Shane is an experienced supervisor at Play Along Child Care Centre. After returning to his office from an early morning meeting, Shane notices a note on his desk from Feng, an RECE in the toddler program. She needs to speak with him urgently.
Feng approaches Shane to explain a situation that occurred in the toddler room that morning. A parent was in the room dropping off her son, when she saw Lisa, an RECE who worked with the toddlers, behaving in a way the parent believed to be inappropriate. The parent observed Lisa removing a child from a dangerous situation. The child was climbing on a shelf loaded with toys and it was about to topple over onto the floor. Lisa grabbed the child and forcefully placed her on a mat nearby.
Feng informed Shane that this parent was outraged and yelled at Lisa, "What are you doing? You can't do that to a child, I'm going to call the police." Lisa had rolled her eyes and replied, "Would you have preferred that the child had fallen?" More words were exchanged between the two until Lisa hustled out of the toddler room nearly in tears.
Lisa had been hired right out of college and was very enthusiastic about working with toddlers. She had graduated at the top of her class and all of her professors felt she had a promising career ahead of her. Yet, over the last five years, there had been a few issues regarding her behaviour and each time, like today, Shane was surprised. Shane suddenly remembered another occasion involving a complaint against Lisa.
The complaint about Lisa was made by Mr. Franconi, a member of the community. He related that he had witnessed Lisa roughly holding a child by the chin on the playground. When questioned, Lisa confirmed, "I was talking to Michel and he wouldn't listen. I touched his chin to make him look at me." She denied being harsh, but had blushed and avoided eye contact. Because the evidence had been unclear, Lisa had not been reprimanded. Instead, Shane had reviewed the centre's behavior management guidelines with Lisa to ensure she was aware of the centre's expectations.
Shane is now wondering what to do about Lisa.
