- February 11, 2025
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About 90 children will no longer receive funding to attend Little Engine Academy, as an investigation by the Florida Department of Children and Families prompted the Early Learning Coalition to cut funding for the school at 499 S. Nova Road.
The most recent incident involved a child being left on a bus for at least 20 minutes.
Joy Vaeth, who owns Little Engine with her husband, Bob Vaeth, confirmed that the incident did happen and that the employee who was driving the bus was terminated. The child was unharmed.
A representative from the Early Learning Coalition of Flagler and Volusia Counties, a federally funded program that oversees subsidized child care, said the cancellation resulted not only from the bus incident but from previous missteps.
“We’ve had a contract with them for a few years,” said D.J. Lebo, CEO of the coalition. “Last year they had a class-1 DCF violation where they gave one child another child’s medication, which is extremely dangerous.”
The ELC implemented a corrective action plan for the facility, and in early February, Little Engine had another DCF inspection that resulted in six class-2 violations. Before ELC was able to conduct an investigation of its own about those violations, Vaeth reported the bus incident.
“We stand on top of what DCF does,” Lebo said. “Joy was very honest and apologetic, but the situation still stood. It being in February, we had a positive outcome. Had it happened in July, we would not have had that outcome.”
When ELC canceled its contract with Little Engine, about 90 kids who were able to attend preschool there because of Florida’s free VPK program and/or school-readiness funding through ELC could no longer afford to go. Lebo says her staff is in the process of working with parents to place the children in facilities with free VPK.
“We have quite a few children there,” she said. “It’s a difficult situation.”
Vaeth said that thanks to the support from her students’ parents she plans on filing for a due process hearing to change the ELC’s decision to cancel the contract. If the ELC board decides to uphold the original decision, it could take up to two years to reinstate the contract.
“I have a wonderful group of parents, and honestly that’s what’s pushing me to start this process,” she said. “I’m very thankful for them.”
Email Emily Blackwood at [email protected].
Editor's Note: This story was corrected at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, to reflect the correct number of students receiving funding. The funding comes from two streams: voluntary pre-kindergarten and school readiness.
