Ralph Bell Elementary School in Valleyview. (Photo via SD73)

Despite the City of Kamloops terminating the contract of a company that was set to operate a brand-new daycare, the Superintendent of the Kamloops-Thompson School District says they have no plans to drop their two contracts with the same company.

The city recently announced the contract with the Saltair Childcare Society – which runs daycares under the Inquiring Little Minds brand – was being terminated because they had “lost confidence” in the company due to “recent events” which they didn’t specify.

NL News has since learned that Saltair’s daycare at Ralph Bell Elementary School, had been the subject of complaints that had been substantiated by Interior Health Licensing Officers concerning injuries to a number of children, inflicted by a Saltair employee.

In one case dated Jan. 31, 2024 that was substantiated, the complaint alleged that a staff member put a young child who is not in the process of toilet training on the toilet against their will and “forcefully held them down by their wrists.”

“The child began crying and the staff member did not let go of the child’s wrists until another staff member came into the washroom and told them to let go,” the IHA Licensing report said.

“The complaint alleges a staff member aggressively pulled a young child by the wrist to bring them back when they wouldn’t sit for circle time,” the report added.

There was another incident related to the same complaint involving a different child.

“The complaint alleges a staff member became frustrated with a young child while putting on their snowsuit. The staff member expressed their frustration out loud then dropped the child who fell to the ground and landed on their face,” the report said.

The same report about that incident also substantiated a complaint alleging staff provided inadequate care and supervision of children in care. It also substantiated a complaint that alleged that minor injuries and incidents at the facility were not being properly documented, and that parents were not being notified of any injury or incident involving their child.

Speaking on NL Newsday, SD73 Superintendent Rhonda Nixon said the district is confident that the issues at Ralph Bell have been dealt with by ILM and Interior Health.

“I’m aware of the January incident and it was most unfortunate but we were completely satisfied that the outcome would be that the complaints would be resolved and we wouldn’t have any further concerns,” Nixon said.

“As you know all childcare operators are supervised through Interior Health and through that licensing process they must be investigated when there’s a complaint. So we were satisfied at the results of that complaint that it was completely resolved and we were involved in that point.”

Nixon also says the district also initiated a further review with Interior Health Licensing. That review, which was completed in August, found only minor clerical issues.

“In this case the licensing officer obviously did the investigation; handled it quickly,” Nixon added. “Our district staff were very involved and the outcome had to come quickly and it did and so we were comfortable with the result.”

Under a contract with the school district, the Saltair Childcare Society also operates a daycare at Happyvale Elementary. A routine inspection of that facility dated Aug. 19 of this year found no violations.

The City of Kamloops says it is looking for another operator for the new Lorne Street Childcare facility in Station Plaza, the opening of which has been delayed.

Radio NL is still awaiting a response from the Saltair Childcare Society.

In a Facebook post a few hours before the City announced it had terminated its contract, Inquiring Little Minds said it faced numerous challenges over the past few months.

“There were times when we closed most of the week, because there was no enrollment,” the post said. “We didn’t have money for heat in the building. I had to take a second job just because of late payments.

“Through my mistakes I was able to learn and build a team. The team is human. It has not been perfect. We moved into Kamloops super excited and nervous that our systems would be enough. We learned that they weren’t. There was X factors that came left and right.”

“When we entered into things with some of our partners we said this is going to be difficult. It’s probably not going to happen, but we will do our best.”

It went on to say that it will “remain steadfast in our dedication to helping all families and all communities.”

“You can’t have a dream and take risks and think that nothing is going to go wrong. It does and it will,” the post said. “Sometimes not everything is as it seems. We will stay ethical and to our values.”

“Our goals have been to always get better, to train quality, knowledgeable, and caring educators, and create better systems.”