The Issue The issue in the case is whether the allegations of the Administrative Complaint filed by the Petitioner against the Respondent are correct and if so, what penalty should be imposed.
Findings Of Fact The Petitioner is the state agency responsible for licensure and regulation of child care facilities operating in the State of Florida. The Respondent is a licensed child care facility, Florida license number 400-9, located at 1221 South Washington Avenue in Apopka, Florida. On March 1, 2001, the Petitioner received a complaint related to alleged poor conditions at the Respondent facility, including unclean bathrooms, and unsupervised children. An investigator employed by the Petitioner was assigned to inspect the facility. He visited the child care center on the afternoon of March 1, 2001, and recorded his observations on an "inspection checklist." On March 1, 2001, the facility was observed to be "dirty and cluttered." One of the restrooms was unclean and apparently not functional. Additionally, three infants were left alone in a room without adult supervision. The closest adult to the infant room was conducting business with a customer and was not within sight of the children.
Recommendation Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is recommended that the Department of Children and Family Services enter a Final Order imposing a fine of one hundred dollars ($100) against the Respondent. DONE AND ENTERED this 29th day of August, 2001, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. WILLIAM F. QUATTLEBAUM Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 SUNCOM 278-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 29th day of August, 2001. COPIES FURNISHED: Craig A. McCarthy, Esquire Department of Children and Family Services 400 West Robinson Street, Suite 1106 Orlando, Florida 32801 Carol Wiggins Central Avenue Child Care 1221 South Washington Avenue Apopka, Florida 32703 Virginia A. Daire, Agency Clerk Department of Children and Family Services 1317 Winewood Boulevard Building 2, Room 204B Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700 Josie Tomayo, General Counsel Department of Children and Family Services 1317 Winewood Boulevard Building 2, Room 204 Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700
The Issue The issue is whether Petitioner should revoke Respondent's license to operate a child care facility for failing to provide documentation of the director's credential or training.
Findings Of Fact Carlin and Susan Towels created Respondent in 1990. Their daughter, Angel R. Towels, began working part-time taking care of children at the facility in 1998. Ms. Towels was sixteen-years old at that time. In 1999, the minimum standards for child care personnel included a requirement for the director of a child care facility to be credentialed by January 1, 2000. See § 402.305(2)(f), Fla. Stat. (1999). Additionally, the statute mandated that the director's credential would become a required minimum standard for licensing of child care facilities by January 1, 2003. Id. Prior to November 2003, the Leon County Health Department was responsible for inspecting child care facilities and issuing licenses to them in Leon County, Florida. Respondent has been licensed by the Leon County Health Department as child care facility for many years. In 2000, Ms. Towels began working full-time as part of Respondent's staff. She became the licensed owner and operator/director in 2002. Ms. Towels has never been credentialed to act as Respondent's director because she has not completed a required course of study that would earn her a Child Development Associate (CDA) degree, certificate, or equivalent recognition. Ms. Towels' father was never credentialed to act as Respondent's director. He completed the CDA class but he never passed the examination for the required class entitled Behavior, Observation, and Screening (BOS). In February 2002, the Leon County Health Department sent Ms. Towels a document entitled "Reminder Notice of Director Credential Requirement." Ms. Towels signed the document indicating that she was aware of the need for Respondent's director to be properly credentialed by January 1, 2003, pursuant to Section 402.305(2)(f), Florida Statutes (2001). In 2002, the Legislature amended the statute requiring credentials for directors of child care facilities as a condition of licensing. Section 402.305(2)(f), Florida Statutes (2002), required directors to be properly credentialed by January 1, 2004, instead of January 1, 2003. The most recent license issued to Respondent by the Leon County Health Department was effective January 9, 2003, through January 9, 2004. The license authorized Respondent to care for a maximum of 23 children based on the square