Community Connections at East Montpelier

Regulation 5.12: The licensee shall ensure that all new staff prior to working with children in the Afterschool Child Care Program; and any new individual designated as the representative of the licensee shall submit a Records Check Authorization form to the Division and shall submit to fingerprinting at a location designated by the Division after having received the Fingerprinting Authorization Certificate by the Division.

“It was confirmed that two (2) staff have not come into compliance with fingerprinting. Staff A was sent the fingerprinting letter in August 2025. Staff B was sent the fingerprinting letter in October 2025. Corrective Action: Have the staff make appointments and submit to fingerprinting as soon as possible. Email confirmation of the scheduled fingerprinting appointments by 5/15/2026. Status: Appeal Period.”

Regulation 18.77: Within six months of the initial date of employment, Staff working with children and the Site Director and/or Program Administrator shall maintain an up-to-date BFIS Quality and Credential Account. Documentation, verification of qualifications and all annual professional development activities as specified in the rules in Section 5 of these regulations shall be submitted to NLCDC to be verified and maintained in BFIS.

“A review of BFIS and confirmation from Northern Lights at CCV show that staff BFIS accounts are not up to date with required documentation. Corrective Action: Review all staff BFIS accounts and develop a plan for staff to submit all missing documents to Northern Lights at CCV. Develop a system of how BFIS accounts will be kept up to date moving forward. Status: Appeal Period.”

Regulation 5.12: The licensee shall ensure that all new staff prior to working with children in the Afterschool Child Care Program; and any new individual designated as the representative of the licensee shall submit a Records Check Authorization form to the Division and shall submit to fingerprinting at a location designated by the Division after having received the Fingerprinting Authorization Certificate by the Division.

“Staff person A has a hired date listed as 08/06/2024 and as of the date of this visit has not completed the full fingerprinting process. It was confirmed that this person has worked directly with children at this program including in March 2025. Corrective Action: Have this individual complete the full background clearance process. Develop a system to ensure submissions of record check authorization forms, correspondence with the Divsion about next steps in the clearance process, and submissions/status of fingerprint clearances are monitored. Identify who or what role within the organization will be responsible. This corrective action is to be emailed to elaine.crawford@vermont.gov”

Correction date in the state record: Apr 18, 2025

Regulation 5.12: The licensee shall ensure that all new staff prior to working with children in the Afterschool Child Care Program; and any new individual designated as the representative of the licensee shall submit a Records Check Authorization form to the Division and shall submit to fingerprinting at a location designated by the Division after having received the Fingerprinting Authorization Certificate by the Division.

“Staff A was hired in December of 2023 and has not completed the fingerprint supported background clearance though the Child Development Division. The Program Administrator is in the process of scheduling a mobile fingerprint unit to visit the school. Corrective Action: Staff A may not be left alone with children until the Child Development Division has received the results of the fingerprint supported background clearance. Please confirm with this licensor the date the mobile fingerprint unit will be at the school. Please retain a copy of the fingerprint receipt.”

Correction date in the state record: Apr 18, 2024

Regulation 5.22: The Licensee shall maintain hard copy or accessible electronic records for each Staff person, including: * start date * job title * record of education, training, and experience that demonstrates how the Staff member meets the required qualifications for the position * signed and dated statement(s) indicating that the employee has read and understands the Licensing Regulations for Afterschool Child Care Programs * current and dated Individual Professional Development Plan (IPDP) * a copy of the current First Aid and CPR training cards from either the American Red Cross or American Heart Association or other recognized organization(s), as required * a signed and dated statement verifying understanding of the legal requirement to report suspected child abuse or neglect.

“The Site Director was not present the day of the visit and the staff that were present did not have access to the staff files. Files were also not available during last years complinace visit on 05/08/2023 and is a repeat violation. The corrective action last year was to ensure that at a minimum all staff transcripts and required trainings were kept on site and that all staff would be able to access them during a visit. There was a concern about confidentiality and leaving the staff files on site. Corrective Action: During a follow up meeting on 04/03/2024 this licensor was able to review all staff files. All staff files were complete. The program will now keep the files locked in a hallway cabinet and all staff have access to the key.To protect confidentiallity the program used white out on social security numbers found on some of the documents in the staff files. The Director will ensure that the files are kept up to date. Corrective action requirements met.”

Correction date in the state record: Apr 3, 2024

Regulation 18.79: The Licensee shall maintain a current list of the Licensee or Designee, Staff, and Volunteers, as applicable in BFIS. Any changes shall be reported through BFIS within five working days of the change.

“The day of the visit the associated parties list reflected that there were sixteen staff members, this number included substitutes. Of the sixteen only seven are working at this program. Program Administrator mentioned that there were issues getting into BFIS to remove staff and some had record check authorization forms submitted but for various reasons did not end up working at the program. Corrective Action: Please make sure that the associated parties list is up to date. If you are having difficulties accessing BFIS, please contact the BFIS Help Desk. As discussed during our post visit meeting on 04/03/2024 if a person is hired to work at the program and for whatever reason that person will not be on site, please remove them within five business days. Our discussion on 4/3/2024 captured that the program is aware of this requirement and will ensure future compliance is met, no further corrective action needed.”

Correction date in the state record: Apr 3, 2024

Regulation 18.77: Within six months of the initial date of employment, Staff working with children and the Site Director and/or Program Administrator shall maintain an up-to-date BFIS Quality and Credential Account. Documentation, verification of qualifications and all annual professional development activities as specified in the rules in Section 5 of these regulations shall be submitted to NLCDC to be verified and maintained in BFIS.

