Drowning victim was child care director’s daughter

CEDAR RAPIDS - A 19-year tradition for a Cedar Rapids day care ended in tragedy when the daughter of one its directors drowned Thursday afternoon during a field trip to Lake Macbride State Park.

On Friday, authorities identified the girl as Alaina Joy Hauskins, 6, who was on an excursion with 25 other children from Kids Kampus.

She was the daughter of one of the co-directors of the day care, said Debbie Koopman, another co-director of the center.

'It's just a horrible thing,” Koopman said Friday. 'It's a tragedy no family, no center wants to go through.”

According to Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, the day care staff did a head count about 1:30 p.m. Thursday and discovered a child was missing. But it was not until a half-hour later that the call came into authorities, he said.

Koopman, who was not at the lake Thursday, said she wasn't certain what time the head count took place.

Around 2:13 p.m., a 911 call alerted dispatchers that an unresponsive child was found in the water. The body was found by high school students who had been swimming in the lake, Pulkrabek said.

The girl was taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where she was pronounced dead.

Koopman, who co-founded Kids Kampus in 1996, said the day care had taken annual field trips to Lake Macbride every year since.

There were ample numbers of staff and parents at the lake during the trip, she said, and they were 'way over the ratio of staff.”

'There was no problem about the ratio,” she said.

Nonetheless, Koopman acknowledged that Thursday's death will probably spell the end of the annual Lake Macbride excursions. She said Kids Kampus remained open and grief counselors were on hand to help students.

The day care is licensed by the state to have children up to age 12.

Amy McCoy, public information officer for the Iowa Department of Human Services, said licensed day care providers are required to report 'major incidents,” including deaths, to the state. Koopman said the center had already provided information to the state.

McCoy said she could not comment about Thursday's incident. Generally speaking, when DHS received a report of a death, it will investigate to determine if the circumstances meet requirements for an abuse or licensing and registration investigation. A child's death would not automatically trigger an abuse investigation, McCoy said.

In the instance of a field trip death, McCoy said investigators would try to ensure there was appropriate staffing for the trip.

'There are instances where people may not be staffed correctly, but there are also instances that are tragic accidents,” McCoy said.

According to DHS records, Kids Kampus last went through a standard evaluation on July 30. No issues were found during the unannounced visit.