Day Care 'Non-compliant' for 4 Years

While it's no longer in operation, Kids Junction School Zone was one of the more than 200 Georgia day care programs that failed to meet state standards for two years in a row, but continued to operate.

The state's Department of Early Care and Learning since 2007 has been rating day care centers based on the violations they racked up, but "compliance" scores were not made public, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Not made public until now, that is. The newspaper published a database it acquired from DECAL which shows Kids Junction operated nearly four years and was labeled non-compliant during each of those years.

From 2008 through September of 2011, the Cartersville child care center open during late-night and weekend hours got low or the lowest marks.

In June, ongoing problems at the day care made headlines when arrested a 21-year-old worker they say , which resulted in severe injuries to an infant. Prior to that 2011 development, Kids Junction received and was named in .

But it's not the only Bartow County day care classified by the state as non-compliant in one or more of the last four years:

• While compliant in the prior two years, was not compliant with state standards in 2008 and 2009.

• in 2010 received a compliance score of "1," which means it was the least compliant on a scale of 1 to 4. In 2011, Just Kids was back in compliance, as it had been in 2008 and 2009.

• Just Kids Pre-K in Adairsville was marked non-compliant in 2011, after three years of compliance.

• scored a "2," or was less compliant, in 2010, but reached compliance in 2011. While it was not compliant in 2008, it met standards in 2009.

• was non-compliant for two years before it returned to compliance with a "3" in 2010. It also met standards in 2011.

• Returning to compliance with a "3" in 2010, Little Lambs Learning Center on Euharlee Road got a "2" in 2009. In 2011 and 2008, it was classified as in compliance.

Kids Junction School Zone closed as a result of a change in ownership, which was effective Sept. 15, according to DECAL's Sherry Smith. The 82 Center Road facility now operates as Little Lambs Learning Center II, and provides first-, second- and third-shift care for children, in addition to after-school and Saturday programs.

Has the state done enough to regulate child care facilities? Should centers it classified as non-compliant be allowed to continue operating? Should DECAL's classifications be public information? Tell us in the comments.

While AJC reports DECAL Commissioner Bobby Cagle downplayed findings of the newspaper's investigation—that nearly 2,500 day cares across the state fail to meet standards—he later acknowledged the agency should be aiming for less non-compliant child care operations.

It's working on a new scoring system slated to be available to the public in a year or two, according to AJC, but the system is voluntary.

Parents and guardians can access the agency's reports on individual incidents, investigations and inspections.