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On March 13, 2026, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that on January 23, 2026, Child A (age 3-years-old), came home with scratches on their neck from an unknown cause. After reviewing camera footage with law enforcement, it was observed that Child A was placed in a full nelson hold by teacher Joahanna Harris and thrown against the wall. On March 16, 2026, Compliance Inspector (CI) Christy Hughes conducted an unannounced inspection of the facility and did not find that Joahanna threw Child A against the wall or caused any scratches to Child A, however CI Hughes did find the allegation that Joahanna inappropriately restrained Child A 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 stated: "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 25-500.102(1)(E) which states: "Caregivers shall have knowledge of the needs of children and shall be sensitive to the capabilities, interests, and problems of children in care."
On March 16, 2026, Compliance Inspector (CI) Christy Hughes conducted in person interviews with director Carolyn Jones, office manager Gabrielle Rucker, caregivers Joahanna Harris, LaShonna Dumka, Dalisa King, Kimberly Smith and Child B and Child C.
Carolyn stated that she learned about the incident from Parent A. Parent A stated that Child A was scratched by another child on January 23, 2026. She viewed the video with David and Joahanna was in the classroom by herself. She told Parent A that Joahanna would be terminated because she did not feel the situation was handled properly because Joahanna inappropriately restrained Child A. Carolyn has never provided training for the staff for how to care for children with special needs.
Gabrielle stated that she had no previous concerns with Joahanna and was not made aware of the situation with Child A until several days after. Parent A told her that David Williams was an "asshole" and very arrogant to her. Child A was released from the center for his safety and David cut ties with the family recently. She has not provided training for the staff on how to work with children with special needs.
LaShonna stated that she is familiar with Child A's behaviors. Child A was moved out of Joahanna class due to the situation because Parent A did not want Child A with Joahanna. Parent A told her that Joahanna restrained her child improperly by bear hugging him with her legs across his and that Joahanna was not equipped to handle Child A. She heard Joahanna tripped while bear hugging Child A. Joahanna was suspended for a short period of time.
Dalisa stated that Child A was a runner and played rough with the other children. Another child scratched him. He was bear hugged tightly in a sitting position. She knew what he liked to do to keep him occupied. She didn't know why he was no longer attending the facility.
Joahanna stated that she only worked with Child A for 3 or 4 days and knew from seeing him in the center that he was a lot to work with. She told David that she was not trained and did not feel comfortable working with a child with special needs, but David told her, "If you can't help him no one can." She did not know how to deal with him. She told David repeatedly that she could not handle Child A. David showed her the video from January 23, 2026 and said that she was told by David that she could not speak with Parent A about it. On January 23, 2026, she went over to break up Child A and another child and reached around Child A by the shoulders. She tripped on the blocks falling while holding on to Child A, but Child A was not slammed into the wall or hurt. She did not know about the scratches on Child A's neck. She apologized to Parent A. She has concerns with the center because they are not trained or equipped to work with children with special needs and does not feel like she gets support when dealing with behaviors. David told her Parent A pulled Child A from the facility because of her. David told her he was suspending her for a day because he wanted to show Parent A that something was done.
CI Hughes also observed a Report of accident, injury and/or emergency medical care. The report was typed out on January 28, 2026, for the situation that occurred on January 23, 2026. David Williams' name was on it as the person in charge. The report does not specify what happened to Child A. It states that David reviewed the video and informed Parent A of his findings and that Parent A later came in to review the video as well. It also stated that the teacher was suspended for one day without pay and it was signed by Parent A on January 28, 2026.