footage in the facility. At some point in time, the Leon County Health Department amended the license, authorizing Respondent to care for a maximum of 19 children. The Leon County Health Department amended the license at Respondent's request. Respondent made the request based on the mistaken belief that documentation establishing its director's credentials would not be required for a facility that cared for no more than 19 children. Around November 2003, Petitioner assumed the duties previously performed by the Leon County Heath Department relative to inspections and licensing of child care facilities in Leon County, Florida. In an on-site visit in November or December 2003, Petitioner's staff discussed the need for Respondent's director to be properly credentialed by January 1, 2004. In a letter dated December 31, 2003, Petitioner reminded Respondent of the minimum standard licensing requirement for credentials beginning January 1, 2004. The letter requested Respondent to provide Petitioner with a copy of its director's credential or the director's training transcript within 10 business days. The letter advised that Petitioner would issue Respondent a provisional license, not to exceed six months, if Respondent failed to provide the required documentation. According to the letter, if Respondent failed to comply with the credential requirement within the provisional- license period, Petitioner intended to initiate administrative action to revoke Respondent's license. In a letter dated January 28, 2004, Petitioner again advised Respondent that it was not in compliance with the statute. Petitioner's letter requested Respondent to provide monthly updates on the director's progress toward earning a credential or the facility's progress in hiring a director with the appropriate credential. The letter clearly stated that if Respondent's director was not credentialed at the end of the provisional-license period, Petitioner would take action to revoke Respondent's license. Petitioner enclosed Respondent's provisional license with the January 28, 2004, letter. The provisional license was effective January 2, 2004, through July 2, 2004. The provisional license authorized Respondent to care for 23 children based on the square footage of the facility as stated in Respondent's most recent application for renewal of license. In a letter dated June 1, 2004, Petitioner once again reminded Respondent the director's credential was a minimum licensing requirement. The letter asserted Petitioner's intent to revoke Respondent's license if Respondent did not comply with the requirement for a credentialed director by July 2, 2004. On or about July 12, 2004, Petitioner issued an Administrative Complaint. The complaint alleged that Respondent's director was not properly credentialed and that Petitioner intended to revoke Respondent's license. After Petitioner issued the Administrative Complaint, Petitioner continued to contact Respondent to see if Respondent was making progress in complying with the credential requirement. There were two telephone contacts in July 2004, on-site visits in August and November 2004, and a re-inspection most recently on January 6, 2005. In July 2004, Ms. Towels registered for a course equivalent to the CDA degree. However, she dropped out of the class before completing it. In January 2005, Ms. Towels enrolled in another CDA class, which she had not completed by the time that the hearing commenced. The class Ms. Towels is attending is approximately a one-semester course that students may complete within six months.
Recommendation Based on the forgoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED: That Petitioner enter a final order revoking Respondent's license. DONE AND ENTERED this 1st day March, 2005, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. S SUZANNE F. HOOD Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 SUNCOM 278-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 1st day of March, 2005. COPIES FURNISHED: Mary Ellen McDonald, Esquire Department of Children and Family Services 2639 North Monroe Street Building A, Suite 100A Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700 Angel Towels Luv-A-Lot Child Care Center 2501 Lake Bradford Road Tallahassee, Florida 32310 Joe Garwood, Agency Clerk Department of Children and Family Services Building 2, Room 204B 1371 Winewood Boulevard Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700 Josie Tomayo, General Counsel Department of Children and Family Services Building 2, Room 204B 1317 Winewood Boulevard Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700
The Issue At issues are whether Respondent committed the violation alleged in the Administrative Complaint; and, if so, what penalty should be imposed.
