PORT ANGELES — The state Department of Early Learning shut down Buzi Bee Daycare in Port Angeles, citing numerous health and safety reasons dating back to 2006, according to a letter from the department.
State officials hand-delivered the letter to Buzi Bee Daycare — owned by Kathy Hubbard — at 716 S. Chase St. on Wednesday afternoon and told employees the Department of Early Learning (DEL) suspended and revoked the child care license of the day care effective immediately, according to a letter to parents.
State records say there have been eight valid complaints against Buzi Bee Daycare since 2011, the most recent of which were nutrition, discipline and record-keeping complaints in April.
Hubbard did not respond to several attempts to reach her by phone or at the day care Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Buzi Bee Daycare is not listed as a corporation in Washington state, according to state secretary of state online records.
Hubbard can appeal the closure within 28 days by requesting a hearing.
The DEL had not received an appeal as of Friday, agency spokeswoman Genevieve Stokes said.
“The health and safety of children is the Department of Early Learning’s No. 1 duty,” DEL Director Ross Hunter said Friday in a prepared statement in response to the action against Buzi Bee.
“That’s why we license child care facilities, and why we have the ability to shut them down when they endanger child safety.
“Parents deserve to know that when they walk away from their children at the beginning of the day, the children will be whole and healthy when they return.”
Buzi Bee was licensed in 2003 and was allowed to serve up to 49 children from 1 year old to 13 years old — about 7.5 percent of the licensed child-care capacity in Port Angeles.
The 30 licensed child-care facilities in the city have a total capacity of 630 children, Stokes said.
“We have a very limited number of reasons why we do this,” she said. “This is not something that parents want to have to deal with.”
In an 11-page letter that was hand-delivered to Hubbard, DEL outlines numerous complaints and health and safety issues at Buzi Bee Daycare.
Among the most recent violations was when power to the day care was turned off April 6 — while children were in care — because Hubbard was several months overdue on her electric bill, according to the letter.
In 2006, 2010 and 2016, Hubbard was unable to verify to the state that she had liability insurance, the state said, adding that officials were notified in August 2016 she hadn’t had liability insurance since September 2015.
In 2013, Hubbard agreed to operate on a probationary license for six months due to numerous violations of state policy that were health- and safety-related, according to the letter.
Her non-expiring license was reinstated in September 2013 after the day care was in compliance.
“After the non-expiring license was reinstated, you continued to violate the same [state code] that originally led to the offer of the probationary license,” the letter said.
Investigators visited the day care May 11 and observed at least three health and safety violations cited April 4 that hadn’t been addressed, they said.
The closure left parents scrambling to find day care for their children, said Brianna Kelly, who had 3-year-old and 7-year-old boys at the day care center.
Parents were told Child Care Aware of Washington could help them find new child care.
“I’m on waiting lists at all the centers in Port Angeles,” Kelly said, adding she doesn’t know what she’s going to do for child care.
She found out about the closure at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when day care center employees told her she needed to pick up her children.
Normally she picks up her children between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., she said.
Kelly said the closure is tough on her children, who have gone to the center for the past year and a half.
“My son, he cried the whole way home about not being able to see his friends,” she said.
Records complaints reported in April are related to attendance records; circumstantial changes that must be reported to the licensor, who is allowed to be the director; and staff-to-child ratios.
Kelly said she has had no problems with the employees at the day care and that her children enjoyed it there.
“I’ve never had a problem with the way my kids were treated,” she said. “They loved their teachers. They are really sad.”
Buzi Bee Daycare is the only licensed day care in Port Angeles with more than one valid complaint since 2011, according to state records.
“I wish there was more child care available,” Kelly said. “I’m not the only parent having this problem.
“There are parents who are not even from this center who are having trouble finding care.”
The Buzi Bee property is valued at $337,893.
To reach Child Care Aware of Washington in Tacoma, see www.child carenet.org or phone 253-383-1735 or toll-free at 866-416-4321.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsula dailynews.com.
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.
