Friendship Ranch Child Development Center

The director was lacking transportation training in the last completed training year.

A group of children were observed transitioning from the outdoor playground to their classroom for snack. Children did not have their hands washed prior to snack.

One classroom had a fan on the top of a shelf with the cord stretched across an emergency exit door that presented a risk if a child was to pull down on the cord and tip the tower fan off the shelf and onto the floor. Additionally, a drawer in the school age classroom was broken with a sharp edge. On the playground, a broken pole protruded from the ground and presents a risk if a child was to fall on it. Additionally, cleaning supplies was observe stored next to children's snacks.

In preparation for lunch time, infants and toddlers were placed at the table and several children were not secured with the safety straps.

The personnel file for the director was not available at inspection for review.

A classroom with a combination of infants or toddlers was observed being used as a passage way for older children. The older children were observed entering the infant classroom from the playground and walking through the classroom to gain access to the hallway that leads to their classroom.

Children were served food without a napkin or plate to prevent the food from being placed on the table for morning snack.

One caregiver was observed changing diapers and she did not wash her hands or the children's hands after diaper changes. Additionally, she did not wash her hands before handling food to be served and the children did not have their hands washed prior to eating lunch.

A magic eraser was observed on the floor accessible to children in the infant/toddler classroom. Additionally, lysol was sitting on the counter space next to the box of pop tarts for breakfast. Additionally, the children's sippy cups were next to another canister of lysol as well. This was corrected at inspection with the magic eraser picked up off the floor and the lysol moved to a bucket just meant for cleaning supplies.

The diaper changing pad for the toddler classroom was observed being used for diaper changes on the play floor space of the classroom.

A classroom with infants and toddlers had infants observed in the multiple occupancy table for 40 minutes during center time for the younger toddlers. Later on in the morning, the infants and toddlers were placed back in the table for an additional 35 minutes prior to the start of lunch time.

Several activities occurred in the classroom that the caregiver did not have awareness of due to her divided focus of other duties. One child was in the bathroom connected to the classroom and an infant went into the bathroom without the caregiver realizing until she went to check on the older child using the toilet. While assisting the child in the bathroom, children were hitting each other at the table and the caregiver lacked auditory and visual awareness of the infant at the table. In a different classroom, three caregivers were present but did not awareness that children were running around while eating food and did not attempt to redirect the child to the table.

The most recent health inspection form was not available for review.

Three classrooms that utilize cots do not have them labeled with the child's name.

A fire drill was not documented for October, November and December of 2022. For the calendar 2022 year, only two severe weather/sheltering drills occurred out of four and one lock down drill out of four. Additionally, the fire extinguisher check, smoke detector check and carbon monoxide detector check was not documented for October, November and December 2022.

The outdoor space has various hazards including exposed nails on the fencing, missing or broken fence posts and the bottom portion of the fencing exposed outwards with sharp edges. The gate to the outdoor fence is broken and unable to stay full enclosed where the gates meet to latch. Inside the operation, the infant classroom table has a broken off exposed screw. Two classrooms have trash cans with diapers that does not have a lid to keep it inaccessible to children.

Various snack choices did meet the USDA guidelines of nutrition and did not meet two food groups.

The toddler playground had various fence posts that were not secured that were a pinch hazard with exposed nails. One fence post was on the ground with a nail sticking out. The fence post was picked up from the ground at inspection. All protruding fence posts that were pinch hazards were secured back to the fence line. All hazards were corrected at inspection.

The operational policies was lacking a policy of promotion of outdoor play to include duration of active play, clothing and footwear recommendation and alternate plan when weather prevents outdoor play.

Based on interviews with staff, the infants are going outside 1-2 times a week and are not having morning and afternoon opportunities daily to be outside. Additionally, the written activity plan does not include two daily opportunities in their written activity plan.