Stepping Stone School XIV

There was an employee that was present that had a pending background check. Note: This was corrected at inspection with the employee became active, and received their eligibility letter during the inspection.

A caregiver who departed the operation more than 7 days ago still had an active background check at the time of inspection. This was corrected at inspection when the caregiver's background check was inactivated.

A group with a specified age of 18-23 months had 10 children present with one caregiver. This was corrected at inspection when the specified age group was discussed with caregivers and the director and an additional staff member was added to the classroom.

It was learned during multiple interviews that the operation is not following the conditions on a staff member's background check at all times.

An infant was observed to be asleep in a bouncer seat and was not placed on their back to sleep for several minutes.

During the first walk-through at the operation, three rooms were over the child to caregiver ratios allowed for their specified age groups.

During the investigation inspection, the operation was found to be in violation of several high weighted Minimum Standards.

During the second walk-through at the operation, one caregiver stated there were 13 children present in their group. After counting the group it was found that there were 11 children present. This was corrected when the caregiver counted the group again.

An infant was asleep in a bouncer seat with unbuckled straps. This was corrected at inspection when the infant was removed from the bouncer seat.

The most reccent inspection form was not posted at the operation.

The operation was not following conditions on a staff member's background check that stated their background check must be run under every operation at which they are present and not just under the main location. This was corrected at inspection when the background check was run under this operation.

Three caregivers did not know the correct number of children they were responsible for. One caregiver stated 7 children were present when there were 9, another caregiver stated 17 children were present when there were 20, and a third caregiver stated 25 children were present when there were 24. This was corrected at inspection when the caregivers did a head count to confirm the number of children in their group and were then able to answer correctly.

One caregiver did not know the name of a child in their group. Another caregiver was unable to provide Child Care Regulation with the ages of the children in their group. These were corrected at inspection when the caregivers obtained a tablet containing the information and reviewed it.

In a group of 12 children with two caregivers, the youngest child was 6 months old and the oldest child was 2 years and 4 months old. At the time, more than 13 children were in care at the operation. This was corrected at inspection when the older children were taken to another classroom.

One classroom had 5 infants present with one caregiver. This was corrected at inspection when one infant was moved to another classroom.

A combined group of three classes with a specified age of 3 years had 32 children present on the playground when it was past time for one of the groups to return inside per their daily schedule. This was corrected at inspection when one group returned to their classroom.

A child was transported on a field trip without a signed permission form.

The director stated she was unaware of the timelines for reporting incidences to CCR and for filling out incident reports.

The operation did not make the required self-report to Child Care Regulation within two days of the incident occurring.

The incident report was not given to or signed by the child's parent within 48 hours of when the incident occurred.

The background check for a caregiver who departed from the operation on 12/17/2024 was still active as of 1/3/2025.

There was a four year old child laying on a nap mat in the infant room. There were also 10 infants in the room, so the two caregivers were out of ratio with 11 children.

It was found that a child was left unsupervised in a restroom for about 5 minutes.

A situation placing a child at risk of harm was not reported to Child Care Regulation.

The provider did not create an incident report after a child was left unsupervised for about 5 minutes.

1 out of 4 records reviewed was missing 24 out of 24 required annual hours for training year 11/2022-11/2023.

It was found during the inspection the operation violated a condition that the CBCU placed on an employees presence at the operation.

1 out of 4 records reviewed was missing current First Aid and CPR training.

It was found during the inspection the operation did not have documentation for the months of December 2023, January and February 2024. This was corrected during the inspection.

It was found during the inspection the operation had several infant feeding forms that had not been updated within the last 30 days.

It was determined that there were a total of 19 children with 2 caregivers. One of the caregivers left the classroom leaving the other caregiver with 19 children by themselves. The specified age group for this classroom is 3 years old which allows 15 children for 1 caregiver. Note: This was immediately corrected when another staff member quickly stepped into the classroom when it was noticed that a caregiver had left the classroom leaving the class out of ratio.

During the course of the probation the operation has continued to receive citations in subchapters that were used as the basis for the probation.

It was found during the inspection a caregiver did not wash an infants hands after changing their diaper. This was corrected at the inspection when the caregiver washed the child's hands.

It was found during the inspection there were two infants that were not strapped in to chairs that had buckles. This was corrected at the inspection when the caregivers strapped in the children.

