Olney Children in the Shoe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They obviously have policies in place to prevent this, the issue is they weren’t followed. They were also ramped up the very next day, and if you are indeed a Shoe parent, I suspect you know enough about how the place operates to know that this will never happen again. We are talking about a place that just dropped its last COVID procedures this week. To say they are diligent about following rules would be an understatement.

The mitigating factors weigh on the severity of the offense and how they should be viewing whether the children are actually in danger. To pretend there is some ongoing danger to the children who go there that it warrants closing the center is ridiculous. They provide a public service, the children, parents, and staff are far more negatively affected by a closure than the owners of the center. The purpose of an emergency suspension is supposed to prevent imminent danger to the children. A (literal) once in a lifetime occurrence, combined with the circumstances, does not indicate anyone is in danger going forward. And if they actually thought there was imminent danger, I would like an explanation for why the center stayed open for another week.

Thats what you get if you voted for big government. A huge and slow bureaucracy that will blindly follow a process.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Why are they closing 2 weeks for this? I read on facebook that some of the kids were being transferred to Bethesda locations.

This is the question the community is asking (as well as some of our local elected officials).

The state’s letter is written in a way to convey the most negligence, omitting the mitigating factors. This was a preK child who was hiding on the playground and scaled a 6 foot fence. Obviously you cannot excuse this entirely, but it was a child who is of an age to know better and who was intent on mischief. It’s hard to understand how an isolated incident like this (to our knowledge the only time in the center’s history) rises to the level of an emergency situation that warrants a shut down. None of our children are in any danger.

I get this is an anonymous board but why are people being so cagey about where they’re getting this information from? Who is the community and what community leaders? I have not seen anything in any of the larger Olney groups or Parent groups. So I question where this information is coming from.

The Shoe community and the elected officials we have reached out to. I don’t think the state anticipated the backlash they are receiving from the working parents of 150 children were left without care and told at 4 pm Tuesday after an isolated incident

I mean those 149 parents are being punished for a prek kid who hid and then climbed a *six foot fence* and caused chaos. I would be angry too.

I actually feel.bad for the staff who has to look after this type of child.

It’s infuriating. It happened 9 days prior to the closure and things had been business as usual. Then they showed up saying our children were in “danger.” It’s such a wonderful school and community and this sucks for everyone.

First of all, I have children who go to this center and desperately need them to reopen. However, I cannot believe people on this forum are blaming a 4- or 5-year old child for this. There are no "mitigating factors" and it does not matter whether the child "should have known better"--it is 100 percent the responsibility of a daycare to ensure the safety of the children in its care. These arguments have no bearing a hearing on whether the Shoe should have the suspension lifted. The only thing that matters is that they have put the policies in place to prevent this from happening again (which should have been in place in the first place).

Agreed. Shocked by the responses here and how many parents are chomping at the bit to return their children to a facility that literally lost a child, who--by sheer luck--did not suffer worse consequences (the options are all grim). The teachers lost a kid, FFS. It doesn't matter if he/she was 4 or 5 or a good climber. It is their responsibility to keep all the students safe and do the bare minimum of their jobs like a head count. Having backup and contingency plans is part of parenting.

[Anonymous]

“Having backup and contingency plans is part of parenting.”

This is a very privileged or uninformed statement.

Can you describe to me a backup plan that doesn’t involve having family nearby or spending very large sums of money?

My partner and I are privileged and when our center shutdown last summer unexpectedly due to staffing issues, we tried to utilize the backup care my work offers as a benefit. Guess what? The first day, they didn’t have someone available. The second day, they sent someone who had never cared for infants. And so on. So, I missed 2.5 days of work that week and my partner missed 2.5 days of work. We were lucky that the only consequences if that was less vacation time for other times and working at night when we should have been sleeping. What about for people who don’t have such flexible jobs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Having backup and contingency plans is part of parenting.”

This is a very privileged or uninformed statement.

Can you describe to me a backup plan that doesn’t involve having family nearby or spending very large sums of money?

My partner and I are privileged and when our center shutdown last summer unexpectedly due to staffing issues, we tried to utilize the backup care my work offers as a benefit. Guess what? The first day, they didn’t have someone available. The second day, they sent someone who had never cared for infants. And so on. So, I missed 2.5 days of work that week and my partner missed 2.5 days of work. We were lucky that the only consequences if that was less vacation time for other times and working at night when we should have been sleeping. What about for people who don’t have such flexible jobs?

100%. Everyone I know who says stuff about backup plans has at the very least-one set of parents local and sometimes more than that. They simply don’t get that “having a backup plan” is not a typical thing people can just have without family nearby. My husband’s job also offers backup care and there was one center close to us that we could use. I was so uncomfortable just dropping off my young kids at a daycare they have never been to-but it didn’t matter anyway because when we inquired they had no room anyway.

[Anonymous]

What is the update on the closure?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Having backup and contingency plans is part of parenting.”

This is a very privileged or uninformed statement.

Can you describe to me a backup plan that doesn’t involve having family nearby or spending very large sums of money?

