Acorn Preschool
A child care center in Mena, Arkansas 71953
143 Polk 96, Mena, Arkansas 71953. (479) 216-1341.
What Arkansas’s list coversSome counties so far
Arkansas is being read county by county, in alphabetical order: until every county has been read, some facilities aren’t here yet. Arkansas’s own eLicensing search lists every facility now.
Watch and the shortlist are kept with a free account, on every device. Your watch list. Arkansas’s own record is on ardhslicensing.my.site.com.
The short answer
- 2 deficiencies in the last three years
- 2 at the state’s most serious level (needs attention)
- Aug 182026 the latest visit on record
- 70 children, its licensed capacity
Each figure’s source sits beside it, in its section below.
What these words mean6
- Inspection (survey)
- A visit by state inspectors, often unannounced, who check a place against the rules it must meet. For nursing homes and other places Medicare pays, CMS calls these visits surveys: a standard survey of a nursing home comes at least every 15 months, and a complaint survey whenever a complaint calls for one. Source: CMS; 42 CFR 488.308.
- Deficiency, citation, violation
- What inspectors write up when a place didn’t meet a rule: the rule, what they saw, and when. CMS calls it a deficiency; states may say citation or violation. It is the inspectors’ finding, not a court’s, and the place is usually asked for a plan to correct it. Source: CMS, statement of deficiencies (Form CMS-2567); each state’s licensing agency.
- The state’s most serious level
- Each state grades findings on its own scale and in its own words, so the record counts a state’s findings at that state’s top level. Two states’ top levels aren’t the same thing, so the counts aren’t compared across states. Source: How this site reads each state’s scale.
- Quality rating
- Many states rate child care in a quality rating system that goes past the licensing rules, such as Texas Rising Star or Kentucky All STARS. Taking part is often voluntary, so a program with no rating hasn’t been rated low. Source: Each state’s quality rating system.
- Licence status
- Whether the state’s licence lets the place operate now, in the state’s own words: licensed, on probation (allowed to keep operating on conditions, after problems), provisional, pending or expired. Source: Each state’s licensing agency.
- Capacity
- The most people the licence or certification lets the place care for at once: residents, children, beds or apartments, as the state counts them. It isn’t how many are there now. Source: Each state’s licensing agency.
What did inspectors find?
8 visits in the last three years, the latest on Aug 18, 2026.
2 deficiencies cited in the last three years, 2 of them serious.
Arkansas lists 1 complaint, received Mar 5, 2026; it lists the regulations its investigation cited.
Serious Deficiency: At no time shall children be left unsupervised or unattended. The child care center shall provide additional staff for any temporary absence of primary child caring staff for activities such as breaks, meal preparation, transportation, etc., Mar 6, 2026
Serious Deficiency: Rosters listing the date, the names, and the ages or dates, of birth of all children being transported as well as the name of the driver and any other staff member on the vehicle shall be maintained. These rosters shall be used to check children on and off the vehicle when they are picked up and dropped off at home, school, etc. and when they arrive at and leave the facility. Transportation rosters shall be kept by the facility and available for review for one (1) year., Mar 6, 2026
Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Facility visits: regulations inspected and deficiencies cited, Arkansas eLicensing and Facility complaints, Arkansas eLicensing. Checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily.
When those deficiencies happened
2 deficiencies in 1 month of the last 36. Last cited Mar 2026. Most serious: Serious Deficiency. The last 3 years, to Oct 24, 2026.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Nov | Dec | ||||||||||
| 2024 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 2025 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 2026 | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct |
Hover or focus a month to read it.
Hearth Record drew this from the dates and levels in the source’s own records.
Each deficiency, in its source’s words
Grouped by visit, newest first, with the level its source gave it.
Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Facility visits: regulations inspected and deficiencies cited, Arkansas eLicensing. Checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily.
Mar 6, 2026: complaint Visit1 deficiency
-
At no time shall children be left unsupervised or unattended. The child care center shall provide additional staff for any temporary absence of primary child caring staff for activities such as breaks, meal preparation, transportation, etc.
“Corrective action completed: The provider has ensured that the staff member conduct a head count at each transition and a name to face roster check every time she crosses the classroom threshold to ensure that all children are accounted for during transitions.”
Mar 6, 2026: child Record Review Visit; Monitor Visit; Staff Record Review Visit; Transportation1 deficiency
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Rosters listing the date, the names, and the ages or dates, of birth of all children being transported as well as the name of the driver and any other staff member on the vehicle shall be maintained. These rosters shall be used to check children on and off the vehicle when they are picked up and dropped off at home, school, etc. and when they arrive at and leave the facility. Transportation rosters shall be kept by the facility and available for review for one (1) year.