It was found during the inspection an infant was not strapped into an infant rocking chair.

During the walk through an infant was observed swaddled in their crib. This was corrected when the infant was taken out of the swaddle and placed back in their crib.

It was found during the inspection that a caregiver stated they had 11 children and they had 12.

The operation did not follow conditions for a caregiver's provisional eligibility when they let the caregiver be alone in a classroom with a group of children. An administrative penalty in the amount of 100% of the daily maximum, per HRC 42.078(a-2) will be recommended as a result of this citation.

It was found during the inspection there were infant feeding forms that had not been updated.

It was found during the inspection that there were 4 infant bottles that were missing name labels. This was corrected at the inspection when the director labeled the bottles with the children's names and last initial.

The operation did not follow conditions for a caregiver's provisional eligibility when they let the caregiver be alone in a classroom with a group of children.

It was found during the inspection that the operation had reduced caregivers during nap time in a classroom that had infants. This was corrected when the Director went to the room as an additional caregiver.

During the follow up inspection a caregiver stated she had 9 children and there were 11.

It was found during the walk through there were two infants in bouncers that were not strapped in. This was corrected when the caregiver strapped the straps of one infant and removed the other infant. It was found during the follow up inspection that an infant was not strapped into their bouncer seat.

It was found while conducting the inspection that a 4 month old infant was in a bouncer drinking a bottle with the bottle propped by a stuffed toy. This was corrected when the caregiver removed the infant from the bouncer and held her to finish her bottle. It was found during the inspection that there were 2 infants under the age of 6 months with their bottles propped.

It was found while conducting the inspection that a 4 month old infant was in a bouncer drinking a bottle with the bottle propped by a stuffed toy. This was corrected when the caregiver removed the infant from the bouncer and held her to finish her bottle.

It was found during the walk through there were two infants in bouncers that were not strapped in. This was corrected when the caregiver strapped the straps of one infant and removed the other infant.

It was found while conducting the inspection that there was a blanket folded on an infants face to hold in a pacifier. This was corrected when the caregiver removed the blanket and moved the child to the crib.

It was found during the inspection that an employee had access to children without eligibility determination.

During the follow up inspection a caregiver said she had 17 children but there were only 16.

The operation space allows for 30 infants and at the time of the inspection there were 32.

It was found during the follow up inspection that 3 classrooms were over child/caregiver ratio.

It was found during the inspection that a child in care did not have a signature for the emergency care authorization.

It was found that there were two employee files that were short of their 24 hours of annual training.

It was found during the inspection that there were several children's records that were missing and needing to be updated.

It was found during the inspection that a caregivers file was missing proof of education, employment affidavit, signed copy of personnel policies, signed copy of center policies, and a copy of their drivers license.

It was found during the inspection that there were several files that were missing the health care provider statement.

It was found during the inspection that a caregiver was standing in a doorway between two classrooms supervising both rooms during naptime.

It was found during the inspection there were multiple caregivers with expired CPR/First Aid.

It was found during the inspection that there were two napmats that were blocking the doorway of the classroom. This was corrected at the inspection when the caregivers moved the mats to a different area of the room.

One staff member was unaware of how many children were in care in two classrooms. A caregiver on the playground was unaware of how many children were in theirr care. They said 12 and there were 18. It was found during the walk through that a careiver stated she had 14 children and she had 15. It was found during the follow up inspection a caregiver said she had 11 children. There were actually 13 children and she had 12 children marked present on her attendance sheet.

One staff member was unaware of how many children were in care in two classrooms. A caregiver on the playground was unaware of how many children were in theirr care. They said 12 and there were 18. It was found during the walk through that a careiver stated she had 14 children and she had 15.

It was found while conducting a walk through of the operation that a caregiver was yelling at a child for having an potty accident.

One staff member was unaware of how many children were in care in two classrooms. A caregiver on the playground was unaware of how many children were in theirr care. They said 12 and there were 18.

One staff member was unaware of how many children were in care in two classrooms.

One staff member was unaware of how many children were in care. One staff member was unaware of the ages of the children in the room.

Children in the three year old classroom were watching a cartoon on Hulu. This was corrected at inspection when the caregiver turned off the screen time video.

There is sufficient evidence that a child under two was tested for COVID by an Administrator without parental consent. The at home COVID tests are not approved for use on children under two years old.