Join our community of new parents!

Sprouting Star Children’s Academy announce the Community of Families program starting in December.

Join us each week with your child for “Mommy and me” on Tuesday and Thursday of December. Get out of the house and reconnect with other parents, learn new approaches to managing your home with children. Discuss self-care strategies for you, the parent! A time for you and your child to socialize with others like you.

(Hay clases bilinguales en Español. Pídanos!)

SIGN UP HERE

Let’s join together to support and inspire one another during these unprecedented times.

When

8:30am-9:30am or 10am-11am.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12/8, 12/10, 12/15, 12/17, and 12/22.

Cost

$80 for December (5 sessions), Attend in-person or via Zoom.

$50 for Zoom-only attendance.

Due to the pandemic, we are limited to five families (one parent and one child) per session in-person. Masks and other screening required for adult participants.

Where

Sprouting Star Children’s Academy

15913 Windermere Drive, Pflugerville

Alternatively, you may participate via Zoom.

More Information

CONTACT US HERE

We had a great time distributing pumpkins on Saturday! We handed out a little over 40 pumpkins and many craft kits.

Don’t forget, this Saturday from 11am – 12pm is the virtual Halloween event. Fun Halloween story time and virtual craft making. It is free, but you must register at:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PZFY77X

Thank you for stopping by. Here’s a short video of the fun on Saturday. Enjoy!

We are grateful to report that the self-reported State investigation into the incident on August 4th, 2020 confirmed our previous understanding that no children were left unsupervised, nor was there any abuse or neglect. It was clear from the full surveillance recordings that the child had been directly transferred to another staff member waiting in the hallway.

The incident involved a teacher’s response to a child who was biting another child on the face. The teacher immediately responded, calling for assistance, separating the children, and then transferring the child to another staff member while she tended to the needs of the injured student. The child was returned to the class shortly, after she finished administering aid. One lesser issue, whether the transfer was consistent with positive guidance, remains under review. The teacher had been disciplined for incorrectly lifting the child as she was attempting to separate the two and stop the biting. This action, while likely preventing injury to the other child, was not consistent with school policy. But again, no child was ever left unattended for any time, nor was any abuse found, nor are we aware of any harm as had been claimed by several individuals.

Unfortunately, this child behavioral issue and the teacher’s response appears to have been greatly exaggerated by two former staff members. False and mischaracterized accusations were spread widely to families and via social media. It is our opinion this may have been intentional to damage the reputation of the school for private motives. However, every experience is a learning experience. And we will certainly improve our policies, especially with regards to children with severe biting behaviors.

In this case, Sprouting Star followed all state regulations on reporting the incident, and cooperated fully. We are additionally grateful that no abuse, neglect, nor supervision deficiencies were found by the State.

8/14/2020 message to families immediately following the incident…

DATE: August 14, 2020
TO: Sprouting Star Families
SUBJECT: Follow-up on Resignation of Former Director

FOLLOW-UP ANNOUNCEMENT

The following is a follow-up to the resignation of the previous
center director.

We have had a number of inquiries into the situation surrounding
the former director’s departure. Due to these questions, and
statements that have been made on social media by her and/or her
associates, further information seems appropriate.

This director was employed by the center since January of 2019, and
while she was taking more classroom responsibility during the COVID
crisis, she retained her position on the management team and was
integral to the classroom operations. She was also a Sprouting Star
parent, and her child has attended Sprouting Star for the last two
years.

WHAT HAPPENED

On August 4, 2020 the former director reported that her child, a
student here at Sprouting Star, was inappropriately disciplined. She
said that after he bit another child, he was removed from the
classroom and placed alone in the hall unsupervised. This would have
been clearly wrong. The accused caregiver was a long-time employee
who is well regarded and had no history of any misconduct. During
this report, the former director stated that she had only partial
information and did not know certain details, such as if anyone was
in the hallway at the time. She also said she had not spoken to the
caregiver. The former director was both part of the management team
and the child's parent and agreed to investigate further.

A meeting was arranged for the following morning the next day. This
meeting never happened because the former director did not report to
work the next morning. It was discovered at that point that the
former director had left a resignation letter citing this incident
as the reason for her resignation.

Examining video evidence, it was determined that the child was not
left unsupervised. The assistant director had been called and was
waiting outside the doorway, and directly received him from the
caregiver. However, the video did show the caregiver lifted the
child by the arm when separating him from the child being bitten and
exiting the classroom. Lifting by the arm is absolutely prohibited
due to the potential for injury. It is our understanding that
thankfully no injury occurred. However, this was still improper
procedure. The caregiver was immediately reprimanded. This was also
self-reported to the State, as required by law.

