Following an incident last month involving a teacher who inappropriately disciplined a 19-month-old child at the KinderCare Learning Center at Sudley Manor in Manassas, the staff member resigned and was not fired as as initially reported.
"I do want to clarify that the teacher involved in the June incident resigned during our investigation," KinderCare spokesperson Communications Supervisor Colleen Moran said. "She was not dismissed."
The incident, which was self-reported by the administration of the facility, sparked an investigation by the Virginia Department of Social Services.
"KinderCare Learning Centers strives to always provide safe, nurturing learning environments for all the children in our care," Moran said. "If we have any reason to believe that one of our employees may have fallen short or risked falling short of that expectation, we have a protocol we follow to investigate the situation, which can include retraining."
VDSS previously cited the day care center for a Feb. 24 incident involving a teacher roughly handling a child. That staff was member was dismissed by the administration.
"After an incident in February when one of our employees was found to have acted inappropriately and was dismissed from our center, our remaining staff were retrained on both our own and the state’s expectations for proper child guidance," she said.
Moran explained that their teachers are expected to set clear expectations for how children should act in the classroom and redirect their behavior when necessary; the retraining also reminded teachers of their responsibilities as mandated reporters.
"We are confident that our employees understand our expectations and that KinderCare will remain the best place for children to learn and grow," she said.
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