ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Parents of former students at an Alpharetta preschool have filed a lawsuit against the facility and its corporate ownership, claiming a former teacher abused the students and that little was done to address the situation.
Attorney and TV judge Glenda Hatchett is representing the families in their lawsuit against Crème De La Crème on Haynes Bridge Road.
"We know that there were children who were locked in a dark, windowless bathroom as punishment. The children generally referred to that as the jail," Hatchett told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik at a Friday news conference. "These are kindergarten children. How traumatizing? How terrorizing?"
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Parent Matt Stubblefield said he first learned about the situation after his son came home and told him about his classmates going to “jail” for failing to properly answer questions in class.
“One child was locked in there crying uncontrollably,” he said. “Another child got up to help them and let them out and was punished as well.”
Stubblefield and the other parents said they were very concerned about how school administrators handled the situation after it was brought to light.
“They were very dismissive,” he said. “They didn’t have any concern with seeing anything come out of this.”
Prudence Green said her daughter was severely affected by what happened to her.
“It’s been something that’s been very traumatic for our family,” she said.
Hatchett said the classroom was equipped with surveillance cameras, but she said school leaders didn’t properly supervise the classroom or the cameras.
“We are concerned about policy. We are concerned about how this was handled,” she said. “We’re concerned about the lack of quick response when these parents initially said, ‘We think things just aren’t right.’”
Reg Griffin, a spokesman for the Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL), told Petchenik that his agency received a complaint about the incident and the school was cited, but not fined for what happened.
Hatchett said the families have spoken to the Fulton County District Attorney, but they are not pursuing criminal charges at this point.
Crème de La Crème’s chief operating officer Peter Lungo sent Petchenik a statement about the allegations:
"For over 30 years Creme de la Creme has provided exceptional childcare for families, and our number one priority has always been to provide a safe and nurturing environment for children. More than a year ago, an incident involving a teacher was brought to our attention and we immediately investigated and took action including proactively reporting the matter to the state. Both our internal investigation and the one conducted by the state identified behavior that was inconsistent with our values as an organization and the training that we provide to our staff. As a result, the teacher's employment was immediately terminated. Creme de la Creme is confident that we took swift and decisive action to address the matter, including communicating with parents throughout the process. Further, after the lawsuit was filed, we asked for reasonable information so we could substantiate the claims made against us. In response, a press conference was called."