Incident investigation·December 30, 2021

On 12/30/2021 at 09:08am, Licensing Program Analyst (LPA) Destinee Hogue conducted a case management inspection with Acting Director, Brenda Sandoval and Assistant Director, Anabel "Ana" Graciano. A case management inspection is being conducted in response to the receipt of an unusual incident report (UIR) received from the facility. The UIR was received by the licensing agency on 11/16/2021. On 12/17/2021, an inspection was conducted by LPA Taadhimeka Zeigler. During the inspection on 12/17/2021, LPA interviewed staff and children, reviewed facility records, and conducted facility observations. During this inspection, LPA Hogue toured the facility inside and outside, took census of preschool children present on this date, verified facility associations, and discussed the following with Acting Director, Brenda Sandoval. On or about November 12, 2021, a child’s authorized representative reported to the facility that they observed a staff member in the Pre-Kindergarten classroom roughly sitting their child(ren) down in a chair. According to the child's authorized representative, the child(ren) was sitting down at the table and a staff member in the classroom placed both hands on the shoulders of the child(ren) and "forced" him/her to remain seated in the chair. LPA Hogue interviewed involved parties and it was disclosed, a staff member entered the classroom to relieve another staff member for a 10 minute break. During break coverage, the classroom was preparing to transition to a new classroom activity and some of the child(ren) did not want to leave the activity area they were playing in. According to involved parties, a staff member noticed a child(ren) was beginning to get upset and the staff member tried to verbally redirect the child(ren) to participate in a new activity. According to disclosures, the child(ren) began grabbing toys from other children, throwing toys, kicking chairs, and attempting to kick other children. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>CONTINUED ON LIC809C>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> According to interviews, after verbally redirecting the child(ren) to a new activity, the staff member in question admitted to grabbing the child(ren)'s hand and attempted to lift the child(ren) up from the ground, however, the involved child(ren) refused to get up. Staff member in question stated the child(ren) remained on the ground and continued to scream and kick chairs. According to disclosures, the staff member made a second attempt to pick the child(ren) up from the ground and tried to sit the child(ren) in a chair. According to interview disclosures, the involved staff member placed both hands under the child(ren)'s "armpits" and attempted to lift the child(ren) up from the ground to sit the child(ren) in a chair. According to interviews, the child(ren) did not want to sit down in the chair, so the involved staff member, continued redirecting other children and allowed the child(ren) to run around to other side of the classroom. At this time, the child's authorized representative entered the classroom and immediately removed the child(ren) from the classroom. Based on the information obtained, there is conflicting information on whether a child(ren) was handled roughly. Although a child's authorized representative stated they observed a staff member placing both hands on the shoulders of their child(ren) and allegedly "forced" the child(ren) to sit in a chair, additional interviews disclosed, the involved child(ren) was moving around and the involved staff member states they placed both hands under the child(ren)'s arms. Although, it may have appeared the child(ren) was roughly or forced to sit down in a chair, the involved staff members denies forcing or roughly sitting down a child(ren). At this time, based on information gathered, there appears to be no violations of Title 22 Regulations found. An exit interview was conducted, and a copy of this report was provided to Acting Director, Brenda Sandoval. No deficiencies were cited during this inspection and a Notice of Site Visit was issued and shall remain posted for 30 days.