A Calloway County daycare closed this month due to an inability to meet required staffing ratios in classrooms.
Cabinet for Health and Family Services spokesperson Beth Fisher said Higher Praise Learning Center’s closure was voluntary and did not result from actions taken by the cabinet. She says the daycare is not under investigation. Higher Praise director Phyllis Clere said the closure was a "business decision."
The state had investigated alleged incidents at the center in recent years. According to documents provided to WKMS, an allegation in 2016 claimed that a worker whipped a child with a yardstick and spanked them with a flyswatter for crying to go to the restroom and waking up the other children during naptime. A investigation by the Division of Regulated Child Care found that toileting was withheld from a child as a form of discipline, but there was insufficient evidence to prove that a child was spanked with a fly swatter and yardstick.
In a 2017 allegation, a 22-month-old child tripped on a toy and fell. The child was taken to Primary Care Medical Center in Murray and diagnosed with a fracture. The incident was reported to the cabinet within 24-hours and the allegation claiming that the center failed to comply with requirements was not confirmed.
Clere says the allegations had nothing to do with the closure. She also said she "didn’t have any teachers that had background checks." She says she has no plans to open a new daycare.
