OAK CREEK, Wisc. — After TMJ4 learned that the Oak Creek KinderCare unexpectedly closed over the weekend, we reached out to B'Ivory LaMarr, the attorney representing the family of the one-year-old boy who was exposed to cocaine at the facility back in May.
“I’m not sure if it's just temporary or whether it's permanent,” said LaMarr.
Our Elaine Rojas-Castillo started digging and called KinderCare.
Previous coverage: https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/why-an-oak-creek-daycare-remains-open-after-cocaine-was-found-inside-of-it
One of their representatives confirmed that the Oak Creek location has been closed due to alleged licensing issues.
They went on to say that the facility is expected to be closed for at least 10 days and that the national offices plan to send out a notice to the parents with an update.
“I can tell you that the licensing board has reached out to one of the parents of the 11-month-old boy from this past May to testify in some proceedings against that facility,” said LaMarr.
Watch: Oak Creek KinderCare license suspended, temporarily closed
We also reached out to the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.
In an email, they said the facility was issued a summary suspension and will remain closed while they complete their investigation.
LaMarr says that decision doesn’t surprise him.
“There were substantial violations that occurred prior to the May exposure. So, we would expect that a facility would face severe disciplinary action from the licensing board,” said LaMarr.
We also looked into the daycare’s DCF listing.
While it still shows the state’s five-star rating, there are violations listed as recently as last month.
Per DCF guidelines, if a daycare has outside accreditation and completes that process, five stars are automatically applied even if the daycare has existing violations.
“When you have that type of check and balance that is not present at that facility, I think that you have to definitely consider that there are other things going on,” said LaMarr.
While details are still limited, LaMarr says he has been contacted by other families from that daycare about their own issues and encourages parents to keep a close eye on where they send their children.
“We understand that it can be challenging to have good employees these days, but that should not be an excuse for, especially a national chain, to succumb to such low performance,” said LaMarr.
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