A state investigation has revealed that a former Buckhead preschool teacher did not abuse children in its program, but the school was still fined $299 because she inappropriately disciplined them.
“Our investigation substantiated inappropriate discipline by the teacher,” Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning spokesman Reg Griffin said. “However, it did not meet the state’s definition of child abuse.”
The investigation revealed that the employee of the Open Arms Lutheran Child Development Center squeezed children’s hands and “bent their fingers back as forms of punishment,” state child care and policy director April Rogers said in documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The staffer also “poked a three-year-old child on the forehead, as a form of punishment” and ended up leaving a “small, open scratch,” Rogers said in the documents.
Barbara Collins, executive director of the center, denied comment Tuesday. But she said in state documents she had no knowledge of the teacher’s disciplinary tactics.
“I was not aware of any child or children being spanked, pinched, or any form of maltreatment by a teacher in the preschool (3-year-old) classroom,” Collins said.
Parents and employees at the center identified the teacher as Felicia Lambert, who no longer works for the center in the 4000 block of Roswell Road.
Lambert had worked in child care for 22 years and for the Open Arms Lutheran Child Development Center specifically for more than three years when she resigned May 18. That was about two weeks after she was informed of the accusations against her.
Lambert has said she “would never hurt a child,” and maintains the investigation findings are not true.
“My kids were everything to me,” Lambert said in a statement to the state June 7.
She also said it wouldn’t make sense for her to hurt the kids because they would tell their parents.
“Nothing was filed against me, and I put everything behind me,” she said in an email to The AJC on Tuesday.
The Open Arms center was ordered to pay the $299 fine and submit a plan for improvement, which according to the state the facility has done.
The plan includes child abuse and neglect training for all staff members during their first 90 days at the center and a discipline policy review with current staff members.
Stefany Sanders, a parent at the school, said the state’s discipline doesn’t go far enough.
“Six months later, my son still talks about how the teacher hurt him,” she said.
The state conducted interviews with three parents, eight former and current school employees, including Lambert, and police investigators.
In one of those interviews, Sarah Cainion, a teacher’s assistant, said she saw Lambert squeeze the children’s hands and heard them cry after being disciplined.
In an interview with one of the children, a 3-year-old said Lambert poked him in the forehead with her fingernail because he didn’t listen.
Another 3-year-old said Lambert held his hand and squeezed it. “Yesterday, she bent my pinky finger and it really bad hurted,” the child said.
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