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Per complaint report, it was disclosed by a 5-year-old child (Child # 1) that, a four-year-old child (child # 2) was having inappropriate interaction with 5-year-old child on the playground. It was reported that during the incident, staff were present with the children however, the staff did not have eyes on the children because the children would hide behind a playhouse. Reporting party stated staff were being observed on the phone.
During the course of investigation, LPA interviewed 9 staff including an attempt to contact 3 former staff. However, LPA was successful to interview one former staff who denied witnessing any children being engaged in inappropriate behavior. LPA interviewed 10 qualified children, including child # 1, and attempt to interview child # 2, and 11 parents of whom two parents responded.
During interviews with staff, Staff # 1 stated on the day of the reported incident, staff # 1 and staff # 2 were supervising children on the playground. They were not on the phone. They were supervising children closely. They did not observe any suspicious activities happening between children on the playground behind the playhouse. No children brought up any unusual incident to their attention on that day. Staff # 2 stated they were giving break to staff # 3 on the playground on the day of reported incident from 10:00 to 10:30 am and 12 to 12:30 pm on the playground. There were 12 preschool children under supervision of staff # 1 and 2. Staff # 2 denied witnessing children doing inappropriate behavior on the playground behind the playhouse. No child reported any incident to staff # 2. Staff # 2 stated the staff are not supposed to use their phone during work time. However, the staff might check in children on a smart application. Staff # 3 stated they watch children closely and they were not using phone during working with children. They might have checked the smart app for the internal sign in. They make sure they have every single child under supervision on the playground and in the classroom. Staff # 3 stated child # 1 and child # 2 are not in the same classroom. They have the same recess on the playground. Staff # 3 denied witnessing anything inappropriate happening between children. They said the playground did not have hidden areas. Other staff were interviewed and denied witnessing engagement of any inappropriate behavior between children.
LPA interviewed child # 1 who stated child # 2 was engaged in inappropriate behavior with them behind the playground. However, there were discrepancies in the child’s statements. Child # 1 did not disclose to LPA observing staff on the phone. Child # 1 stated staff were walking around in the circle on the playground
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