Local daycare gets "F" on health inspection

(KXII)
Published: Mar. 13, 2018 at 5:25 PM CDT
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The Stepping Stones Learning Center got an "F" grade on its health inspection on Feb. 26 after receiving 31 demerits. A re-inspection was held Monday and inspectors said many problems had not been corrected.

"There will be improvements and then you see it go downhill again," said registered sanitarian Wendy McLean.

McLean said she has been inspecting the daycare for six years now.

"We found multiple violations to the point where the daycare did receive a failing score," she said.

She said the hand washing area was not set up correctly, there were fly traps next to food, the dishes and sippy cups were dirty and not sanitized, there was dirt all over the floor, and the trash can was open.

She said it's especially alarming considering this is a place where children eat and play.

"It's a highly susceptible population with the hand washing area, and the sippy cups were not sanitized, they were being distributed back into the population of the kids," McLean said.

Daycare owner Joann Thomas said she's remodeling and that's what's causing the problems.

"We have several things we're doing remodeling and everything takes its toll on things like that," Thomas said. "We have to acknowledge that we did have some problems."

She said the kids are safe and clean.

"Our parents are well versed in what goes on, they do not have a problem with what we're doing," Thomas said.

On Monday, the health department reinspected.

"That was the 10 day follow up, and we still had multiple violations that were criticals from the inspection on the 26th," McLean said. "They were not corrected."

The health department will come back and give them a new score in two weeks. If the problems aren't fixed, they could face fines or be shut down.