Thursday, April 21st 2011, 6:47 pm
Dana Hertneky, News 9
NORMAN, Oklahoma -- A DHS report of an investigation into alleged abuse at a Norman day care determined a staff member tied a child to a chair.
The report that was released Thursday determined the staff member at KinderCare Day Care restrained the child to a chair with what appeared to be a sheet, and other staff members were aware of the incident but did not address it.
DHS recommended the facility suspend staff members and require employees to attended classroom management, supervision and guidance classes.
Officials with the day care also stated they would ensure staff members would no longer use improper restraints. In the future highchairs would be used.
KinderCare at OU spokesperson Leslie Constans released a statement Thursday regarding the investigation:
"We can confirm that an allegation of inappropriate guidance was made against several members of our staff at the KinderCare at OU in March. Inappropriate behavior of any kind is not tolerated in our center. State licensing, DHS and our internal management team are investigating these allegations and we are cooperating with DHS and state licensing on this investigation. As per our protocol, the teachers involved were suspended. State licensing has now determined that the employees involved can return to the center and we are retraining all of our teachers on child guidance and appropriate use of equipment. Since this is an ongoing allegation we can not comment any further on this allegation."
DHS spokesperson Sheree Powell said there was no evidence the child was tied up as punishment.
The Oklahoma DHS was recently ranked number one in the nation when it comes to overseeing the state's child care centers.
April 21st, 2011
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