MONTGOMERY COUNTY – Seven families filed a lawsuit against a Crockett, Texas, day care, alleging repeated neglect and abuse of their children in 2020.
The families, represented by Woodlands law firm Leger Ketchum & Cohoon, PLLC, filed a complaint against Treehouse Academy in Montgomery County District Court. The lawsuit alleges several employees at Treehouse Academy physically and verbally abused children, violated the minimum standards for child care centers required by the State of Texas and failed to hire qualified staff, train existing staff and adequately supervise and manage staff.
The children “are experiencing significant separation anxiety, developmental regression, significant distress, and anxiety, among other things,” the suit claims. “The psychological impact on the minor children is severe and permanent and has caused their families great distress, not only emotionally, but also financially.”
The families are seeking at least $1 million in damages. A trial is scheduled for April 2022.
Owned and operated by Lindsay Rice, Treehouse Academy was cited by the State of Texas numerous times for failing to meet minimum child care center standards. A KPRC 2 review of the day care’s compliance history shows that the facility was cited for deficiencies 12 times in the last five years. Half of those alleged deficiencies were recorded in 2020 and included instances of prohibited punishments, which the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services defines as harsh, cruel or unusual punishments such as spanking, hitting or shaking. A deficiency is a failure to comply with a minimum standard required of Texas child care operations.
The law firm released surveillance footage from inside the day care. Viewer discretion is advised.
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Some of the day care’s 2020 alleged deficiencies stemmed from an incident of abuse reported to Crockett police in April 2020. Paula Mendez, who worked at Treehouse Academy, told officers her two-year-old son had been “crying a lot and acting different” over the past several weeks, according to a police incident report. Suspicious “that something was happening or being done to her child,” she approached her employer Lindsay Rice and requested to review surveillance footage from inside her son’s classroom.
While reviewing the the video, Mendez observed a teacher “spanking and handling her son in a rough manner.” When interviewed, the teacher told officers that she handled the child roughly out of frustration. She also stated she did not know the facility’s policy on discipline and had never received a handbook or any formal training, claiming she was “just thrown in a classroom,” according to the police incident report.
Days later, Mendez again contacted police, stating she had observed several instances of possible child abuse while reviewing additional security footage from the day care. When Crockett police reviewed the additional footage, they observed Treehouse Academy teachers spanking and kicking children, handling them roughly, dragging them, slapping them on their head and hands, grabbing them by their ears and talking to them inappropriately, according to the police incident report. During one instance noted in the police report, a teacher is seen pulling a chair out from underneath a child.
When officers requested all the facility’s security footage, the police report indicates owner Lindsey Rice provided two stacks of DVDs and stated she could not offer any additional videos because the DVR hard drive had crashed. Rice gave officers the hard drive. At the Crockett Police Department, the officers discovered that the DVDs Rice had given them only had surveillance footage of the exterior of the building and did not include any footage from inside the classrooms.
“Three caregivers at this facility were observed and admitted to utilizing prohibited punishment which included the following: striking with their hands on the children’s faces, arms, legs, and buttocks; twisting and pulling of the children’s ears; spanking the children on the buttocks; cursing at and in front of the children; yanking the children by their arms and clothes; slamming the children down on their nap mats; thumping the children in their heads,” according to an April 2020 Texas Health and Human Services report.
Three Treehouse Academy employees were arrested as a result of the police investigation. One employee’s background check revealed she had a previous criminal record with a charge of assault and family violence. Further investigation revealed at least one of the other employees had prior instances of criminal conduct as well.
“Ms. Rice stated she has installed a push-button intercom system at her facility since these investigations as well so she can check on her staff to make sure they aren’t overwhelmed, and her staff can notify the front desk if they need assistance with anything,” according to the Texas Health and Human Services report. “The caregivers who were arrested were terminated and are no longer present at the operation in any capacity.”
KPRC 2 has reached out to Treehouse Academy. As of this writing, the day care has not returned our request for comment.
View the Treehouse Academy’s compliance history here.