First Step Preschool

Serious Deficiency: Any vehicles designed or used to transport more than seven (7) passengers and one (1) driver must have approved child safety alarm devices installed. These devices must be properly maintained in working order at all times. Vehicles in service at licensed facilities prior to July 1, 2005, shall have the alarm installed by a qualified technician or mechanic no later than December 31, 2005. On or after July 1, 2005, all vehicles at newly licensed facilities and newly acquired vehicles at existing facilities shall have a child safety alarm installed before placing the vehicle in service. The Child Care Licensing Unit shall maintain a list of approved alarm systems. Clarification – * The alarm system shall be installed so that the driver must walk to the very back of the vehicle to reach the switch that deactivates the alarm. Alarm switches installed in locations that do not require the driver to walk to the back of the vehicle and view all seating areas will not be acceptable. * The alarm system may be installed by any certified technician or mechanic employed by a recognized electronics or automotive business in accordance with the device manufacturer’s recommendations. * The time delay from activation of the alarm until the alarm sounds shall be no longer than one (1) minute. Any of the following three (3) options are acceptable to meet the intent of Act 1979 when children are being delivered at the facility. Other options must be approved by the Licensing Unit., Apr 5, 2024

When those deficiencies happened

1 deficiency in 1 month of the last 36. Last cited Apr 2024. Most serious: Serious Deficiency. The last 3 years, to Nov 2, 2026.

Each deficiency, in its source’s words

Grouped by visit, newest first, with the level its source gave it.

• Child Care Center.
• Provider type: Center Based.
• Voucher Participant (School Readiness Assistance).
• Approved capacity by age group: Infant/Toddler License Type 0, Preschool License Type 60, School Age License Type 32.
• Capacity: 92 children.

• No corrective action agreements listed by Arkansas.

• Owner, as Arkansas lists it: First Step Preschool.

• Better Beginnings: Level 2.

• Among 35 child care providers in White County, the middle value for deficiencies cited in the last three years was 0; this one had 1.

• 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.

• Arkansas Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood, Find Child Care search and facility pages, Arkansas eLicensing.

  Checked Nov 2, 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 visits: regulations inspected and deficiencies cited, Arkansas eLicensing.

  Checked Nov 2, 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 Nov 2, 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 Nov 2, 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.