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On October 27, 2025, the Office of Chldhood (OOC) received an allegation that on October 21, 2025, caregiver Margaretta DeChaing held Child A (age 2-years-old), down with a knee on Child A's chest. On October 29, 2025, Compliance Inspector (CI) Christy Hughes conducted an unannounced inspection of the facility and found the allegations to be substantiated based on the following information.
5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)2. which states: "Expectations for a child's behavior shall be appropriate for the developmental level of that child."
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5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)3. which states: "Only constructive, age-appropriate methods of discipline shall be used to help children develop self-control and assume responsibility for their own actions."
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5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)8. which states: "No discipline technique which is humiliating, threatening, or frightening to children shall be used. Children shall not be shamed, ridiculed, or spoken to harshly, abusively, or with profanity."
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5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)9. which states: "Punishment or threat of punishment shall not be associated with food, rest, or toilet training."
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5 CSR 25-500.182(1)(C)7. which states: "Physical punishment including, but not limited to, spanking, slapping, shaking, biting, or pulling hair shall be prohibited."
On October 29, 2025, CI Hughes conducted in person interviews with preschool program coordinator Meredith Davis, caregivers Olivia Pinkston, Mary Mikel, Christine Burmester and Maria Caito "Lucy" and Child A.
Meredith stated that she had been employed at the facility for 12 years. Ana "Margarita" Dechang had been on an improvement plan and was given her final warning on the last write up, so she was terminated after the incident on October 21, 2025 when she put her legs on Child A's stomach. She had been written up in the past for unprofessional language and complaints from her coworkers. Margarita was on modified work due to a doctor's note from surgery, so she had limited use of one of her arms. Olivia Pinkston, Margarita's assistant came to Meredith with Child A asking for help. She sent help to the classroom as soon as she could. At that time, she did not know the full extent of the situation and later learned what had happened. Olivia told her that she was changing diapers and Child A kept climbing the stairs to the changing table to get to Olivia. Olivia placed her on the floor several times and Child A was not happy. Margarita came over and picked Child A up by one arm and moved her to the carpet while Child A kicked off her shoes. Margarita was helping her put her shoes back on and Margarita used her legs across Child A's torso to hold her down to get her shoes back on. Olivia went over after finishing the diaper she was changing and picked up Child A and removed her from the situation and went to find help. Olivia told her she was uncomfortable with the situation and that Margarita was using unacceptable verbiage with Child A. She did not see any injuries to Child A. The families were notified that Margarita had been terminated.
Olivia stated that she had been employed at the facility since July of 2025. On October 21, 2025, Child A kept climbing the steps to get to her and she helped her down a couple of times. She ended up laying her at her feet. Margarita came over to get Child A and picked up Child A by the right wrist and lifted her off of the floor for a second. Child A started kicking and screaming while Margarita half walked half drug Child A over to the carpet. Child A was in Margarita's lap on the carpet and had kicked off her shoes and Margarita told her if she did not stop, she was going to give her shoes away. Child A started yelling for her. Margarita had her legs across Child A's belly restraining her. She did not feel like it was all of her weight on Child A, just the weight of her legs. Margarita was not talking to Child A or helping her put her shoes on, she was just restraining her. She went over when she finished her diaper change and took Child A from Margarita and removed her from the classroom. Margarita did not say anything to her. She went and reported it to Meredith. This was the first time she had seen Margarita do anything physical with the children. She is concerned with how Margarita spoke with the children. She did feel that it was not kind.
Mary stated that she had been employed at the facility for about a year. She did not work closely with Margarita, only on the playground. She overheard Margarita speaking to other staff members at the last professional development day. Margarita told staff members that she had write ups from previous experiences at the center. Margarita disclosed that she felt they were untrue. She stated that last year a child did not want to go to her class because she didn't want Margarita putting her legs over her, there was also a rumor of her hitting a child and she uses degrading tones with the children.
Child A stated that she likes school and likes to ride bikes. She likes Olivia. Margarita is not nice at naps.
On October 29, 2025, CI Hughes observed documentation provided by Meredith Davis. The documentation provided showed that Margarita DeChang had been written up previously on March 7, 2023, for being "rough on the Children."
A second write up was issued on July 31, 2024, for shaming a child and physically forcing a child to perform an action, use of behavioral management and use of improper forms of discipline. A complaint was received regarding "fear" of their child being placed in her class, the Frog room with Margarita as the teacher.
A third write up was provided from February 5, 2025, for confidentiality with the parents.