“Corrective action completed: The provider has ensured that a transportation roster is used for all field trips.”
All 8 visits on record
| Date | Visit | What the record says |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 18, 2026 | Child Record Review Visit; Monitor Visit; Staff Record Review Visit | No deficiencies cited |
| Mar 6, 2026 | Child Record Review Visit; Monitor Visit; Staff Record Review Visit; Transportation | 1 deficiency cited, 1 serious |
| Mar 6, 2026 | Complaint Visit | 1 deficiency cited, 1 serious |
| Oct 24, 2025 | Child Record Review Visit; Monitor Visit; Staff Record Review Visit | No deficiencies cited |
| Apr 1, 2025 | Child Record Review Visit; Monitor Visit | No deficiencies cited |
| Apr 1, 2025 | Complaint Visit | No deficiencies cited |
| Nov 19, 2024 | Children’s Records; Monitor Visit; Staff Record Review Visit | No deficiencies cited |
| Mar 25, 2024 | Monitor Visit | No deficiencies cited |
Is it licensed?
- Child Care Center.
- Provider type: Center Based, Public School Based.
- ABC Facility (Arkansas Better Chance).
- CACFP Facility (Child and Adult Care Food Program).
- Approved capacity by age group: Infant/Toddler License Type 10, Preschool License Type 60.
- Capacity: 70 children.
Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Find Child Care search and facility pages, Arkansas eLicensing. Checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily.
Has Arkansas acted against it?
- No corrective action agreements listed by Arkansas.
Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Facility corrective action agreements, Arkansas eLicensing. Checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily.
Who does the caring?
- Arkansas doesn’t publish staffing levels for individual providers. State rules set staff-to-child ratios by age.
Who owns it?
- Owner, as Arkansas lists it: Dequeen Mena Educational Cooperative.
Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Find Child Care search and facility pages, Arkansas eLicensing. Checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily.
How is it rated?
- Better Beginnings: Level 4.
Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Find Child Care search and facility pages, Arkansas eLicensing. Checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily.
How does it compare nearby?
- Among 6 child care providers in Polk County, the middle value for deficiencies cited in the last three years was 0.5; this one had 2.
Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Facility visits: regulations inspected and deficiencies cited, Arkansas eLicensing. Checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily.
| Place | Deficiencies, 3 years |
|---|---|
| AEL Mena | 0 |
| Acorn Preschool This child care provider | 2 |
| Mena Preschool 2 | 0 |
| Jumpstart Daycare/Polk County Developmental Center Inc. | Not given |
| HomeLife Academy | 6 |
| Van Cove ABC Preschool | 1 |
| Wickes ABC Preschool | 0 |
What the record doesn’t say
- Arkansas’s visit records cover the last three years only.
- Arkansas lists the regulation each deficiency cited, not what the licensing staff saw.
- Arkansas lists complaints and the regulations their investigations cited, not what was alleged.
Sources
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Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Find Child Care search and facility pages, Arkansas eLicensing.
Checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily. Arkansas.gov’s acceptable-use terms: linking is allowed; no framing, no presenting the content as one’s own, no implied endorsement.
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Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Facility visits: regulations inspected and deficiencies cited, Arkansas eLicensing.
Checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily. Arkansas.gov’s acceptable-use terms: linking is allowed; no framing, no presenting the content as one’s own, no implied endorsement.
-
Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Facility complaints, Arkansas eLicensing.
Checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily. Arkansas.gov’s acceptable-use terms: linking is allowed; no framing, no presenting the content as one’s own, no implied endorsement.
-
Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Facility corrective action agreements, Arkansas eLicensing.
Checked Oct 24, 2026. Updated daily. Arkansas.gov’s acceptable-use terms: linking is allowed; no framing, no presenting the content as one’s own, no implied endorsement.
If you believe something here is wrong, a correction starts with the agency whose record this copies: Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood. Arkansas’s own record is on ardhslicensing.my.site.com. If Hearth Record copied something wrongly, it will fix it and log the correction publicly, with its date: how corrections work.
This copy of the record was made on Oct 24, 2026.
From the provider
The public record above comes first. Anything the provider adds will appear here, below it, and say who wrote it.
Replies
None. Replies aren’t open yet. When they open, the provider will be able to answer any finding for free, and the reply will show beside that finding, unedited and dated.
Paid listing
None. Paid listings aren’t open yet. When they open, anything paid for will say “Paid by the provider”, and paying will never change a finding, a rating or the order of results.