An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 21 – Child Care Centers/Preschools

DSS will conduct unannounced site visits as often as necessary to ensure that preschools are providing quality care. 2969 CCLD will conduct these site visits at least once every three years. 2970 CCLD will also conduct annual unannounced site visits if CCLD included this requirement in a facility compliance plan, if the child care center is on probation, if an accusation against the preschool is pending, or to verify that a person ordered out of the preschool is no longer at the facility. 2971 Any person, including parents, teachers, employees, or neighbors, may request DSS conduct an inspection of a child care facility by complaining to CCLD of an alleged violation. 2972 Upon receipt of a complaint, CCLD will conduct a preliminary review of the allegations to determine if the complaint is reasonable or if it is only made to willfully harass a preschool. 2973 If CCLD finds the complaint has a reasonable basis, it will make an onsite inspection within 10 days of receipt of the complaint. 2974 If, after the inspection, CCLD determines the complaint has no reasonable basis, CCLD will not disclose the complaint to the public and will notify the preschool of its dismissal of the complaint within 30 days. 2975 CCLD representatives may not enter or inspect any facility until they have presented proper identification. 2976 Preschools must ensure the individual arriving to inspect the facility is, in fact, a licensed CCLD evaluator. CCLD itself has warned child care centers to beware of imposters conducting facility evaluations and recommends the child care center ask to see the evaluator’s driver’s license and licensing badge. 2977 Preschools must permit the CCLD representative entry after he or she presents evidence of proper identification. CCLD can assess an immediate civil penalty of $150 per day if the preschool refuses to permit the CCLD representative entry to the facility or any part of the facility. 2978 LCW Practice Advisor

Licensing evaluators must visit preschools at least once every three years. 2979 However, preschools should always operate in compliance with laws and regulations as a licensing evaluator must conduct an evaluation within 10 days of receipt of a reasonable complaint against the preschool and may make an unannounced site visit at any time. 2980

1. N OTICE O F D EFICIENCIES Upon completion of the site evaluation, the CCLD evaluator will complete a Facility Evaluation Report (LIC 809), also called a Licensing Report, to document the level of facility compliance. 2981 If the site visit was initiated by a complaint, CCLD will also complete a Complaint Investigation Report (LIC 9099). 2982 These reports will list the findings of the evaluation, set forth any deficiencies found during the inspection, and cite the law or regulation violated, if any. 2983 The reports will list CCLD’s and the preschool’s proposed plan of correction and the date by which the deficiency must be corrected. 2984 The report will also list the amount of any civil penalty and the date that penalty begins, if any, and the local CCLD address and phone number. 2985 These reports are public documents and are accessible to any member of the public. 2986

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 656