What Happened at This Denton County Daycare?
DENTON, TEXAS – Employees of a Denton location of a Childcare Network daycare have walked out, leading to the unexpected closure of the facility.
Childcare Network, a daycare company based out of Austin, Texas, owns and operates about two dozen daycare centers across the state. The walkout occurred after tension between the Denton Market Street location and the corporate office heightened.
According to an article in the Denton-Record Chronicle, the tension was caused by “a lack of staff.”
Rebecca Elder, a former teacher at the daycare, was interviewed about her experiences working there, stating, “We had too many kids because we had so many teachers quitting, and they would want us to push more kids in before we even fully hired.”
She continued, saying, “On May 10, our director called them [corporate] again and was like, ‘Hey, we’re going to have to stop accepting kids today because we’re already at full capacity,’ and they told her to leave everyone there and go to a recruiting event to get more kids enrolled.
According to Elder, “Kids would be in a different room every day, infants would be strolled around in the hallways because there’s nowhere to put them because we’re over ratio, and some kids would have to stay in the office. It was just a horrible situation that we all tried to make do with and try our best to keep all the kids well taken care of and everything, but it was just too much.”
The Denton-Record Chronicle spoke to a parent, Faith Wanamaker, whose two children attended the daycare. When interviewed, she said, “There was always a lot of kids per teacher, and you could tell they were stressed out. I know the director had reached out multiple times to corporate for additional help and they either wouldn’t send anybody, or they would send a temp.”
The director walked out of the daycare, followed by nearly all of the other staff.
Daycare Injury Attorneys Discuss Denton Daycare Staff Walkout
Unfortunately, the actions and behaviors of this daycare’s corporate office are not surprising. Though we're not involved in a case with this particular daycare, our team has handled many cases of daycare negligence. In fact, our team is helping a Denton-area family after their young daughter suffered injuries from a chemical burn at a different local childcare facility. In this case, the daycare she attended failed to properly dilute cleaning chemicals.
In handling those daycare cases, our legal team has noticed a consistent pattern: dangerous daycares put profits over care.
Irresponsible and reckless daycare owners will often put the safety of children at risk just to make some extra money. Though it can happen with any daycare in Texas, we see this commonly happen with corporate-run daycares. This is because many times, with corporate-run daycares, the people making decisions do not want to spend the money necessary to make sure the daycare will be safe for children.
Ways that negligent daycares might do this include:
- Understaffing the daycare
- Not adhering to the state’s required child-to-caregiver ratios
- Quickly hiring caregivers without properly qualifying and background checking them, as required by the state
- Not appropriately training caregivers on safety precautions for children
- Not checking medical records for children to ensure they’re properly immunized
- Failing to keep the facility, including classrooms, playgrounds, and fencing, well-maintained
- Purposely withholding information about incidents from parents to protect the daycare’s reputation
The main red flags parents should look out for in dangerous and poorly run daycares include the following:
- High turnover rates of caregivers and directors
- Kids coming home hungry or thirsty
- Daycare workers being avoidant or secretive
- Kids coming home with bruises, unexplained injuries, or unchanged diapers
- Or children displaying signs of regressive behavior or unexplained mood and behavior changes
These are just some of the signs of dangerous daycare. If you’ve noticed anything unusual about your child after they come home from daycare, it’s important to investigate. If you have more questions, be sure to contact our daycare injury team at The Button Law Firm.
What to Do If Your Child Was Hurt at a Negligent and Careless Daycare in Texas
If your child attended a Childcare Network daycare or any other daycare in Texas and was abused or neglected, be sure to reach out to us today.
Our team’s focus is helping families move forward after a serious injury has happened from daycare negligence. These injuries are 100% preventable – daycares that allow this to happen must be held responsible.
To reach out to our experienced daycare injury lawyers, call us at (214)699-4409 or fill out the contact form at the bottom of this page. You can also reach out to us by starting a chat.