By Josh Mitchell
Corinth Today News Editor
Little Superstars, a Corinth child care facility, provides a safe environment for children and is moving forward after recent state inspection issues, the owner said.
Little Superstars owner Arlene Settle said she is considering appealing the alleged violations found in a June 26 inspection by the Mississippi State Department of Health. Monday is the deadline to appeal.
The facility, which has been open 10 months, is located at 3112 Kendrick Road, and Settle said it remains open and licensed.
“My children here are spoiled,” Settle added. “They are in good hands. I take real good care of them.”
The alleged violations involved lacking letters of employment suitability for two caregivers, failing to maintain the right staff-to-child ratio and children being left unsupervised, the health department records state.
Little Superstars was fined a total $400 and can submit a correction plan.
There has since been a followup inspection, and “everything was perfect,” Settle said. The followup inspection is expected to be posted to the state department of health’s website Monday.
Owner Responds to Alleged Violations
A June 26 inspection of Little Superstars found that the facility failed to maintain the correct staff-to-child ratio in one classroom. There was one staff member with 12 children ages 1-2 when the ratio should have been 1 to 9, the report says.
Settle said she initially thought the ratio was OK since the children were sleeping at the time. The issue was easily corrected by moving a couple of 2-year-olds to the 3-year-old class, she noted.
The inspection report also alleged that two caregivers did not have letters of employment suitability from the department of health but were left alone with children.
But Settle said only one person did not have a completed background check. Moreover, Settle said she was in a room right next to the room where the person with no background check was overseeing a class for 5-12-year-olds.
Settle agreed that background checks for employees are important.
A person can begin employment with a child care facility prior to receiving a letter of suitability from the department of health but cannot be left alone with children until such notification occurs.
The third violation allegedly involved three children being left alone in a room, the records show. But Settle said children were not really left alone.
She said the issue came about because two rooms were divided by a gate and a caregiver was handing a baby to another staffer. The caregiver was basically standing in the doorway between the two rooms when she passed the baby to another teacher, Settle said.
The inspector showed up on a day the facility was shorthanded, Settle said.
The state inspection documents can be viewed by clicking here.
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