Texas Hill Country School

There are concerns with children in care getting injured due to lack of supervision.

A child in care was restrained in a non-emergency situation. The child refused to shower and had their homework taken away as a result. The child went to their room upset. The shadowing staff followed the child and began taking the child's clothes off. The child reacted and grabbed the staff's wrists, not attacking the staff but keeping the staff from taking their clothes off. The staff responded by completing a restraint on the child.

Staff member was recorded sleeping on duty, which the administrator acknowledged during interview. Additionally, the staff member admitted to possibly dozing off in the past.

During the investigation, it was determined a caregiver utilized inappropriate discipline that was demeaning, unnecessary, and contributed to negatively impacting children in care.

It was found during the investigation that neglectful supervision occurred. A staff member violated a safety plan by not maintaining 1:1 supervision of a child which exposed the child to substantial risk of physical or mental harm.

A caregiver?s actions were noted to have escalated a situation which ultimately led to a child being placed in an inappropriate restraint.

A staff member?s actions were noted to have presented a genuine threat of substantial harm from physical injury to the child when the staff member placed the child in an inappropriate restraint.

A caregiver was noted to have applied pressure to a child?s chest area, which was noted to have caused the child difficulty breathing. The information gathered during the investigation also establishes a reasonable likelihood to conclude that this action by the caregiver caused injury to the child?s person.

The assigned caregiver did not provide the level of supervision specified in the service plan; subsequently, resulting in the child sustaining an injury requiring medical attention.

The operation had a fire inspection in July, the fire marshal marked deficiencies. The operation has not followed up with the fire marshal. The operation still needs one building that was under construction in July to be inspected by the fire marshal.

A caregiver did not deny when questioned and was overheard by multiple individuals informing a child in care that they would force the child to throw up their food if the child did not comply.

Three of the five showers in one building were in need of cleaning. The counters next to one stove were in need of cleaning.

The stoves and areas around the stoves were greasy and the floor was dirty and black with grease. Several of the showers in the chaparral building had think mildew in the corners.

A staff member was observed to have hit a child in the back of the head, the staff member also physically picked the child up and moved them.