discovered while interviewing staff members and parents, an infant child stays in the preschool classroom from the hours of 6:30am to 7:00am, until the infant staff arrive and take the child to the infant center. Based on interview conducted with staff and parents it has been determined that the facility failed to follow the terms of the license, \342\200\234Preschool license ages 2-5 years old\342\200\235. Based on LPA facility inspection, observation, interviews conducted with complainant party, director, staff members, and records reviewed it has been determined that the facility did not maintain staffing/child ratio requirements during drop off and pick up hours. Therefore, the preponderance of evidence standard has been met, the allegation: facility operating out of ratio is found to be Substantiated. California Code of Regulations, Title 22, 101216.3(a) Teacher-Child Ratio and 101161(a) Limitations of Capacity is being cited on the attached LIC 9099D. This report cites a Type A violation and shall be provided to parents/guardians of children currently in enrolled and to parents/guardians of children newly enrolled at the facility during the next 12 months. Parents/guardians must sign Form LIC9224 to be kept in each child's file. Exit interview was conducted with Director Barbara Brown. Notice of Site Visit was posted during the visit, failure to post will result in civil penalties of $100. Appeal rights were provided and explained.