WHAT WE DO IN SITUATIONS LIKE THIS

Whenever a concern is raised, it is treated seriously. This goes for
concerns of staff parents as well. The first step is to ensure
safety. Then we allow due process to ascertain the facts, to the
best of our ability, before further action is taken. It is important
to know exactly what happened and give everyone involved a chance to
provide what information they have. This can usually be done quite
quickly examining video and speaking to those involved. If the
allegation is one of abuse or neglect, it is reported by the center
to Child Care Licensing within 48 hours. Sprouting Star faithfully
complied with such procedures here.

WHAT WE DID

When the former director reported the incident, we immediately began
an investigation. This case was unique as the parent and management
were the same person. For this reason, the school president did ask
the former director at that time if she preferred that he take over
and call the meeting with the caregiver. She stated unequivocally
that she was comfortable having that discussion and did not need
assistance, but then failed to attend the meeting with the
caregiver.

We immediately picked up where she had left off: reviewed video,
held the meeting, took disciplinary action, and reported the
incident as required.

The caregiver has been disciplined. As of the present time, she has
not been terminated. The reason for this is that the caregiver has
identified special circumstances leading to her improper lift. The
caregiver reported, and the video supported, that the child who was
removed had been biting another child, and the caregiver was acting
to protect, not punish. Additionally, the video reflected that the
lifting, while not proper, was neither prolonged, nor apparently for
any purpose other than separating the two children.

Sprouting Star has not made a final determination. We are now
working cooperatively with State authorities to evaluate this
situation. Until this investigation is over, and we hear what they
have determined, a final decision would be premature.

Sprouting Star is, additionally, disturbed by the behavior of the
former director in this instance. The former director used her
access as a center director to remove video evidence from the center
without permission and against policy and federal law, then released
selected clips of this video to cause a social media campaign
against the caregiver and school. This campaign perpetuates the
claim that the child was left alone, which has been established as
inaccurate. This campaign attempts to try the caregiver by Internet,
and denies her of her due process in company and State procedures.
This has created considerable stress for all caregivers at the
center. This campaign also was undertaken with the suggestion that Sprouting Star had not taken action to investigate and address this
matter, a suggestion we find especially insincere since the former
director agreed to participate in the investigation, but then
decided to skip her meeting with the caregiver and publish the video
on the Internet. We regret this action, and will ask for her to
return all property which does not belong to her.

Date: September 4, 2020

Subject: Suspending Operations on September 18, 2020

To: All Parents and Sprouting Star Familes

On September 18, 2020, Sprouting Star Children’s Academy is suspending child care operations likely through November of 2020. We hope to resume operations in December. This, however, is dependent on the COVID-19 health situation and business environment. Tuition will be prorated through the 18th. If you have paid for any portion after the 18th, it will be refunded. For CCS PSOC, Workforce automatically transfers this balance to your new provider.

Since the March 13th President declared disaster, Sprouting Star has had to suspend services on four separate occasions as a precautionary response to health concerns of COVID-19. We are extremely thankful that we never had any confirmed cases of COVID-19 at our center, neither with children nor staff. While we know that it is not possible to entirely eliminate the risk, we believe that many of the measures that we have taken, including the preemptive closures, have helped reduce the risk to children and staff, even as we navigated the spike in local infections that peaked in July.

Financially, however, these closures have taken their toll on the school. With each closure, the number of returning children drop. Even the last closure, which was medically cleared and services restored after only one day, resulted in a 10% drop in enrollment. We initially received some government support to offset these losses. However these funds either exhausted in June or the benefits reduced in June and July. With the continued closures, and the lack of any new stimulus support, it has reached a critical point.

There is no evidence to suggest that the situation will dramatically change in the coming few months. Were we to continue operating, more closures would likely be necessary to protect children and staff, causing the financial situation to continue to worsen. Therefore, it seems that the best course of action is to suspend services and patiently wait for things to stabilize enough to operate both safely and reliably.

I would like to thank all of our families for standing with us during these times. I would also like to thank my staff, who have continued to report to work and care for your children, despite their own health concerns and a significantly more challenging environment with PPE and sanitation. It is a heart-felt decision, as I know that all of you have been dedicated to the success here at Sprouting Star.

