Preschool shut down, citing ‘lack of supervision’

After a child reportedly wandered off the premises without the knowledge of staff earlier this month, Little Scholars Childcare and Preschool in Chester has been shut down by the state.

“There is an ongoing investigation by New York State due to a lack of supervision issue that occurred with one of our teachers,” said Tracy McClintock, who has owned the Brookside Avenue preschool since it opened in 2004. “The child was on the playground and the teacher walked inside. I really can’t say more than that due to the active investigation.”

News12 reported that a source told them the child wandered into the parking lot, not far from Route 17M, before being found by a stranger.

When asked what steps Little Scholars would need to take in order for their license to be reactivated, McClintock said they would have to appeal the suspension and come up with a corrective action plan to ensure “that something like that could never happen again.”

“I am completely devastated and in shock right now,” she said. “I have no idea what my plans are. I have not been able to process this all yet.”

According to the New York State Division of Childcare Services website, Little Scholars has four unresolved violations, each dated Sept. 10. The state provides the following descriptions of each violation:

• Suitable precautions must be taken to eliminate all conditions in areas accessible to children which pose a safety or health hazard.

• Children cannot be left without competent supervision at any time. Competent supervision includes awareness of and responsibility for the ongoing activity of each child. It requires that all children be within a teacher’s range of vision and that the teacher be near enough to respond when redirection or intervention strategies are needed. Competent supervision must take into account the child’s age emotional, physical, and cognitive development.

• In accordance with the provisions of Sections 413 and 415 of the Social Services Law, child care center staff must immediately report any suspected incidents of child abuse or maltreatment concerning a child receiving child care to the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, or cause such a report to be made, when such staff have reasonable cause to suspect that a child coming before them in their capacity as child care center workers is an abused or maltreated child.

• Whenever the child day care center is in operation and the director is away from the premises, there must be a staff person designated to act on behalf of the director, who is knowledgeable about the programs operation and policies.

According to the state, the facility’s license was officially suspended Sept. 13. A phone message left with the Division of Childcare Services went unreturned prior to publication.