Do you trust the City of Long Beach with your children? According to a list of recent violations at the City's Magnolia Day Care Center, you should seriously think twice.
On July 31, 2013 the Magnolia Day Care Center was cited for multiple serious violations that include:
- Corporal Punishment
- Staff who do not staff who do not promote the physical, intellectual, social, cultural and emotional well-being of the children.
- Not reporting suspected incidents of child abuse or maltreatment concerning a child in care to the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment.
- Children being left without competent direct supervision.
- Not taking suitable precautions to eliminate all conditions in areas accessible to children which pose a safety or health hazard to children.
This is what happens when you replace experienced people with political friends. In early 2012 the Council President Fran Adelson and her friends on the city council forced Pat McCormick who oversaw the day care center and all of Youth & Family Services for over 35 years. Adelson replaced McCormick with her best friend, Johanna Mathaison. Matheison has a college degree in education that she earned in the 1970's, but she was not a teacher.
This is shameful and the nearly 100 parents of the children who attend the day care center should have been told. Instead, city hall kept it a secret.
We came across this information when a friend of ours asked if we could recommend a day care facility in Long Beach. In the past we heard great things about the Magnolia Day Care. Thank goodness our friend did her homework and searched the state website for child care facility's and found this report on Magnolia Day Care.
As of today all of the violations have been corrected probably because I made a call to the city to express my outrage. Up until last wednesday the violations were still "not corrected". After I told city hall I was going to notify the community about the violations they must have rushed to fix them. Corrected or not, they were cited for the violations. Inspectors saw some serious violations when they visited. These are serious issues and parents and the community should have been told. Instead city hall kept it a secret.
If anyone reading this has or had children who attend(ed) the day care center or know someone who does, they need to share this important information with them.
The parents of the children and the community at large should get a full explanation from city hall as to what actually and truthfully transpired at the day care this summer that warranted such serious violations!
But then again given city hall's behavior we shouldn't hold our breath waiting for any explanation.
Shame on city hall and hame on Fran Adelson and her fellow council members for allowing this to happen in the name of politics. Their actions, forcing an experienced man with 35 years experience so she can hire her best friend to the job; a job she has no experience in doing, led to this.
