State details day care center's violations in child's death

By Christopher Seward

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Jonesboro day care center where a 2-year-old died after staff left her in a hot van in June has been closed permanently.

The state agency that regulates day care centers said Marlo’s Magnificent Early Learning Center showed “shocking intentional misconduct” in the death of Jazmin Green and said the center’s violation of rules “demonstrated reckless disregard for the physical and mental health and safety of the children” in its care.

The mother of Jazmin Green said Tuesday she was "happy" and "grateful" that the day care has been closed permanently.

"I'm shocked that [the day care center] had all of these violations," April McAlister said. "I wished I had known this before, but I’m satisfied that they actually shut her down permanently. I don't want to see this happen to anyone else’s child because it's the worst hurting feeling ever."

It was at Marlo’s Magnificent on June 20 that Jazmin was found strapped in a van seat unconscious as temperatures outside reached the low 90s. Staff didn't realize she was missing for two to three hours after the van had returned from a field trip to Chuck E. Cheese's.

The state agency, Bright from the Start, said Jazmin’s death came three months after Marlo’s Magnificent was trained in the proper way to transport, supervise and account for children on field trips.

After Jazmin's death, the day care center’s owner, Marlo Maria Fallings, her daughter, Quantabia Shantell Hopkins, and a 16-year-old involved in the incident were charged with reckless conduct, cruelty to children and involuntary manslaughter.

Fallings and Hopkins are out on bond awaiting a court date. The 16-year-old, whose name was withheld because she is a juvenile, was sentenced to two years’ probation and 40 hours of community service. The youth also was ordered to create a memorial to Jazmin.

In a July 22 letter to Fallings, Brenda Haynesworth, child care services director for Bright from the Start, provided a detailed account, including approximate times, of the events that led up to Jazmin’s death, based on the state’s investigation.

Haynesworth said a Marlo’s Magnificent van had arrived at the center between 12:22 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. after the June 20 field trip.

Jazmin had fallen asleep during the trip back, and the driver was not aware that the child was still in the van after others and gotten off because no check of the vehicle was conducted.

State rules require child care center staff to properly supervise children “at all times” and to “never leave a child unattended on the center vehicle.”

By 3 p.m. the temperature had reached 91 degrees outside.

“When the staff members noticed the child was missing, between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., a staff member went to the vehicle and found the child unresponsive,” Haynesworth wrote.

“The staff member took the child into the building and emergency services were called at 3:42 p.m. The child was left unsupervised for an undetermined amount of time between two and three hours. The child died as a result of being left on the vehicle.”

Haynesworth noted that on March 16 of this year, staff at the center had attended Bright from the Start training on proper procedures for taking children on field trips.

In another violation, Haynesworth noted that child care centers are required to maintain a signed checklist to account for loading and unloading children.

The state investigation, however, found that Marlo’s Magnificent staff “did not complete the passenger checklist properly” on June 20. Staff statements and a review of the field trip’s checklist showed “staff inaccurately documented on the checklist that all children had been unloaded at the center, although a two-year-old [Jazmin] remained asleep on one of the seats.”

Haynesworth noted that the staff was also trained on the checklist procedure in March.

The investigation also found the following:

The vehicle used for the field trip exceeded the maximum seating capacity. The van left with seven children but returned with eight.

Four children also were transported without proper restraints.

The center was required to provide two staff members over age 18 for supervision, but only had one. The other staffer was the 16-year-old.

One child did not have parental permission to go on the field trip.

The list of children on the trip was in the possession of the 16-year-old and not in the possession of an adult in charge of the trip.

Although Marlo’s Magnificent, at 1688 Thrasher Court in Jonesboro, had not operated since the incident, it had not been officially closed because state law did not allow for the immediate closure of a child care center when a death occurred.

The law has since been changed. State lawmakers recently passed legislation that allows for the emergency shutdown of a facility after a child dies.

_Staff writer Tammy Joyner contributed to this article