Findings Of Fact The Department is authorized to regulate child care facilities pursuant to sections 402.301-402.319, Florida Statutes. Section 402.310 authorizes the Department to take disciplinary action against child care facilities for violations of sections 402.301-402.319. Ms. Hall owns and operates the child care facility doing business as Children of Liberty pursuant to License Number C04DU0101. The facility is located at 232 East 19th Street, Jacksonville, Florida. Ms. Hall testified that she has operated the facility for 21 years. C.R. was born on October 21, 2013. C.R. was four years old on August 27, 2018, the date of the event that precipitated the investigation in this case. L.S. is the mother of C.R. She enrolled C.R. at Children of Liberty from November 2017 through early August 2018. As of August 9, 2018, L.S. withdrew C.R. from Children of Liberty in order to enroll him in “big boy school,” i.e., the voluntary pre-kindergarten (“VPK”) program at North Shore Elementary School (“North Shore”). Because of his age, C.R. was not yet eligible to attend kindergarten in a Florida public school. See § 1003.21(1)(a)2., Fla. Stat. Therefore, C.R. was not a “school-age child” for purposes of Florida Administrative Code Rule 65C-22.008, or the “School-Age Child Care Licensing Handbook” adopted by reference therein. Supervision of C.R. was governed by the Department’s “Child Care Facility Handbook,” adopted by reference in rule 65C-22.001(6). L.S. is a full-time nursing student during the week and works at Panera on the weekends. She testified that her only support system in Jacksonville is her grandparents, both of whom are in precarious health. L.S. stated that it would be very difficult for her to take C.R. to VPK given her school schedule. She was hesitant to place C.R. on a school bus at his young age. She had hoped that her grandparents would be able to help her get C.R. back and forth from the North Shore VPK program, but her grandfather told her that he was unsure of their ability to do so. After discussing the situation with Ms. Hall, L.S. re- enrolled C.R. at Children of Liberty because Ms. Hall agreed to take C.R. to and from his VPK program. L.S. would drop off C.R. at Children of Liberty at 7:30 a.m. C.R. would be given breakfast and then be driven to VPK by 8:00 a.m. Ms. Hall then would pick up C.R. in the afternoon and keep him at Children of Liberty until L.S. could pick him up at 4:30 p.m. North Shore requires its students to wear uniforms. The uniform for North Shore is royal blue, navy blue, or white shirts, and black, khaki, or navy blue pants. Parents sometimes send their children to school out of uniform, but the school sends reminders home to inform the parents of the correct uniform colors. Children are not sent home for being out of uniform. C.R.’s first day of being transported to North Shore by Ms. Hall was August 27, 2018. L.S. brought C.R. to Children of Liberty that morning. C.R. was dressed in the uniform for North Shore. L.S. testified that she had made it clear to Ms. Hall that C.R. was attending North Shore. L.S. was taken aback that morning when Ms. Hall mentioned that C.R. would be attending Andrew Robinson Elementary School (“Andrew Robinson”). L.S. corrected Ms. Hall, reminding her that C.R. was going to North Shore. Ms. Hall said, “That’s right, that’s right.” Ms. Hall denied that any such conversation took place and denied that L.S. ever told her that C.R. was attending North Shore. Ms. Hall testified that when L.S. first broached the subject of C.R.’s needing school transportation, she told L.S. that she drove only to Andrew Robinson. Ms. Hall believed that L.S. understood that Andrew Robinson was the only option for transportation from Children of Liberty to school. Ms. Hall testified that on two occasions prior to August 27, 2018, L.S. asked her to pick C.R. up from school in the afternoon. On both occasions, Ms. Hall drove to Andrew Robinson and did not find C.R. there. She assumed that C.R.’s grandparents had picked him up. Ms. Hall stated that she had no reason to believe she had driven to the wrong school because she never heard a complaint from L.S. about her failure to pick up C.R. C.R.’s enrollment form at Children of Liberty indicated “Andrew Robinson” as the school attended by the child. However, this form was completed by L.S. well before she enrolled the child in VPK. The “Andrew Robinson” notation was made later, apparently by Ms. Hall, and is therefore at best indicative of Ms. Hall’s state of mind on August 27, 2018.2/ Ms. Hall drove another child, K.A., to Andrew Robinson every morning. K.A. was born on January 12, 2013. She was five years old on August 27, 2018, and eligible to attend kindergarten at a Florida public school. Therefore, K.A. met the Department’s definition of a “school-age child.” On the morning of August 27, 2018, K.A. was wearing the uniform of Andrew Robinson. The Andrew Robinson uniform varies depending on the day of the week, but the uniform shirts are required to bear the school’s logo. However, as with North Shore, children are not sent home or disciplined for failing to wear the correct uniform. On this day, the Andrew Robinson uniform was green or pink shirts with khaki, blue, or black pants. Ms. Hall testified that she generally pays little attention to the uniforms the