A preschool supervisor has been sacked and fined $5,000 after a boy was found asleep an hour after the centre closed for the day.
Michelle Haley was working at the Big Fat Smile Community Preschool in Woolongong City and left early one Friday afternoon in June 2016, a court heard on Thursday.
She clocked off 10 minutes early assuming her normal end of the day duties would be carried out by colleagues, who forgot, and has now lost her career over the incident.
Michelle Haley was working at the Big Fat Smile Community Preschool in Woolongong City
No checks were carried out by any of the staff and the four-year-old boy was left behind in the centre’s rest area and discovered by a cleaner.
Haley, who had 17 years experience, was responsible for ensuring children were checked out as they were picked up from the centre.
She pleaded guilty to failing to adequately supervise a child in her care, the Illawarra Mercury reported.
Her lawyers said she had requested permission to leave early on the afternoon in question .
Miranda Moody, defending, said it was ‘a perfect storm’ which resulted in the sleeping boy being left behind.
The boy’s parents were not collecting him on the day and was being collected by another parent who forgot to pick him up, while other staff covering her supervisory duties were supposed to carry them out but left for the weekend without checking.
The hearing at Woolongong Local Court was told the cleaner had arrived at 3.30pm but only found the boy sleeping when she reached that part of her rounds an hour later.
Magistrate Michael Stoddart described the incident as a ‘very serious matter’.
The boy’s parents were not collecting him on the day and was supposed to be taken home by another parent who forgot to pick him up
A separate case against the company has been adjourned until next month.
The prosecution demanded Haley’s case served as a strong deterrence.
Ms Moody told the court: ‘Clearly this is a career of some 17 years which she has lost due to what was clearly an assumption that she made in a split second.
‘It really is, just a perfect storm. And for a woman who has been exemplary in her care of children for all these years, and finds herself now in this terrible position before a court and she’s utterly remorseful and a great lesson’s been learned – you can’t rely on others.’
A statement from the preschool issued following the case said it took its responsibility for safe care of children ‘very seriously’ pointing to ‘400,000 positive care experiences across our 41 centres each year’.
It added: ‘This rare situation led to an immediate formal review of compliance with our policies and procedures across all of our centres.’
The boy was one of 30 children who attended the preschool which was manned by five members of staff.