Award Winning Local Daycare Accused of Improper Supervision

Because of the sensitive nature of this subject, the Medicine Hat Owl has decided to withhold the names of the staff members involved.

Katarina, a local mom, told the Medicine Hat Owl that her 34 month old daughter Blake was improperly supervised at the Little Owl Learning Centre on June 17. According to the Incident Report, Blake was reportedly found unresponsive around 4pm. The Incident Report describes Blake as having a seizure at which time 911 was called. Blake was taken to the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital by ambulance with a reported fever of nearly 39C (102F). Katarina told the Medicine Hat Owl that Blake was incoherent for about three hours after being taken to hospital.

Blake has since recovered and is at home with her mother.

(Photo supplied by Katarina)

The June 17 incident report states that Blake had been having an off day, not her typical happy self. She repeatedly went to go “lay on her bed” during the afternoon after feeling tired all day and refusing lunch. Blake got up after 2pm to colour with the other children, going back to her bed on occasion. The following is verbatim from the report -

“(Staff member #1) went to go sit with her while I was at the on the other side of the room with the other kids. I went looked up and noticed Blake was on the floor, I came over and asked if she was okay but I noticed something yellow coming out of her mouth and she wasn't responding to me. I told (staff member #1) to call (staff member #2) right away because Blake was having a serzire (sic), I put Blake on her side and (staff members 2, 3, and 4) came in to help. (Staff member 4) went to call 911 and emt came in.”

The Childcare Lookup page  on the Government of Alberta website shows 3 incident reports in 2025 regarding the Little Owl Learning Centre. 

Feb 20 - zero non-compliance issues

Mar 6 - one non-compliance issue for  “28(1)(d) - Minimum staffing and general supervision - Children at all times supervised “ . Order issued to remedy by March 21

Mar 20 - Followup to Enforcement Action - zero non-compliance issues

Apr 15 - one non-compliance issue for  “28(1)(d) - Minimum staffing and general supervision - Children at all times supervised “ . Order issued to remedy by May 30

May 28 - Followup to Enforcement Action - zero non-compliance issues

Schedule 1 of the The Early Learning and Child Care Act states -

Supervised care for sick children

9   A licence holder must ensure that a sick child is

     (a) kept as far away as is practicable from the other children, and

     (b) directly supervised by a primary staff member if the child is under the age of 6 or has a disability that requires direct care.

A primary staff member is defined as

 (i) …a staff member of a facility‑based program

(i) who is 16 years of age or older, 

(ii) whose primary duty is child care, and 

(iii) who is actively engaged in the supervision of children in the program;

The Medicine Hat Owl has checked the Child Care Lookup for all other daycares based on the following criteria, the following locations were found:

• City/Town name: Medicine Hat

• Of type: Day Cares, Preschool

• Licensed for: Infants, Preschool

None were found to have so many incidents this year which resulted in enforcement action. The search did find a daycare which had a few “Critical Incidents”. The Medicine Hat Owl cannot find a description of what constitutes a Critical Incident as opposed to an Incident.

The Early Learning and Child Care Act says

Incident reporting

7(1)  In this section, “incident” means

             (a)    a serious illness of or injury to a child that occurs while the child is attending a program, and

             (b)    any other incident that occurs while a child is attending a program that may seriously affect the health or safety of the child.

(2)  A licence holder must report each incident to the statutory director forthwith in the manner required by the statutory director.

Katarina has been grateful for The Little Owl Learning Centre’s past service saying they have helped her out a lot but claims that recent concerns about supervision have been ignored. She told The Medicine Hat Owl that her and other parents have been requesting a group meeting with the operators of the daycare but all have been rebuffed; only private meetings were offered. 

Their latest concern was voiced Friday June 13, a day after two incident reports were filed regarding Blake - one for a behavioural issue, the other for an accidental exposure to a reported allergen. 

A social media post by Katarina says

“I’m THIS angry and making noise because they documented that she was “not herself” all day, was sleeping on and off, through lunch and refusing food, they left a cot out for her to lay on throughout the day.  She was seen wrapped in a blanket sitting on a bench with a “teacher” outside the bathroom.   NO one took her temperature and NO one called me. “

In 2018 the Little Owl Learning Centre was the recipient of the Minister’s Awards of Excellence in Child Development which recognizes

“the important work of certified early childhood educators and providers working in licensed child care programs who make life better for children and families across Alberta. Nominating these educators, teams and programs honours excellence in their field. Doing so also celebrates their outstanding work with children at licensed child care programs across Alberta.”

“Nine awards are available to early learning and child care professionals with 3 awards in each category:

• Individuals – Certified early childhood educators working with children in a licensed program

• Teams – A team of 2 to 4 certified early childhood educators working with children in a licensed program

• Programs – A licensed child care program where certified early childhood educators work directly with children

  The Little Owl Learning Centre won in the Team category

• Justine Mann, Jessica Lexvold, Jade Haslbeck, Allison Beck – Little Owl Learning Centre Inc., Medicine Hat”
  
  The Little Owl learning Centre is the only Medicine Hat Day Care to be awarded
  the Minister’s Award of Excellence in Child Development in any category.

The Little Owl Learning Centre has not responded to repeated requests For Comment from the Medicine Hat Owl

Government of Alberta Resources

Finding and Choosing Child Care
Find information and resources, and learn what to look for in a quality program when choosing child care in Alberta.

Child Care Lookup
Parents can find information about licensed child care programs and family day home agencies with the Child Care Lookup tool. This tool provides information about the location, ages of children served, number of children that can be served in the program, the program’s status and recent inspection results.

Early Childhood Educator Lookup Tool
Child care providers and families can find information about an educator’s certification number, level, status and the history of terms or conditions placed on their certification.

Unlicensed Childcare Stop Orders
Families can find out whether an unlicensed child care provider has been ordered to stop providing care in Alberta