children are wearing. Her experience is that children often go to school out of uniform. The Children of Liberty transportation log for August 27, 2018, shows that C.R. and K.A. left the child care facility at 8:15 a.m. It is undisputed that Ms. Hall was driving the children in a van. Billing records for Ms. Hall’s cell phone show that she phoned or attempted to phone L.S. at 8:15 a.m. on August 27, 2018. The call lasted one minute. Ms. Hall phoned or attempted to phone L.S. again at 8:16 a.m. This call lasted two minutes. Ms. Hall had no explanation for why she phoned L.S. at the precise time she was also driving C.R. to school. She speculated that she must have been returning a call from L.S., but produced no documentation to support her theory. The Children of Liberty transportation log indicates that Ms. Hall dropped off C.R. and K.A. at Andrew Robinson at 8:18 a.m. Ms. Hall testified that she pulled up at the front of the school, made sure that the school patrol and teachers were at the drop-off point, and dropped off the children. Ms. Hall stated that C.R. told her that he knew where to go. She did not personally hand the child off to responsible school personnel at the drop-off point. Ms. Hall’s practice of dropping off the students was acceptable under Department standards for K.A., who was a school-age child. See Section 2.5.2, “Driver Requirements,” of the School-Age Child Care Licensing Handbook. However, C.R. was not a school-age child. Ms. Hall was required by Department standards to directly place C.R. into the care of an authorized individual from the school. See Section 2.4.1E of the Child Care Facility Handbook. Ms. Hall claimed that Department rules prevented her from leaving the van to ensure that an authorized individual took over supervision of C.R. However, the Department standard referenced by Ms. Hall requires only that the correct staff-to- child ratio be maintained during transportation. See Section 2.5.4.C of the Child Care Facility Handbook. Because Ms. Hall was dropping off both of the children in her van, nothing prevented her from exiting the van to make sure that C.R. was received by an authorized individual at the school. Had Ms. Hall escorted C.R. onto the Andrew Robinson campus, she likely would have learned the child was not enrolled at that school. The school patrol at Andrew Robinson realized that C.R. was not a student there. They brought C.R. to school staff, who took him to the main office. They looked through the child’s backpack and found paperwork indicating C.R. was enrolled at North Shore. They contacted their counterparts at North Shore, who in turn contacted C.R.’s family. L.S. testified that she learned of the situation from her grandmother, who had received the call from North Shore. She was not sure why they called her grandmother first, but shortly thereafter she got a call from the principal of North Shore. L.S. was informed that the school could not undertake the liability of transporting C.R. and that she would have to pick him up at Andrew Robinson and deliver him to North Shore. She drove to Andrew Robinson and picked up C.R., then headed to Children of Liberty to find out why Ms. Hall dropped her child off at the wrong school. C.R. was at the wrong school for at least an hour before his mother picked him up. Ms. Hall testified that L.S. cursed and threatened her bodily harm upon her arrival at Children of Liberty, although no physical altercation took place. L.S. conceded that she was very angry and used inappropriate language, though she said much of her anger was due to Ms. Hall’s refusal to take responsibility for taking C.R. to the wrong school. L.S. never took C.R. back to Children of Liberty after August 27, 2018. Ms. Hall testified that she believed C.R. was enrolled at Andrew Robinson. Her phone calls to L.S. during the drive to the school raise the question of whether she was in doubt about the matter. Her alteration of C.R.’s enrollment form, and her unlikely story about her two attempts to pick up C.R. at Andrew Robinson, also call into question her good faith belief that the child attended Andrew Robinson. As she stated repeatedly, Ms. Hall had no reason to drop off the child at the wrong school. Nonetheless, Ms. Hall took on the responsibility for C.R.’s safe transport to and from his VPK. Even giving full credit to her good intentions does not change the fact that she left C.R. at the wrong school and, in so doing, failed to supervise the child in accordance with the standards set forth in the Department’s rules and Child Care Facility Handbook.
Recommendation Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED that the Department of Children and Families enter a final order finding that Respondent provided inadequate supervision in violation of Section 2.4.1E of the Child Care Facility Handbook, and imposing a fine of $250.00 upon Terri Hall, d/b/a Children of Liberty Child Care Center. DONE AND ENTERED this 1st day of May, 2019, in Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida. S LAWRENCE P. STEVENSON Administrative Law Judge Division of Administrative Hearings The DeSoto Building 1230 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3060 (850) 488-9675 Fax Filing (850) 921-6847 www.doah.state.fl.us Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 1st day of May, 2019.
