ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — A daycare center in Anne Arundel County was temporarily shut down by the state after children escaped, a two-year-old was injured, and a child was left inside during a fire drill during three separate incidents in April.
The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) Division of Early Childhood's Office of Child Care (OCC) issued an emergency suspension to The Elevon on May 23, requiring the center to stop providing care immediately as the investigation continues.
The center, which opened in 2018, is located in Severn.
According to documents obtained by WMAR-2 News, the OCC first received a complaint on May 15. The complainant reported that the center is “out of ratio,” meaning their staff-to-student ratio was not meeting state regulations. They also stated, “staff are always on their cell phones instead of supervising children,” and "there have been multiple incidents of children getting injured as well as multiple occasions when children have been left alone.”
On one of those occasions, a staff member allegedly opened the emergency evacuation door in the “toddler room” and left it open while she was changing diapers. Multiple children “escaped out of the open door,” according to the complainant’s account in the OCC report. On another occasion, a staff member allegedly left a child inside the building during a fire drill.
Parents were not notified, and these incidents were not reported to the OCC. When the center’s assistant director was interviewed by OCC investigators about the kids escaping from the open door, she stated that since the children didn’t go far, she didn’t feel the need to report what happened. The director, Arby Khan, told investigators it “took 30 seconds, and everyone was safe so there was no need to alert anyone else of the incident.” In Mr. Khan's written statement to the OCC, he states, "I do not believe this constitutes neglect. The children were unseen for no more than 10 seconds."
A parent of one of the escaped children who was notified by Khan later, told OCC investigators that she was informed by a staff member it wasn’t until someone viewed surveillance cameras that staff were aware the children had gotten out.
After the OCC inspected the facility and conducted an investigation, the center was found to be in violation of the following regulations, listed below:
"The OCC has evaluated this information and has determined that this emergency suspension is required to protect the health, safety, or welfare of the children in the Center's care,” the report states.
The Elevon has appealed the decision, MSDE confirms to WMAR-2 News.
In an email sent by Khan to parents, obtained by WMAR-2 News, the director calls the claims “untruths,” and tells parents, “please note that the vast majority of claims made by the disgruntled employee were untrue.”
Parents were refunded tuition on a prorated basis.
Melanie Kozel spoke with WMAR-2 News about the injury her 2 year-old daughter sustained while under The Elevon's care.
"We noticed things that weren’t always great, but I don’t think we ever really thought it was something as bad as it turned out to be," she said in an interview at her home on Monday.
Back in April, Kozel's daughter suffered a pulled elbow, meaning her elbow was partially dislocated. It took a month for the toddler to regain full range of motion.
"They [The Elevon management] made it sound like, maybe it was something that happened there, maybe not. But when I dropped her off, she was fine," Kozel recalled.
Khan told Kozel it's a common injury for toddlers, and she let it go. It wasn't until the OCC opened its investigation, and Kozel received a phone call from Child Protective Services, that she learned more.
"It was pretty clear from them that this was not a place you would send your child back to, and we immediately got alternative care. I wish I would’ve known 4 weeks earlier, because I would have never sent her back there," she told WMAR-2 News.
According to the MSDE's report, the assistant director told the OCC she reviewed the surveillance cameras with Khan, and saw a staff member “picked the child up from a standing position by her arm to midway in the air, and walked her over from the cubbies to her chair and sat her down.”
In an interview with the OCC, the staff member chalked it up to an accident, and a misunderstanding. Khan told investigators he feels it’s important to educate his staff on the proper way to do things, and treated this as a learning experience. Kozel asked the center to view the surveillance footage, but still hasn't been granted the opportunity to do so.
"It’s horrible when things happen but you would think that those at the top would do the right thing, and say, ‘we don’t stand for this. we’re all about the welfare of these kids,'" Kozel said. "My daughter couldn’t tell me what happened. She couldn’t say that she was scared."
She filed a police report with the Anne Arundel County Police Department.
WMAR-2 News contacted The Elevon via email for comment; we have not heard back yet. When we stopped by the center on Monday, it was closed. When we called the center, someone answered but then hung up after we identified ourselves.