On November 4, 2025, CI Hughes conducted an interview via phone with Ana "Margarita" Dechang. Margarita stated that on October 22, 2025, at approximately 9:30 to 9:45 a.m., her and her assistant Olivia were in the classroom. Olivia was changing diapers while she was with the rest of the class on the carpet. Due to a shoulder injury, she had limited usage with her one arm. Child A was trying to climb the steps of the changing table to get to Olivia. Olivia removed Child A from the steps a couple of times and finally laid her on the floor at her feet and bumped her head on the floor. She went over and picked up Child A with one arm around Child A's waist and moved her to the carpet. Child A was kicking and screaming and kicked off her shoes, so she helped her put her shoes back on. Child A was saying "I don't want you" but she says that to all of the teachers except Olivia. Olivia allows Child A to do things that the other children are not allowed to do. Olivia came over and picked up Child A and left the room with her, leaving her with 13 2-year-olds by herself. Olivia told her that she was trying to keep Child A safe. She feels Olivia is overprotective with Child A. She did not put her legs over Child A. She worked the rest of the day and all of the next day until 30 minutes before her shift ended. They called her into the office and terminated her. She stated that she had been put on a 2-day suspension in the past due to a child saying that she slapped her in the face and then the mother came back and apologized that the child said it did not happen. She has never hurt anyone. She feels that a couple of her assistants did not like her, so they made things up.
On November 4, 2025, CI Hughes conducted an interview via phone with Parent A. Parent A stated that she never received a phone call or any other communication about Child A being restrained on October 21, 2025. She normally received documentation that she needs to sign if there is an incident. Her nanny had picked up Child A and another teacher on the playground told her about the incident. The nanny questioned the front desk but was told they could not speak with her since she was not the parent. She has signed many papers at the center stating that they are able to speak with the nanny about incidents with their child. She felt that Keri the executive director of the facility lied to them and denied that it happened. She did not get a very good feeling from Margarita and she was not very interactive, and Child A did not want to go to her. Child A cried when left with her. She received a call stating that they had fired Margarita. She is very concerned that Margarita is reaching out to families offering to nanny them. The center provided a very vague note to the families as to why she is no longer working there.
On November 5, 2025, CI Hughes conducted an interview via phone with executive director Keri Young.
Keri stated that she was not made aware of the full circumstances of the situation until after 4:00 p.m. on October 21, 2025. Olivia stopped by and asked if Meredith had filled her in on the incident. She was unaware of an incident and thought that Olivia just wanted to talk about Margarita slipping into her negative ways. Meredith told her that Olivia came to her about Margarita's negativity. Olivia told her that Margarita came over and picked Child A up by one arm and drug her to the carpet. While putting Child A's shoes back on, Margarita whispered to her that if she did not put her shoes on, she was going to give them away and then Margarita proceeded to place her legs over Child A's stomach to restrain her. Child A's nanny brought it to her attention the following morning and she did not feel that she should be discussing it with the nanny. She had a couple ex-employees come forward about Margarita after her termination, so she shared their names and phone numbers to contact.
On November 5, 2025, CI Hughes conducted an interview via phone with caregiver Jasmina Subasics. Jasmina stated that she worked at Clayton Early Childhood Center for about 2 years and left in September 2025 because she moved to New Orleans. She was Margarita's assistant and saw many behaviors from Margarita that were concerning. In the summer of 2024, she wrote a letter to the executive director stating her and other staff members concerns with Margarita. Margarita would put her legs over the bodies of children who did not lay still and sleep at naptime. Margarita was very rough both verbally and physically with the children. There was a child in her class that slept past the 3 o'clock wake up time so she would lift the end of their cot and roll them onto the floor. She was very aggressive with the children potty training. She would push them in the back of their heads to get them into the bathroom. Jasmina was not happy with how it was handled because the behaviors continued from Margarita.
On November 6, 2025, CI Hughes conducted an interview via phone with caregiver Ashley Gallegos.
Ashley stated that she was employed with Clayton Early Childhood for approximately 3 years as a teacher's assistant. She worked with Margarita. Margarita was very hard to work with. She typed up a letter of what she saw working with Margarita and shared it with the preschool program coordinator Meredith Davis. Meredith and Director Keri Young had a meeting with her about the letter. The letter was shared back in June of 2024, and nothing changed with Margarita's behavior. She was just moved to a different classroom. She was not the only one who sent the leadership team a letter expressing their concerns with Margarita's behavior.
On November 6, 2025, CI Hughes observed a letter that was sent in June of 2024, from ex-employee Ashley Gallegos via Google docs to preschool program coordinator Meredith Davis. The letter stated that she had serious concerns working with coworker Margarita. She observed many behaviors that were both detrimental to her and her mental health along with the children. It was described as the worst working experience of her life. Children were awakened early as a punishment by being rolled off their cots. Children were forced to do projects or pick up toys while screaming and crying. Margarita "lied" or "fudged the truth" to parents to make herself look better. Children were pulled by their arms. Some children were her "favorites" and it showed in how they were treated.
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