Stallings · Licensed center
Leafspring School At Matthews
At a glance
- Large developmental center, licensed for 193 children.
What the state has found
The state cited rules at 5 of its 10 licensing inspections since August 2023.
See each inspection
Licensing inspections
Dec 11, 20258 citations
Citation
“Prior to the expiration date of the qualification letter, the child care provider did not complete and submit required forms to complete a criminal background check (a qualification letter is valid for a maximum of five years for the date of issuance). Staff member E.E. began the criminal background/qualifying letter process but it has not been completed. There is not a valid qualifying letter documented in her file.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
Citation
“New staff, who had contact with children, did not receive at least 16 hrs. orientation within first 6 weeks. Staff members J.G, A.S, and E.E, did not have documentation of trainings required within the first six (6) weeks of employment.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
Citation
“All staff did not successfully complete certification in First Aid appropriate to the age of children in care. Verification of staff completion of First Aid training from an approved training organization was not in the staff file. Staff members J.G, and K.P, did not have current First Aid training in their files.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
Citation
“All staff did not successfully complete certification in CPR training appropriate to the age of the children in care. Verification of staff completion of the CPR course from an approved training organization was not in the staff file. Staff members J.G, and K.P, did not complete CRP training hours.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
Citation
“Within the first two weeks of assuming responsibility for supervising a group of children, staff did not complete at least 6 hours of training on topics outlined in this rule. Staff members L.M, A.O, and J. LC, did not have documentation of at least six (6) hours of training within the first two weeks of supervising children.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
Citation
“A valid qualification letter was not on file and available to review at the facility. Staff members E.E, A.O, and S. M, did have a current Qualifying Letter but they were not on file for review.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
Citation
“The Prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma policy was not reviewed with new staff prior to providing care with children and/or a signed acknowledgement with all the required information was not maintained in the staff person's file. Staff member K.P did not have a signed copy of the required policy on file.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
Citation
“The child care administrator and all staff did not complete the Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment training within 90 days of employment. Staff member K.P. did not have verification of training on file.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
- Oct 1, 2025Nothing cited
Jun 5, 20252 citations
Citation
“Leftover medicines were not returned to the parent after the course of treatment was completed, after authorization was withdrawn or after authorization had expired and/or medication was not discarded within 72 hours of completion of treatment or withdrawal of authorization. In space number four (#4) an emergency medication had expired and was not returned within seventy-two (72) hours.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 6/24/2025
Citation
“Shelter-in-place or lockdown drills were not practiced every three months and/or drill record was incomplete. The last lockdown/shelter in place drill has not been practiced or recorded, there was no record of the last time the drill occurred available to review.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 6/24/2025
- Dec 20, 2024Nothing cited
Dec 17, 20241 citation
Citation
“Leftover medicines were not returned to the parent after the course of treatment was completed, after authorization was withdrawn or after authorization had expired and/or medication was not discarded within 72 hours of completion of treatment or withdrawal of authorization. The authorization form in space five (5) had expired and the cream was not returned or discarded within the proper time frame”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/18/2024
- Nov 7, 2024Nothing cited
- May 2, 2024Nothing cited
- Mar 20, 2024Nothing cited
Jan 3, 20242 citations
Citation
“Operator has not scheduled and obtained a fire inspection within 12 months of the previous inspection. Operator did not submit the original approved report to DCDEE within one week of the inspection visit on a form provided by the Division. The facility did not complete the annual fire inspection during the last twelve (12) months.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 1/4/2024
Citation
“Monthly playground inspections were not completed and/or they were not completed by an individual trained in playground safety requirements. The provider completed the monthly playground safety inspection, and will conduct another inspection towards the end of the month.”
Violation corrected during visit
Aug 29, 20231 citation
Citation
“A child was given over the counter medication without written authorization from a parent to follow the direction of the NC State Health Director during a public health emergency and/or the authorization did not contain the required information. A child, 5 years of age, was given Benadryl at the verbal request of a parent. The staff did not have proper authorization to give the medication as the medication had a label warning that would require a doctor's authorization and a parent's signature along with other required information including proper distribution of the medication.”
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 9/26/2023
The state cited rules at 5 of this center's 10 inspections. Most Charlotte-area centers inspected 10 or more times had rules cited at some but not all of theirs, as this center did: more than 99% of 271.
How all 271 Charlotte-area centers inspected 10 or more times compare
Of the 271 Charlotte-area centers the state inspected 10 or more times, how many of those inspections cited a rule:
- Someover 99%This center
- Allunder 1%
Read every record and the state’s reports
State record — North Carolina DCDEE
- Last visit
- December 11, 2025
- On file
- 10 visits since August 2023 — 5 cited nothing, 2 of those unannounced
- Fixed?
- All 14 record a correction, in the licensor’s own words.
- Most serious
- North Carolina DCDEE does not publish a severity level for a citation, so there is no most-serious to name.
North Carolina DCDEE describes every citation in the licensor’s own words and records the correction in that same text — the only one of the six states that publishes whether a violation was fixed. It attaches no rule number and no report document.
