Los Angeles - Parents who say their toddler children had thumb tacks pricked into their legs as a form a discipline at a California daycare centre have sued the facility's former operators over abuse they said was perpetrated by two teachers.
The civil suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, says the teachers involved in the abuse, which occurred between 2013 and 2014 at a Tutor Time franchise, were fired after their actions came to the attention of management, but that the daycare centre concealed their actions from parents.
The suit follows an investigation by state authorities who cited the centre in Agoura Hills, west of Los Angeles, after finding at least one instructor “used tactics to intimate and scare children,” according to documents from the state Department of Social Services.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of four parents says their children suffered cruel and unusual abuse in a recurring practice known at the centre as “pica pica,” which translated from Spanish means “prick prick.”
“If a boy was deemed inattentive or failed to follow directions, these teachers would stick a pin into the child's legs,” said the lawsuit, which was filed on Monday.
“The push pin was pressed deep enough into the legs to inflict pain and injury on the child,” he said.
The lawsuit accuses the two instructors and the operators of the centre of negligence, failure to report abuse, assault and battery, breach of contract and other wrongdoing and seeks an unspecified amount in damages.
Lydia Cisaruk, a spokeswoman for Tutor Time, said in an email that the company acquired the centre from its franchise operator last August but the purchase was unrelated to the allegations of abuse.
“Before the acquisition, this matter was addressed by the franchise owner/operator in conjunction with the licensing authorities,” she said.
“Staffing changes were made prior to the school coming under corporate ownership last year.”
Tutor Time as a corporate entity was not served as a defendant in the lawsuit, Cisaruk said.
The suit names as defendants the two instructors and Little Scholars Inc, which Cisaruk said operated the centre as a franchisee.
The two instructors and Little Scholars Inc could not be reached for comment.
Reuters