By Gordon Anderson | gordon@rantnc.com

A preschool program affiliated with Lee Christian School in Sanford has been ordered to cease operations by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services after a number of visits to the program turned up multiple alleged violations of child care requirements.

The claims made by NCDHHS include a range of alleged violations by the Lee Christian K-4 Program on Keller Andrews Road in Sanford, from inadequate child supervision (the report claims “a staff member failed to supervise two-year-old children when two children were laying on the floor chewing on shoes” as a staff member “look(ed) at her phone” and that two children were “seen on two instances standing on top of two shelves while the teachers in that space look(ed) on without addressing them”) to substandard child to staff ratios, as well as sanitation and other alleged violations, including staff changing the diapers of children and failing to wash their hands before serving food.

Additional allegations include restraining children as a form of discipline when the child’s safety and the safety of other children wasn’t at risk, failure to clean and disinfect diaper changing stations, a spray bottle of cleaning solution left within reach of a two-year-old child, and others. Read the entire document here.

The cease order was delivered to Lee Christian K-4 on December 18, 2024. The program has 30 days to file an appeal and remains operational pending any such development (an NCDHHS representative said Monday that the department wasn’t aware of any such appeal). If Lee Christian appeals, the program will be able to remain open while the appeal is considered. The notice indicates that “subsidized child care payments” would cease 45 days from the issuance of the notice.

Lee Christian Head of School Andrew Ricabal didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

The action by NCDHHS goes back to at least the fall of 2023, when state regulators made the first of 15 visits to the program to investigate possible violations of child care requirements. Between September 14, 2023 and November 4, 2024, NCDHHS identified 29 violations “regarding staff/child ratios, supervision, discipline, safe environment, sanitation, criminal background checks, developmentally appropriate activities, staff records, program records, and children records, including multiple repeated violations,” according to the order.

“Violations of child care requirements have been willful, continual, and hazardous to the health and safety of children as evidenced by a pattern of non-compliance, the operator has not made efforts to correct repeated violations or is unable to comply, and the violations are hazardous to the health and safety of children,” the order reads.

After NCDHHS notified Lee Christian that the cease order was being considered, the school “was given the opportunity to provide information about why the action should not be taken.” Lee Christian “subsequently submitted information that was considered by the Division of Child Development and Early Education. After considering that information, the Division of Child Development and Early Education decided to proceed with issuance of the Order to Cease Operation.”