The Day Care Center of New Canaan has earned an average score of 99.4 out of 100 on health inspections through the past six years, records show.
Day Care Center of New Canaan is located at the eastern end of the Schoolhouse Apartments building, originally the town’s junior high school and later the Board of Education’s offices. Credit: Michael Dinan
Located in the Schoolhouse Apartments building at 156 South Ave., the nonprofit childcare facility has scored a perfect score of 100 on 12 of 16 unannounced inspections conducted by sanitarians with the New Canaan Health Department since February 2011, according to a review of the organization’s files at Town Hall.
Sanitarians use a state Department of Public Health standard, citing eateries for violations that range in seriousness and corresponding weight from 1 to 4 points. A “failed” inspection is triggered either by one or more 4-point violations or a total score of less than 80 points.
Incorporated in 1972 and serving 45 preschool children ages three to five as well as 45 school-age children in kindergarten through eighth grade, the Day Care Center’s cafeteria consistently has earned some of the very highest scores for food service establishments in town (article continues below):
Day Care Center of New Canaan, Health Inspection Results
| Date of Inspection | Score |
|---|---|
| 1/9/17 | 100 |
| 9/8/16 | 100 |
| 5/11/16 | 100 |
| 1/20/16 | 100 |
| 1/5/16 | 96 |
| 9/2/15 | 100 |
| 4/20/15 | 100 |
| 1/21/15 | 98 |
| 9/23/14 | 98 |
| 2/28/14 | 100 |
| 9/30/13 | 100 |
| 4/2/13 | 99 |
| 12/14/12 | 100 |
| 7/25/12 | 100 |
| 2/27/12 | 100 |
| 6/30/11 | 100 |
| 2/28/11 | 97 |
Officials in the health department said a score that consistently comes in at or near perfect is “optimal for any establishment.”
Speaking to such high scores generally and not to the Day Care Center of New Canaan specifically, Sanitarian Carla DeLucia said it would the establishment is “without any four-point violations, without temperature violations and likely without any critical violations.”
“Sanitarians work to help food establishments maintain compliance and, as a result, New Canaan on the whole fares well on inspections,” DeLucia said.
The Day Care Center’s minor violations include two dented cans of diced pears and a note to clean the interior of a microwave.
Officials from the organization could not be reached for comment.
CONGRATULATIONS…