VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A parent told News 3 that a teacher said they saw another teacher slap a toddler on a changing table at KinderCare in Virginia Beach. Now, the daycare confirms the teacher responsible has been fired.
The mother of the child said while she's distraught that something like this happened, she wants to channel that anger into change.
It all happened a few months ago. Kaitlin Price said she thought she scoped out a good daycare for her two kids.
But that all changed after getting a phone call on Nov. 18.
"One of my children's teachers saw this other teacher slap my son across the face while changing his diaper," Price said.
According to Price, the teacher responsible was someone who was very attentive to her son, Jack.
"She was his primary teacher. So every time I came to get him, she would make sure that I got his artwork or she would tell me about anything cute Jack had done that day," Price said. It just makes me wonder what made her comfortable slapping my son in the face that hard."
In reference to the incident,, Haygood KinderCare provided News 3 with the following statement:
At KinderCare, nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of the children in our care. We take all concerns about safety seriously and have a protocol we follow any time a concern is raised. Part of that protocol includes notifying our agency partners, like state licensing or Child Protective Services, as we did here. This teacher was terminated immediately, and the actions that occurred do not reflect our company values nor the standards we hold our teachers to.
After picking her son up, Price is left wondering how many times something like this happened before.
According to the Virginia Department of Social Services, there was an investigation from June 3 to Aug. 23 at Haygood Kindercare.
The report shows months earlier a staff member allegedly poured water down the back of a 4-year-old child's pants because he was in the wrong classroom and would not go back to his class when asked. A plan of correction states the staff member responsible was terminated.
Looking back, Price said there was something else that didn't sit well with her after she first enrolled her kids in the Haygood KinderCare.
"In the beginning, I thought that they should have cameras everywhere but after talking to people, I was informed that not every facility has cameras, so I wrote it off as me being too much," said Price.
The mom of two said she wants to fight for more cameras at the daycare as well as charges pressed against the teacher.
Virginia Beach Police said, the teacher who will continue to be unnamed at this time, was issued a warrant on Nov. 18 for misdemeanor simple assault.