Dec 2025 Unannounced visit 8 findings
Unannounced visit · December 11, 2025
Prior to the expiration date of the qualification letter, the child care provider did not complete and submit required forms to complete a criminal background check (a qualification letter is valid for a maximum of five years for the date of issuance). Staff member E.E. began the criminal background/qualifying letter process but it has not been completed. There is not a valid qualifying letter documented in her file.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
New staff, who had contact with children, did not receive at least 16 hrs. orientation within first 6 weeks. Staff members J.G, A.S, and E.E, did not have documentation of trainings required within the first six (6) weeks of employment.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
All staff did not successfully complete certification in First Aid appropriate to the age of children in care. Verification of staff completion of First Aid training from an approved training organization was not in the staff file. Staff members J.G, and K.P, did not have current First Aid training in their files.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
All staff did not successfully complete certification in CPR training appropriate to the age of the children in care. Verification of staff completion of the CPR course from an approved training organization was not in the staff file. Staff members J.G, and K.P, did not complete CRP training hours.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
Within the first two weeks of assuming responsibility for supervising a group of children, staff did not complete at least 6 hours of training on topics outlined in this rule. Staff members L.M, A.O, and J. LC, did not have documentation of at least six (6) hours of training within the first two weeks of supervising children.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
A valid qualification letter was not on file and available to review at the facility. Staff members E.E, A.O, and S. M, did have a current Qualifying Letter but they were not on file for review.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
The Prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma policy was not reviewed with new staff prior to providing care with children and/or a signed acknowledgement with all the required information was not maintained in the staff person's file. Staff member K.P did not have a signed copy of the required policy on file.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
The child care administrator and all staff did not complete the Recognizing and Responding to Suspicions of Child Maltreatment training within 90 days of employment. Staff member K.P. did not have verification of training on file.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/23/2025
DCDEE facility lookup On that page, enter license number 90000490 in the License Number box, choose Search and open the result; the record is listed under Visits.
Jun 2025 Unannounced visit 2 findings
Unannounced visit · June 5, 2025
Leftover medicines were not returned to the parent after the course of treatment was completed, after authorization was withdrawn or after authorization had expired and/or medication was not discarded within 72 hours of completion of treatment or withdrawal of authorization. In space number four (#4) an emergency medication had expired and was not returned within seventy-two (72) hours.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 6/24/2025
Shelter-in-place or lockdown drills were not practiced every three months and/or drill record was incomplete. The last lockdown/shelter in place drill has not been practiced or recorded, there was no record of the last time the drill occurred available to review.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 6/24/2025
DCDEE facility lookup On that page, enter license number 90000490 in the License Number box, choose Search and open the result; the record is listed under Visits.
Dec 2024 Unannounced visit 1 finding
Unannounced visit · December 17, 2024
Leftover medicines were not returned to the parent after the course of treatment was completed, after authorization was withdrawn or after authorization had expired and/or medication was not discarded within 72 hours of completion of treatment or withdrawal of authorization. The authorization form in space five (5) had expired and the cream was not returned or discarded within the proper time frame
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 12/18/2024
DCDEE facility lookup On that page, enter license number 90000490 in the License Number box, choose Search and open the result; the record is listed under Visits.
Jan 2024 Unannounced visit 2 findings
Unannounced visit · January 3, 2024
Operator has not scheduled and obtained a fire inspection within 12 months of the previous inspection. Operator did not submit the original approved report to DCDEE within one week of the inspection visit on a form provided by the Division. The facility did not complete the annual fire inspection during the last twelve (12) months.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 1/4/2024
Monthly playground inspections were not completed and/or they were not completed by an individual trained in playground safety requirements. The provider completed the monthly playground safety inspection, and will conduct another inspection towards the end of the month.
Violation corrected during visit
DCDEE facility lookup On that page, enter license number 90000490 in the License Number box, choose Search and open the result; the record is listed under Visits.
Aug 2023 Unannounced visit 1 finding
Unannounced visit · August 29, 2023
No longer on the state’s site as of September 25, 2026
A child was given over the counter medication without written authorization from a parent to follow the direction of the NC State Health Director during a public health emergency and/or the authorization did not contain the required information. A child, 5 years of age, was given Benadryl at the verbal request of a parent. The staff did not have proper authorization to give the medication as the medication had a label warning that would require a doctor's authorization and a parent's signature along with other required information including proper distribution of the medication.
Violation confirmed corrected by letter received from provider on 9/26/2023
DCDEE facility lookup On that page, enter license number 90000490 in the License Number box, choose Search and open the result; the record is listed under Visits.
Shortlist replaces people’s names in the state’s text with initials. This is done by rule, not by hand, so it can miss a name or shorten a word that isn’t one. The state’s report, linked on each row, has the original.
A day here
- Outdoors
- Designated outdoor infant playgrounds for learning and exploration
Updates for parents
- Updates for parents
- Daily digital communication with photos, activities, and daily summaries
How they teach
Developmental and play-based
“Developmentally appropriate learning allows the discovery of the world through sensory exploration.”
Policies
- When a child is sick
- Onsite Get Well Place staffed by medical professionals provides backup care for mildly ill children with common childhood ailments
Details
- Phone
- (704) 390-7011
- Address
- 3420 Pleasant Plains Rd, Stallings, 28104
- License
- 90000490
- Quality program
- Five Star License
We couldn’t find some information that may matter to your decision: openings, child care subsidies, cost, hours and late pickup, ratios and staff, and who owns it. We can ask the program for you and copy you in.
Sources and dates
Where every fact on this page came from, and when Shortlist last checked it against that source. Anything Shortlist could not source is named here rather than left blank.
All checked July 2026.
How they teach
State record
From North Carolina DCDEE’s published reports, last checked November 8, 2026.
A day here
- Outdoors, Updates for parents matthews.leafspringschool.com
Policies
- When a child is sick matthews.leafspringschool.com
Details
- Phone, Address, License, Quality program ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov. To check it, open ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov/childcaresearch, enter licence 90000490 under License Number, and open the result.
- Website matthews.leafspringschool.com
Large means the biggest quarter of Charlotte-area’s 605 licensed centers by state-licensed capacity: 163 to 528 children. Small is 11 to 50; medium is 51 to 162.