The latest inspection by state health officials of Century School’s preschool turned up fresh violations that echo previous infractions that prompted a $500 fine and jeopardized the school’s license.

An official with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Wednesday that Century School could be sanctioned again if nine violations documented Oct. 8 weren’t addressed.

“Any time we see repeat violations, we work with them to correct it,” said Sharon Watson, public information director at KDHE. “They can face additional fines if not corrected.”

Century School, 816 Ky., is a private school serving 18 preschool children and 49 elementary school students. The school concentrates on individual instruction of students, and was started 10 years ago by Don and Sherrill Bushell, of Lawrence.

“We accept completely our responsibility to do the very best job we can for all the families,” Don Bushell said.

He said nothing justified failure to meet state regulations.

A review of documents obtained from KDHE indicated that preliminary action was taken in November 2002 to revoke Century School’s preschool license, but the agency instead imposed a $500 fine in April.

The school had been cited repeatedly in the past three years for not meeting regulations on hiring a certified preschool director, on mandated staff training in first aid and recognizing symptoms of illness, neglect and child abuse as well as on handling household poisons, and maintenance of employee and student records.

Several violations were documented more than a half-dozen times during separate inspections.

Esther Kottwitz, a board member at Century School, 816 Ky., does a check of supplies at the school. The school has received numerous citations from state health officials, but board members warn against making too much of the violations, which mostly dealt with staff training.

When KDHE assessed the civil penalty, the agency entered a two-year “consent agreement” with Century School that obligated the school to comply with all state statutes and regulations on child-care centers.

The agreement also stipulated subsequent violations would be subject to a $250 fine for each infraction.

Don Bushell said he thought problems identified in a cascade of inspections in 2001, 2002 and 2003 had been rectified.

“It’s awfully important the families have confidence in people taking care of their children,” he said. “We want to do everything possible to justify this confidence.”

However, he said, staff turnover — there have been four preschool directors this year — contributed to administrative instability and the latest inspection outcome.

Some parents of children at Century School are aware of the KDHE compliance issues through their work on the school’s board of directors, Don Bushell said.

However, he said, “We haven’t had parent meetings to go over this.”

Esther Kottwitz, a member of the Century School’s board of directors and executive director of Brookcreek Learning Center in Lawrence, said it would be a mistake to make too much of violations found at the Century preschool.

“I spent some time there this morning and got a lot of hugs,” Kottwitz said. “Children are learning.”

It’s typical during routine inspections for preschools to be found in violation of some of the thousands of regulations applied to these facilities, she said.

Amy Lawson, executive director of the Douglas County Child Development Assn., said it appeared violations contained on state reports reflected basic training issues and insufficient follow-up.

“The regulations are in place to make the program a quality program for the children,” she said. “They’re not that difficult to comply with.”

Lawson said that her organization could help parents go through the process of obtaining copies of KDHE inspection reports for any preschool facility.

Those documents also are required to be on file at each preschool and available for inspection by parents, Watson said.

“We want to make sure those facilities understand what those regulations are and follow them,” she said.