Preschool reopens after temporary shutdown

Little Scholars Childcare and Preschool in Chester has reopened after being shut down by the state following a Sept. 9 incident in which a child left the premises without knowledge of staff.

“Little Scholars is an amazing daycare center and should not have been shut down due to the awful mistake made by one teacher,” said owner Tracy McClintock, who has operated the Brookside Avenue preschool since 2004. “Think about what the world would be like if every school was shut down that had the same situation occur, or every hospital that had an employee make a mistake was shut down, or every restaurant where the food lead to food poisoning was shut down, or the entire police or fire department being shut down due to the mistake of one police officer or one firefighter. In each situation, the person responsible for the incident is the person that is held accountable. This should apply to Little Scholars as well. We have amazing teachers and an incredible daycare center. We are building back and want to thank the amazing, loyal families and team members who are helping us get back to where we were and get our reputation in the community back to being amazing.”

According to McClintock, shortly after 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 9, a group of children were moving from the outside playground to an indoor classroom when one of the children wandered off and went back to the playground. The teacher in charge of the group did a head count at the door but failed to do another head count as the kids lined up inside to wash their hands.

For approximately five and a half minutes, according to security video, the 3-year-old child left the group at the door to the classroom and went behind the building where she played with toys for a couple of minutes. She then went to the front of the building where a parent of another child picked her up and brought her inside.

“We were shocked and distraught when a beloved teacher made a critical mistake leading to a short lapse in supervision,” said McClintock. “The teacher did not follow proper protocol when moving from the playground to the classroom.”

Though the child was unharmed, the breach of protocol resulted in the state shutting down the center on the evening of Sept. 13. What followed were discussions with the state, including additional training for daycare personnel and a reopening Sept. 30.

McClintock said that although the state told her she did not have to dismiss the teacher involved in the incident, the teacher has been fired. During the shutdown, the center did lose some families but is in the process of building back.

“On a positive note, I want to say that throughout this awful situation, it was so wonderful to see and hear all of the amazing things that our families who have attended Little Scholars and our team members that have worked here throughout the 20 years who have been here had to say,” McClintock said. “We received so many letters and messages with the most amazing, kind, loving words. There were local centers who reached out to help us during our shut down with words of encouragement.”