Since the pandemic seems to have a will of its own, we cannot predict the length of the suspended operations. Therefore we wished to give all families a customary two weeks notice to find alternative arrangements for care before operations closed. Hopfully before the end of the year, the situation will impove, and we can safely reopen and try to move beyond 2020.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Kind Regards,

 John Russo

President, Sprouting Star Children’s Academy

Sign-up now

Use the link above to sign-up for Sprouting Star Summer 2020. An exciting unparalleled program for an unprecedented time. We support Workforce Child Care Services (CCS) and Austin Community College Child Care Assistance programs. We are also listed on the Texas Frontline Childcare website. We are accredited through Texas Rising Star and hold 4 stars, the maximum in the program.

Summer 2020 begins on June 1st! There is also a limited number of early start enrollment spots for classes beginning on May 26th. When you sign-up, you will have the option to select your preference.

A Safer Choice For Fun^tm

The Sprouting Star Summer 2020 program is designed for safety in these unprecedented times. Safety is Priority One.

Sprouting Star Children’s Academy

Welcome to Sprouting Star Summer 2020! The corona virus pandemic brought many changes in March. Safety became the top priority for everyone. Schools closed. Activities cancelled. Many children schooled at home while parents anxiously waited for news when it would be safe to return to normal. Those hopes eventually evolved into expectations for the new normal. Sprouting Star Children’s Academy has always held safety of the children as the top priority. Like many others, we responded to the crisis. We temporarily closed while the staff worked on creating that new normal. A normal that would be safe and fun for the children when they returned. We considered the guidance from local, state, and federal authorities, and added a few ideas of our own. On April 27, 2020, we reopened to serve the essential worker families that depend on us to care for and educate their children in the safest possible manner we can achieve. We believe pandemic concerns are going to continue into the summer. Therefore, Sprouting Star Summer 2020 programming continues modified COVID-19 safety policies and procedures developed during the most intense period in March and April through the summer while offering a program that is developmentally stimulating and fun for the children.

Safe Must Be Fun

Childhood is a special time of wonder. Children need to explore the world and develop their natural curiosity and ability. At Sprouting Star, we believe safe must be fun. Our summer program achieves this combination.

Program Details

We have prepared a first class experience for your child here at Sprouting Star. The combination of program features stands out from other programs and is intensionally designed for the unique challenges of Summer 2020. We challenge anyone to find a better combination of program features that serves the whole child. These include:

• A Safer Choice for Fun^tm – This program component intentionally continues through the entire summer term many of the safety policies and protocols established during the peak of the pandemic emergency. This includes entrance screening, twice daily deep cleanings, interim day wipe downs, intra-classroom social distancing, 2 teacher teams assigned exclusively to a single classroom, contactless registration, and more. Our program has exciting curriculum, fun activities, and some special programs hosted on-site, however for the safety of the children and their families, NO OFF-SITE FIELD TRIPS this year. These are replaced with weekly on-site Splash Days and Outdoor Movies!
• Naturally Inspired Child^tm Curriculum – Naturally Inspired Child seeks to inspire learning through nature. Children are naturally drawn to nature and the world around them. It is the goal of our programs to expound on this innate curiosity to make learning fun and meaningful. Each week, for PreK and School Age children, there will be an exciting Naturally Inspired Child special project. For example, one week we will plan a deep sea exploration. Another week we will dissect owl spit! and try to identify the various bones, teeth, and insect shells contained in it. During our insect week, we will build and paint a real beehive!
• Pflugerville ISD Curriculum Review – We want our school age children to have an edge when they resume school in August. We have received the take-home assignments from PISD and will spend time each day to review this material with the K-5th graders. This reinforces the work your child started at home, and completes missed assignment so your child is ready when school starts on August 13th!
• Daily Integrated Sports and PE – We will use a portion of each day to develop the physical development of the children. Summer activities for children 3 and up will use concepts in Soccer, Basketball, Baseball, and Volleyball to get kids moving and develop their physical and social skills.
• Fully Licensed and 4-Star Accredited Child Learning Center – We are fully licensed through the state of Texas HHS, and 4-star accredited with Texas Rising Star, the maximum level of quality. Our classrooms, lesson plans, and programming meet high standards and consider the physical, social-emotional, cognitive, and language development needs of your child.

How to Sign-up?

Just click here to go to our contact-less sign-up page.

Let us walk you through the process. We look forward to your admission to our school and our learning family. Or, you may call us at (512) 777-3477 and we can take your information by phone. You can also reach us by email at grow@sproutingstar.org

All plans subject to change with fluid conditions of the current pandemic crisis.