1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32 | On 01/24/24 the Regional Office received records pertaining to the allegation. During the initial investigation visit on 01/31/24, LPA made observations, and received the following documents: a current roster of children in care, current LIC500, staff schedule and sign-in/sign out records for all four classrooms for the month of January 2024. A review of records received on 01/24/24 indicates that at 8:48am, on an undisclosed date, a staff person working in Amber, a preschool classroom, had 13 children in their care and the a staff person working in Saplings, a toddler classroom, had 8 children in care. A review of sign-in records for 01/23/24 indicate that Amber had 13 children signed into care by 8:43am. The staff schedule received on 01/31/24 indicated that the second teacher begins their shift at 8:45am.
Statements provided by staff (S2, S4, S5, S6, S8 & S10) reported that they have witnessed on one or more classrooms operate out of ratio. S2 stated that they have had 10 toddlers in their care prior to the next teacher’s arrival at 9:00am, and although they were instructed to call the office manager to come in to meet ratios, they weren’t able to do so due to their care responsibilities; helping children transition and separate from their parents at drop-off. LPA’s review of 17 days of sign-in sheets for the month of January reveal that more than 6 children and up to 10 children arrived prior to 9:00am on 11 out of the 17 days, indicating that a second staff was required for the majority of days care was provided in January. S2 also reported that they observed 27 children in the Redwood preschool classroom with 2 teachers present on 01/11/24. S4 stated that they have worked in the Amber classroom alone, supervising 13 or 14 children. S5 reported that while working in the Saplings, a toddler classroom, they independently cared for 8 children for 10-15 minutes prior to another teacher’s arrival on more than one occasion during the month of January. S5 also stated that they have witnessed a teacher leave one teacher with 20 preschool children on the Redwood play yard, while going inside to retrieve something. S6 stated that they have arrived to work in a toddler classroom where there was one teacher with 7 toddlers prior to her arrival. S8 stated that they observed 27 children on the Redwood play yard with 3 teachers, when one of the 3 teachers took one child inside for an icepack, leaving 2 teachers out of ratio with 26 children. S10 denied the allegation that any classroom was ever over ratio but did corroborate that the Seedlings toddler classroom was scheduled in a way that relied on children arriving late, at a time after the second staff’s arrival, to meet ratio requirements. S10 also stated that there was a backup plan and expectation that the teacher would call the office manager to come into the classroom to meet ratios.
Continue on LIC9099-C |