On March 17, 2026, Compliance Inspector (CI) Christy Hughes conducted an interview via phone with Parent A. Parent A stated that Child A was picked up by her at 11:40 a.m. on January 23, 2026. When she got home, she noticed scratches on the back of his neck, so she contacted David Williams asking where they came from. She asked to come and view the video footage and David wrote back that he would speak with the staff. The school was closed for a few days due to the weather and when she returned on Thursday David told her he could not show her the video that day. David told her that he viewed the video, and her child was wrestling with another child and that is how he was scratched. When David was able to show her, she watched the video. She was very upset when she saw it. Child A was over at the table by himself and Joahanna aggressively took Child A by the hand and took him over to the other children. Child A took a toy away from another child and when he did not give it back, Joahanna put a choke hold onto him and threw him to the ground. Joahanna apologized and admitted that she was wrong. She was upset that David saw the video and did not mention that Joahanna had gotten rough with Child A. Carolyn Jones told her the next day that she was terminating Joahanna and that the center was going to call the hotline. Child A was gone from the center for a week due to a death in the family and when Child A returned, Joahanna was still employed. David said that Carolyn did not have the authority to fire Joahanna, but she was disciplined. She did not want to send Child A back at the time but could not remove him from the facility because her back up was her mother and she had just passed. Recently David told her they could not come back to the center.
On March 20, 2026, Compliance Inspector (CI) Christy Hughes conducted an interview via phone with Lieutenant Tony Moutray of the North County Cooperative. Lieutenant Moutray stated that his officer did not write a report on her initial visit, and she is no longer working for their department. He was able to see the bodycam video which shows the facilities video in the background with David Williams narrating. He thought a report should be written based on what was seen and heard in the video, so he was going to write one. CI Hughes requested the body cam video.
On March 22, 2026, Compliance Inspector (CI) Christy Hughes observed a body cam video obtain from the North County Coop Police department. The video is 21.52 minutes in length. The sound does not start until 30 seconds into the video. The video is of the incident and is narrated by David Williams, LLC Member of what was going on.
When asked by the officer what their policy is David stated that the "bear hug" method is common practice.
David states that Joahanna was a degreed teacher with knowledge of dealing with children. "She is like 60 something years old. It's not like she is a spring chicken." The video shows children playing on a carpet and Joahanna was across the room. The children begin to what appears to be arguing over a toy. She moves over to the children, grabbing a child around the child's upper arm in what David describes as the "Bear Hug" method. David stated that she did not do the technique properly. "She's kind of old and kind of stumbled." She should be sitting down with the child. Joahanna appears to fall, bringing the child down to the ground with her. He stated that he does not know that the child has a diagnosis of autism.
David looks up the bear hug method on google. When reading it states, "it is a controversial restraint". A physical restraint and "It is often viewed as unsafe and legally problematic."
Parent A questioned David why her child was snatched up and handled that way. He told her she should not have grabbed from the top. What she did at the end is the proper technique.
When he viewed the video to find out where the scratches came from, he saw the incident with Joahanna. He called her to view the video. Joahanna did not come back to work the following day due to being distraught.
David stated, "Me personally, it wasn't with love, she kind of like gave (motioning with his hands) get along, it wasn't abusive. I would not have done that."
On March 27, 2026. Compliance Inspector (CI) Christy Hughes conducted an in-person interview with LLC Member David Williams. David stated that Joahanna is very experienced and has her CDA. Child A and another child were fighting over a toy and that is where the scratches came from on Child A. Joahanna did the "bear hug" but did it standing and she fell, and he did not think it was appropriate. Joahanna did not have him around the neck. Parent A can't press charges, she exaggerated it. Joahanna told him that Child A is hard to handle. He told Joanna that he had to suspend her for a day, and he kept her employed because she did not hurt Child A. Ms. Jones cannot fire a staff member. He removed Child A from the facility because Child A and Parent A were issues.
On April 14, 2026, Compliance Inspector (CI) Christy Hughes conducted an in-person follow up interview with Joahanna Harris. Joahanna stated that she told David repeatedly that she is not qualified to work with Child A. She has her CDA but never learned how to work with children with special needs. She never saw the scratches on Child A's neck and did know where they came from. She was trying to do the bear hug method on Child A around his upper arms and tripped on a toy, and they both fell. Child A fell on his knees near the wall but never hit the wall and did not get hurt. She did not write the accident report because Child A was not injured and she was unaware that any report about the incident was even written.
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