RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has issued a provisional license to Richmond Montessori School after a child walked off the school’s Henrico County campus and into traffic on Parham Road.
"A provisional license is a six-month license allowing the facility to continue to operate while they show substantial improvement to their program," Todd Reid with the VDOE said. "If a school does not show improvement over the six-month period, the license cannot be renewed."
Earlier this week, the VDOE cited Richmond Montessori School for four violations considered “high probability of harm: serious level of harm.”
CBS 6 reporter Jon Burkett was the first to report on video filmed by a dash cam that showed a man rescuing a toddler on Nov. 22.
That man, Tre Waddy, shared the video his camera captured with CBS 6 because he said he was worried that the staff members to whom he returned the child would not say anything to the child’s family.
Watch: Father rescues toddler running along Henrico road
On Nov. 23, CBS 6 started its own investigation into what happened at the school.
Then on Dec. 3, the state conducted an unannounced school visit.
The inspection summary stated the child was a little under two and a half years old and that two staff members were responsible for supervising the child and six other toddlers. It stated the two staff members were unaware that the child was missing from the group for an undetermined amount of time.
Watch: Richmond Montessori School suspends two teachers after toddler runs into Parham Road
The Richmond Montessori School gave CBS 6 the following statement in response to the violations:
The inspection report from the Virginia Department of Education (DOE) supports the findings of the independent third-party investigation Richmond Montessori School initiated after a student separated from his class and entered into traffic on Parham Road last November. We are preparing our plan of correction (POC) response to be submitted to DOE, which will be made publicly available in the required timeframe.
Asked about the findings of the independent third-party investigation, a representative of the school said the following:
First, I want to make it abundantly clear RMS communicated with parents and families as soon as the information about what happened was shared with us, and this will be included in our DOE plan of correction response. Our third-party investigation found failures to adhere to school policies by staff, including reporting failures. The full details of that report are internal. Our plan of correction response will also include the enhanced and ongoing staff training we are conducting to highlight staff responsibilities and expectations. What occurred was a near tragedy that never should have happened. We are fully committed to making sure nothing like this can ever happen again.
RMS previously told us the staff members involved are no longer employed at the school.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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