The Discipline Committee hears matters regarding allegations of professional misconduct and/or incompetence which have been referred by the Complaints Committee following investigation.
The College is mandated to publish a summary of its disciplinary decisions and reasons when the Discipline Committee makes a finding of guilt. These disciplinary decisions are then published on the College’s website, on our blog and on CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute’s website.
Emily Victoria McIntyre, RECE # 67185
Facts: The Member pled guilty to professional misconduct. Following an uncontested hearing, the Discipline Committee accepted the following admissions as facts.
While the Member and a non-RECE colleague were responsible for supervising three infants in the centre’s infant room, a 14-month-old infant walked out of the room alone and exited the centre’s open front door. The infant wandered 30–40 feet to the centre’s parking lot where they tumbled onto all-fours. A staff member brought the infant back into the center. The Member did not notice that the child had gone missing until shortly before the other staff member returned the child.
Finding: In its decision, the panel found that the evidence supported findings of professional misconduct.
The Member was found guilty of several acts of professional misconduct under Ontario Regulation 223/08, including failing to supervise adequately a person who was under her professional supervision; failing to maintain the standards of the profession; acting or failing to act in a manner that, having regard to the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional; and conducting herself in a manner that is unbecoming a member.
The panel found the Member’s carelessness and lack of good judgment resulted in an infant wandering unattended into a parking lot with at least one moving car and could have resulted in grave consequences.
Penalty: The Committee directed the Registrar to suspend the Member’s certificate of registration for at least six months and to impose terms, conditions and limitations on the Member’s certificate of registration. The Committee also required the Member to appear before it to be reprimanded and ordered the Member to pay $1,000 to reimburse the College for a portion of the hearing costs.
The full decision can be found here, linked under the heading “Special Notices”.