Day care center had previous issues
Xplor staffff cited in past for being unaware how many kids were in care.
Austin day care had been cited twice in the past two years for caregivers having incorrect information or simply not knowing how many children they were responsible for watching.
When a father fifiled a police report last week against the child-care center Xplor, it wasn’t the only time the center had an issue with keeping track of children, records show.
The Xplor location on Anderson Mill Road in Northwest Austin has been cited twice in the past two years — not counting last week’s incident — for staffff members either having incorrect information or not knowing how many children were in their care, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which licenses child-care centers in Texas.
Jaydeep Dave told the American-Statesman that when he showed up to Xplor to pick up his 5-year-old son, Om, Friday evening, staffff members told him his son had not shown up that day.
After a 15-minute search, staffffffffffff ers returned with Om, Dave said. They had found him alone in the center’s shuttle, where he had spent more than 2½ hours on a day with nearly 90-degree weather. Om told his dad he had fallen asleep on the shuttle from school. He tried to get out, but the windows and doors were locked, he said.
Xplor confifirmed Monday that a child had been left on a shuttle Friday and that the driver is no longer employed with the center.
“The established protocol was not followed,” said Bev
O’Connell, Xplor’s chief operating officer. “We’re investigating to see how and where the process broke down and will take the proper steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
That doesn’t matter, Dave said. Om did not attend Xplor on Monday, and the family is looking for a new day care center, he said.
Xplor’s Anderson Mill location has run into trouble with this issue and others before, with state records showing six inspection deficiencies ranked “high” risk:
July 23, 2015: An inspector noted that while the caregivers said there were 27 children present and 27 children signed in, the inspector found that there were 28 children.
Sept. 17, 2014: Two infants were sleeping in bouncers and one in a swing, and the inspector had to ask the caregivers to move them to their cribs.
Aug. 4, 2014: An inspector reported that a staff member did not know how many children she was responsible for.
Feb. 25, 2014: A staff member’s first aid and CPR training had expired earlier that month.
Feb. 4, 2014: Three employees did not have current FBI fingerprinting records.
Feb. 4, 2014: A staff member did not have a current 24-month background check renewal. This was later corrected.
O’Connell declined to comment.
Not keeping track of the children is particularly scary, Dave said, because it could have been hours before staff members realized something bad had happened to a child.
“If he had been in the bathroom for 2½ hours, this person wouldn’t have noticed either,” he said.
Once the staff found Om, Dave took him home immediately, he said. Om had been crying — his eyes were watery and swollen — and he was exhausted, Dave said. By the time he got home “he was very hungry and thirsty,” he said.
“I was just so fortunate to see him talking to me,” Dave said. “The only thing going through my mind was, ‘What if it was longer than 2½ hours? What if it was Wednesday, not Friday?’”
Om’s school had released students early Wednesday at 12:45 p.m.
The Department of Family and Protective Services is investigating the case, spokeswoman Julie Moody said. If the agency “has the same issue over and over and over again with the same center, then the first sanction would be placing that center on corrective action,” Moody said.
Xplor’s error was inexcusable, Dave said.
“There are parents everywhere who have to work,” Dave said. “They need trustworthy people who will look after their kids while they’re doing their jobs.”