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A Kamloops daycare faced with troubling complaints over the past year lost its contract to open another specifically for City employees.

In a news release last week, the City of Kamloops said it had "lost confidence" in Saltair Childcare Society's ability to meet the contract requirements.

Despite a recent track record of inadequate staffing, staff taking their frustration out on children and a gap in records of injuries at their Valleyview daycare, those issues weren't related to the cancelled contract.

"We became aware after the fact," City corporate services director David Hallinan said. "We looked at what they were doing in terms of our contractual needs."

He said staff later did learn of the incidents, listed in multiple publicly available inspection records, but the contract was cut because Saltair gave vague answers to City staff about its plans for the daycare.

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Asked whether there was a concern the daycare would be understaffed, he said that might have been among the City's concerns, but the company didn't provide enough information to know.

"The clarity just wasn't there," Hallinan said.

Saltair, which operates its daycares under the brand Inquiring Little Minds, runs two other Kamloops daycares under contract for School District 73. At its Happyvale Elementary 72-space daycare, which opened in April, there haven't been any incidents, according to Interior Health inspection records.

The Ralph Bell Elementary daycare in Valleyview, however, has received several substantiated complaints. The first came in December 2023, the month it opened.

On Dec. 12, a complaint sparked the first Interior Health inspection, which found not all the educators were licensed. One complaint was unsubstantiated, which claimed the daycare didn't have a manager. The inspector did find the new manager "lacks training and experience necessary."

The next complaints came a month later and went beyond questioning staff training. According to a January inspection report, a staff member "became frustrated" with a child while putting their snowsuit on.

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"The staff member expressed their frustration out loud then dropped the child who fell to the ground and landed on their face," the report read.

Staff frustration was a theme in other inspections, like one where a staff member held a child down to a toilet "forcefully" by their wrists. The child wasn't being toilet trained and started to cry, but the staff member didn't stop until another worker intervened. It's not clear whether it was the same staff member, but a child had also been "aggressively pulled" by the wrist when they wouldn't sit for circle time.

An Interior Health inspection found there were minor injuries and incidents that had gone undocumented and parents weren't notified.

Problems were found in five inspections, four of which were spurred by complaints. A routine inspection in August, the most recent, found no issues.

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The school district doesn't have any current concerns about Inquiring Little Minds, according to a CHNL report.

The daycare company didn't respond to requests for comment from iNFOnews.ca.

New daycares in Kamloops fill quickly and the demand for spaces is high. Hallinan said staff have heard from one operator in Kamloops that has a waitlist with up to 800 people on it.

This Lorne Street daycare was supposed to open by Aug. 1, according to a news release in April announcing the new facility and the contract for Inquiring Little Minds.

The City is now fast tracking efforts to find a new contractor, potentially a local one, which will give spots to City employees first, then to other residents needing daycare space for their children.

Hallinan said the hope is to have a new contractor and the daycare opened within 60 to 90 days.

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