NORTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning has concluded an investigation into a picture that appeared to show white children being fed lunch before their Black classmates at a metro Atlanta day care.
Soon after the picture went viral in early April, the Kids ‘R’ Kids daycare in Roswell shut its doors. The president of Kids ‘R’ Kids International released a statement following the statement, saying in part
[The interactions captured on video are] not in accordance with the inclusive culture that we promote at Kids ‘R’ Kids amongst our families, their children or our staff. After further review and much consideration of the photo/video in question, our company has decided to terminate that franchisee’s Kids ‘R’ Kids contract and branding, effective immediately, leaving them to operate independently.
— Kids 'R' Kids President David Vinson
Georgia DECAL Chief Communications Officer Reg Griffin says the daycare is now known as Pine Grove Academy.
[RELATED: State opens investigation into day care accused of feeding white children before Black children]
The department says, however, that they reviewed video footage of several days and found no evidence of a pattern of meals being withheld from children.
The daycare told Channel 2′s Audrey Washington in April that the food was passed out according to dietary restrictions.
While the state did not issue any citations for the daycare for withholding meals, they did issue citations for other issues.
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They say there was one supervision incident in which a child was not given a spoon during mealtime and meals were not served at the same time to three children. They were also cited for food service and nutrition following two children in a toddler class not receiving water or milk. A final citation was given for safe sleeping and resting after a light cover was not provided to a child during nap time.
Griffin says that the daycare has ten days to refute the citations if they disagree with them.
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