My partner and I are privileged and when our center shutdown last summer unexpectedly due to staffing issues, we tried to utilize the backup care my work offers as a benefit. Guess what? The first day, they didn’t have someone available. The second day, they sent someone who had never cared for infants. And so on. So, I missed 2.5 days of work that week and my partner missed 2.5 days of work. We were lucky that the only consequences if that was less vacation time for other times and working at night when we should have been sleeping. What about for people who don’t have such flexible jobs?

100%. Everyone I know who says stuff about backup plans has at the very least-one set of parents local and sometimes more than that. They simply don’t get that “having a backup plan” is not a typical thing people can just have without family nearby. My husband’s job also offers backup care and there was one center close to us that we could use. I was so uncomfortable just dropping off my young kids at a daycare they have never been to-but it didn’t matter anyway because when we inquired they had no room anyway.

NP

I don't love how people have referenced "having a backup plan" when talking about COVID closures because those were long term, unprecedented and also made a lot of people's "back up plans" impossible.

But a couple weeks? That is just part of being a parent. Especially if the reason is your child care provider lost a child.

[Anonymous]

Btw the back up plan is you take time off work. It sucks, might cost you money, might affect your career k, but you are a parent. Be glad you don't have to stop working all together as parents of children with disabilities sometimes have to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Btw the back up plan is you take time off work. It sucks, might cost you money, might affect your career k, but you are a parent. Be glad you don't have to stop working all together as parents of children with disabilities sometimes have to do.

Exactly. It’s a couple weeks. I find it hard to believe the parents posting here don’t have access to sick leave, vacation time, babysitters, etc. If your preferred alternative to this is rolling the dice and putting your children in dangerous and incompetent hands then you’ve got bigger issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the back up plan is you take time off work. It sucks, might cost you money, might affect your career k, but you are a parent. Be glad you don't have to stop working all together as parents of children with disabilities sometimes have to do.

Exactly. It’s a couple weeks. I find it hard to believe the parents posting here don’t have access to sick leave, vacation time, babysitters, etc. If your preferred alternative to this is rolling the dice and putting your children in dangerous and incompetent hands then you’ve got bigger issues.

I love that people come to this forum looking for information and proceed to criticize a thing they know nothing about. It is highly offensive of you to suggest people put their children in “dangerous and incompetent hands.” Speaking of “issues,” is this what you do all day??????

[Anonymous]

I just want to say that I used to work at The Shoe and I can't imagine how this happened. The child must have been very determined. The teachers always did a headcount before coming in from the playground when I was there. I loved watching there because it was a very safe, caring and professional center. The owners genuinely care about everyone in the organization

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to say that I used to work at The Shoe and I can't imagine how this happened. The child must have been very determined. The teachers always did a headcount before coming in from the playground when I was there. I loved watching there because it was a very safe, caring and professional center. The owners genuinely care about everyone in the organization

Sad that you supposedly worked there and are blaming the child. How does a child being “determined” have anything to do with the fact that they were left outside? Obviously the staff are NOT doing head counts every time otherwise this wouldn’t have happened. This is gross negligence.

This happened at the same Shoe location back in the 90s. A high school student was volunteering at the retirement community next door and was in the parking lot. She saw a small child about to walk onto Georgia Ave and ran out and grabbed the child. There was a whole write up about it in the Olney Gazette. I’m surprised this latest incident hasn’t made the news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just want to say that I used to work at The Shoe and I can't imagine how this happened. The child must have been very determined. The teachers always did a headcount before coming in from the playground when I was there. I loved watching there because it was a very safe, caring and professional center. The owners genuinely care about everyone in the organization

Sad that you supposedly worked there and are blaming the child. How does a child being “determined” have anything to do with the fact that they were left outside? Obviously the staff are NOT doing head counts every time otherwise this wouldn’t have happened. This is gross negligence.

This happened at the same Shoe location back in the 90s. A high school student was volunteering at the retirement community next door and was in the parking lot. She saw a small child about to walk onto Georgia Ave and ran out and grabbed the child. There was a whole write up about it in the Olney Gazette. I’m surprised this latest incident hasn’t made the news.

Do you think it’s being censored? It’s not being mentioned in any of the community Facebook groups. It is newsworthy that a Center of their reputation is closed and the impact of having on the families, the fact that the representatives are stepping in and trying to have it reopened and the states response.

[Anonymous]

Former employee, again. I don't think that the child is to blame. Obviously the adults in charge failed in their responsibilities and should be held accountable. I'm saying that this is surprising to me given my experience there when I was an employee of this center. I do think that the child must have been very determined to pull this off (do you not agree?). Also, there was no Children in the Shoe in Olney until 2000. Perhaps the incident you cited was at the preschool that used to exist at that location? I, too, am surprised at the lack of press.

[Anonymous]

I can’t believe any of you want to send your children back.

Doing a count on the way back inside is very, very basic. There’s absolutely no excuse for leaving a kid outside. Having a kid sneak out from the classroom or the playground while everyone is there is much more understandable. But leaving them through a transition means the staff really don't care and aren’t trying.

[Anonymous]

Every now and then I hear about a center that left a child outside. It does happen, though ideally it should not. I've never seen it reported in the news.