Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
COLLEEN JENKINSThe Department of Children and Families, meanwhile, offers more details about why it wants to keep Enchanted Moments closed.
HOMOSASSA - The Department of Children and Families is bolstering its case against a Homosassa preschool that it closed after accusing it of violating a provisional licensing agreement.
The agency denied Enchanted Moments Preschool a new license in March, saying owner Patricia Science had failed to comply with an agreement reached last year that barred both her husband and son from entering the facility during business owners.
That agreement was drafted after Science's 29-year-old son, Joshua, was arrested on charges of having illegal sexual contact with teenage girls. One incident was alleged to have occurred in a bathroom at Enchanted Moments.
Patricia Science is challenging the department's decision. She has hired a lawyer and demanded an administrative hearing, which is scheduled for June 22 at Inverness City Hall.
Meantime, DCF officials say they have discovered new information about Science's offenses. The agency wants an amended version of its complaint to be the one an administrative judge considers at the hearing.
In an April 29 letter to Science, DCF spelled out what it called the preschool's "history of non-compliance" in greater detail.
The department alleged multiple violations:
- During a Sept. 2, 2003, inspection, DCF employees saw five 3-year-old children who had no direct supervision, an outdoor fence that needed mending to keep the play area secure and outdoor toys and a swing that needed to be repaired or removed.
- On Jan. 28, inspectors found that the health and immunization records for children at the preschool were not sufficiently updated or available.
- On Feb. 17, the staff-to-children ratio was inadequate, with only one child care worker watching 28 children between the ages of 2 and 4. The bathroom smelled of urine and a child was seen unsupervised, the letter stated.
A DCF licensing counselor also encountered Ted Science at the facility the morning of that unannounced visit, a direct violation of the facility's March 2003 agreement with the state agency. Patricia Science denied the man was her husband and only admitted his identity after being confronted with a photocopy of his driver's license, according to the letter.
- On March 5, the staffing again was not adequate to handle the number of children.
After DCF denied Enchanted Moments a license renewal in March, officials learned that Ted Science had been present at the facility during business hours on many occasions, the letter said.
"Additionally, the Department has learned that your son, Josh Science, has been present in the parking lot of the facility on more than one occasion when children were present at the facility," the letter stated.
Joshua Science was not allowed to be on the preschool property at any time, per his mother's agreement with DCF. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, computer pornography/child exploitation and lewd and lascivious battery on a child younger than 16, and awaits trial.
The reasons for keeping Ted Science away from the facility were not spelled out in the license denial. However, other agency records indicate concerns stemming from his suspension from the Citrus County school system in 1995 for conducting an inappropriate relationship with a Lecanto Middle School student.
Before getting another teaching job, Ted Science was supposed to undergo a psychological exam that proved his posed no threat to the safety of students.
Such an examination now is on file with DCF at the agency's Wildwood headquarters. The psychological examination, conducted March 16 and March 23 and apparently at Ted Science's request, found that he did not display any unhealthy behaviors or attitudes.
"...There is nothing to suggest that Mr. Science would be any threat to the students at his wife's school," wrote Ronald L. Peal, a licensed psychologist in Spring Hill.
Jim Cummins, who is representing the Science family, could not be reached Wednesday or Thursday for comment. However, in a flurry of letters during the past month to a DCF attorney, Cummins has disputed the claims against Patricia Science and the method by which the agency has handled closing Enchanted Moments.
Cummins demanded DCF stop telling Enchanted Moments clients that the facility had been closed permanently. Until a judicial review of the case is conducted, he argued, such assumptions were "defamatory" and "tortuous."
In another letter, Cummins requested a temporary license for his client until the hearing could be conducted. DCF responded that a provisional had not, and would not, be issued.
- Colleen Jenkins can be reached at 860-7303 or cjenkins@sptimes.com