PONCHA SPRINGS, Colo. — Editor's note: This story contains descriptions of possible abuse that some readers might find offensive.
Two employees at a day care that has been suspended by the state are suspected of failing to report incidents of inappropriate touching between children in a timely manner, according to documents from the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office.
On Jan. 24, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office and the Chaffee County Department of Human Services began a joint investigation regarding suspected child abuse or neglect that occurred at The Schoolhouse in Poncha Springs, which is operated by the Chaffee Childcare Initiative.
On Jan. 26, two staff members were issued summons on suspicion of two misdemeanors: failure to report child abuse or neglect, and knowingly placing a child in a situation that poses a threat of injury, the Sheriff's Office said.
A Sheriff's Office report indicates there were multiple incidents between Jan. 16 and Jan. 20 involving a boy. Incidents on Jan. 16 and 17 were not reported to the Department of Human Services by Schoolhouse staff until Jan. 19. Another incident that occurred on Jan. 20 was not reported until the following Monday.
According to the documents, on Jan. 16, a child had an accident during nap time. A staff member took the child to the bathroom to clean up. At the same time, the executive director, who is charged in the incident, left the room to put the soiled linens in the wash. During that time, while there was no supervision in the room, there was an incident of inappropriate touching between two children, the documents show.
A statement posted on The Schoolhouse's Facebook page disputes that children were ever left alone.
It says that the facility "became aware of a three-to-five-minute time period in one of our classrooms, during which the teacher-to-child ratio was not met, as required by Colorado Childcare Rules & Regulations. At no time were the children without adult supervision."
A parent of one of the victims later called the county Department of Human Services and expressed concerns about the handling of the situation, the documents say.
The parent said they were given verbal reports about what happened from staff members that did not match what was in the written reports. The parent was also concerned that other families were not made aware of the situation.
When a parent expressed their concerns about the boy not being expelled, the site director, who is charged in the case, said it was "not in our policies" to expel a child, the Sheriff's Office report says. She went on to say that "action" was taking place with the teacher involved, according to the report.
The father of the boy involved in the incident asked whether his child was going to be expelled and was told by the site director that "they do not expel children" and instead "help and support them," the document says.
According to the Sheriff's Office report, the site director called someone with the Chaffee County Early Childcare Council on Jan. 18 and asked whether she needed to report the incidents and how she should do that. She also spoke with a Mental Health Consultant who advised her to report the incidents.
None of the incidents were reported until the following day.
Sheriff's Office investigators later spoke with that mental health consultant who reported that the site director appeared to be "looking for damage control" because some parents were upset that they found out about the incidents from other parents.
The consultant also recalled that the site director didn't think one of the incidents needed to be reported because "no physical touch" was involved.
The consultant said she reiterated that the behavior was "outside" the range of "normal development curiosity." She said she sent paperwork to the site director that indicated the behaviors exhibited were "red flags."
The license for The Schoolhouse was temporarily suspended Jan. 25, and a formal suspension was put in place starting Jan. 31, which required the license to be immediately surrendered.
A letter from the state notifying the facility that its license was suspended indicated there were "consistent and repeated child care licensing violations" at the center, which first became licensed in August 2020.
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