Day care center faces scrutiny over allegations

A local daycare center with locations in Baldwin and Freeport is facing a lawsuit after allegations leveled by parents and former employees have surfaced, including unsanitary conditions and inadequate food supplies at the center and child-on-child sexual abuse on a bus.

Shaniece Ford, a former employee of Carousel of Learning, is suing the daycare for neglect after an alleged incident involving her son and an older boy. “My son, due to the negligence of Carousel of Learning, was being molested by a 9-year-old boy on the back of the Carousel of Learning school bus,” Ford said.

She detailed her allegations in a lawsuit filed in the State Supreme Court in Mineola on June 13.

Her son was 3 years old when the incident took place March 27, Ford said. She never brought him back to the daycare after that.

“I have reports from parents and former workers who’ve also seen inappropriate touching and reported it,” said Ford. “I’m just so drained with this. I’m lost for words. This is a real situation.”

The school responded to Ford’s allegations through spokesman Gary Lewi, who said Ford is a displeased former employee trying to besmirch the name of a community institution.

“Without so much as even the suggestion of evidence or allowing for due process, an allegation has been made by a disgruntled former employee who knows that facts are irrelevant when destroying the reputation of an institution whose mission is to provide a safe and healthy environment for children,” Lewi said in a statement. “In the wake of this baseless charge, we welcome local and state authorities to conduct a thorough review of our facilities, and we will be cooperating with any investigation that looks at these allegations.”

A representative of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, Sarah Meinhold, inspected both facilities on June 14. As of June 20, Meinhold found all 14 allegations against both the Baldwin and Freeport locations to be unsubstantiated.

This isn’t the first time that allegations have been made against the center. Everett Caban, a former assistant director of the Baldwin Carousel, is also suing the daycare for wrongful termination. In the summons complaint filed on May 17 by his Mineola-based attorney Raymond Nardo, Caban alleged that the daycare wrongfully terminated him because he blew the whistle on the improper practices at the center, and he is suing for back and front pay and lost benefits. The status of Caban’s lawsuit was unavailable at press time, and Carousel representatives declined to comment on his claims.

Ford’s attorney, Kenneth Mollins, said that over the years the center had a “slew of prior complaints” that were remedied just in time to pass state inspections. In 2015, Carousel was cited for unsupervised children, unregulated heat, unsanitary conditions and an insufficient student-teacher ratio. Carousel claims the violations were corrected, and according to Lewi, the citations were never put in their proper context.

“The handful of infractions … from several years ago need to be appreciated in context,” he said. “For example, cited for `inadequate heat’: The boiler’s circuit breaker needed to be reset, but within the several minutes required to do so, it was technically noted as an infraction of state regulations. The fact is, hundreds of children continue to be provided with a loving and [supportive] experience, and the daily evidence will support that statement.”

 After hearing about the lawsuits, Baldwin resident Megan Yule said she questioned the safety of her children at the center, but soon realized that her boys were happy and excited to go to Carousel on a daily basis. “I always felt that my kids are safe,” said Yule as she picked her children up from the Baldwin Carousel recently.

“I feel comfortable leaving them here,” she said. “They love it. I have an opposite feeling to what I have seen on the news. I can come in different hours to pick my kids unannounced, so I could always walk in to see something like that. I’ve never seen anything like that. They’re always taken care of, and the food looks good.”

A Freeport father from El Salvador, Jose, has been bringing his twin sons to the Freeport Carousel for the last six months. He was unwilling to share his last name, but he was open about his experiences with the center. Jose said he is satisfied with the care that his children are receiving and is not concerned about the allegations, provided that his children are cared for properly.

“I feel good about this place. The boys are treated and cared for well,” said Jose in his native Spanish. “I don’t have complaints.”

However, Shatya Brailsford, a former teacher’s assistant at Carousel who also worked with Ford at the Baldwin location for three months before quitting, said, “I don’t want to talk bad about anybody, but Carousel of Learning, I don’t recommend anybody bring their kid there. Food would sit in the refrigerator for days at a time and mold. There was only one knife in there that we were using, [and they] didn’t have dish soap to wash it off, so we would use the bathroom soap to wash it off.”

She recalled giving the children cups and having them get water from sinks in the bathroom, the same bathroom where roaches had been spotted, she said.

“The allegations are somewhat frightening because you’re dealing with kids who were put into the custody of the center that’s supposed to help them and oversee what’s happening,” she said.