“Three staff members who have been with the program for more than six months do not have complete BFIS quality and credential accounts. The three staff members all have expired First Aid and CPR certificates in their BFIS accounts. Corrective Action: Please submit the First Aid and CPR cards to Northern Lights @CCV. Please include this licensor on that email. Please also send me an email identifying who monitors submissions to Northern Lights and how the program will ensure documents are submitted when required.”

Correction date in the state record: May 22, 2025

Regulation 5.22: The Licensee shall maintain hard copy or accessible electronic records for each Staff person, including: * start date * job title * record of education, training, and experience that demonstrates how the Staff member meets the required qualifications for the position * signed and dated statement(s) indicating that the employee has read and understands the Licensing Regulations for Afterschool Child Care Programs * current and dated Individual Professional Development Plan (IPDP) * a copy of the current First Aid and CPR training cards from either the American Red Cross or American Heart Association or other recognized organization(s), as required * a signed and dated statement verifying understanding of the legal requirement to report suspected child abuse or neglect.

“Required staff qualification and credential information was not on site. This included documentation of valid First Aid and CPR certification, completion of Vermont Orientation and Mandated Reporter training and required ongoing professional development hours. The program administrator was given 3 days to get the documents to this licensor and failed to do so. Corrective Action: Moving forward it is required that the items listed within this regulation are available on site at the time of the licensing visit. The documents may be kept in hard copy form or electronic form. Staff shall be aware of where the documents are kept and will present them to the licensing representative upon request. Email this licensor with a plan for how and where required documents are stored. It is still required to submit the missing documentation to this licensor. If the documents are not received by the due date,an additional site visit may be conducted, an additional violations may be cited.”

Correction date in the state record: Jun 14, 2023

Regulation 5.4: Afterschool Child Care Program Staff that work in the Afterschool Child Care Program are required to have at least one of the following within the first year of employment: * Vermont Afterschool Foundations Certificate or * Vermont Afterschool Essentials Certificate or * Vermont On-the-Job Training Certificate or * Vermont Afterschool Professional Credential or * Vermont Program Director Credential or * Vermont Teacher Licensure or * BA/BS or Associates degree

“Staff A has been employed since 09/08/2020; has not completed the required trainings to continue to serve as Program Staff as they've been employed longer than twelve (12) months. Corrective Action: Notify this licensor when Staff A has completed their couresework. Ensure that moving forward program staff complete required trainings if they do not fully meet the qualification requirements at the time of hire.”

Correction date in the state record: Feb 3, 2023

Regulation 4.8.d.: Reports to the child's parent shall be made in the following circumstances: any incident where a child sustains an injury during the hours the child is in the Afterschool Child Care Program that requires the services of a medical professional, including a dentist, the parent(s) shall immediately be notified and the Licensee shall submit to the child's parent(s) a written report describing the circumstances of the incident, either in hard-copy or printable, accessible electronic format, within twenty-four hours.

“Staff A was asked for a copy of the written incident report that was sent to the family. Staff A stated they did not send a written incident report and throught they only needed to tell the family. After this visit on 12/10/2021 the program provided the family with a written incident report. Corrective Action: Review regulation 4.8.d. Email this licensor and confirm that the regulation has been reviewed and the program will ensure compliance with the regulation in the future.”

Correction date in the state record: Jan 25, 2022

Regulation 5.31: Orientation training shall be conducted for every employee before they are left alone with children. This training shall be documented and shall cover material included in the Staff handbook and licensing regulations. Complete written information and the orientation training session shall include: * Basic knowledge of child growth and development; * Routine and emergency health protection of children including health related exclusions; * Safety and sanitation requirements including handling and storage of hazardous materials and disposal of bio contaminants; * Positive behavior management and child guidance; * Curriculum development policies and responsibilities; * Supervision of children; * Policies and procedures for reporting a missing child; * Child accident and injury procedures including building and physical premises safety; * Safe sleep practices; * Requirements for administration and storage of medication; * Emergency Response Plan and emergency procedures, including: staffing emergencies, school closings, evacuation plans such as site evacuations in case of national or environmental emergency, lock-down procedures, responding to a sick or injured child and medical emergencies; * Use of fire extinguishers; * Nutrition and food safety including prevention of and response to emergencies due to food and allergic reactions; * Recordkeeping, including daily attendance procedures; * Transportation and child passenger safety; * Off-site activities (field trips) * Release of children; * Respectful engagement of families, including daily communication with parents about their child's activities; * Preventing, recognizing, and reporting child abuse and neglect; including information about the signs and symptoms of sexual abuse, sexual violence, grooming processes, recognizing the dangers of child sexual abuse, and other predatory behaviors of sex offenders; * Recognition of and response to the symptoms of common childhood illnesses; * Preventing the spread of infectious disease; * Providing developmentally appropriate activities and experiences for children; * Inclusion of children with special needs; * Guidelines for volunteers; * Responsibility to comply with current applicable licensing regulations; * Staffing plans and definitions of related duties to include opening and closing procedures; * Afterschool Child Care Program licensing regulations; * Employee complaint and grievance procedures; and * Assuring children have extra clothes and diapers available.

“Upon review of staff BFIS Quality and Credential accounts, and on-site files, it was determined that Staff members A, B, and C had not completed Orientation training at the time of this visit. Staff members A and B were present and working with children. Corrective Action: By 3/19/2021, submit a plan on how the orientation will be completed by all staff. Once completed, send proof of completed orientation to Northern Lights at CCV for entrance into BFIS Quality and Credentialing accounts. Submit a program improvement plan identifying how the program will maintain on-going compliance to this regulation.”

Correction date in the state record: Jun 9, 2022