Forsyth Methodist Church appeals after daycare license was yanked. What to know
Forsyth Methodist Church has filed an appeal in an attempt to keep its daycare license, after it was revoked last week over findings that children were mistreated at the facility.
Georgia’s Department of Early Care and Learning sought to revoke the license after a daycare employee was accused of giving children Benadryl before their nap time, according to law enforcement and DECAL. Findings from an investigation into the issue prompted DECAL to file for revocation.
DECAL also ordered an emergency closure of the church’s Caring for Kids Center April 7 for legal violations.
Richard Jelley, a pastor and a board member of the daycare, appealed the decision Friday, wanting “the opportunity to address and correct the rule violations that were identified,” he said in a letter sent to DECAL’s legal department.
A former teacher of the daycare, Kendasia Hughley, was allegedly giving toddlers Benadryl “to make them sleepy before bedtime,” deputies with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said after the teacher turned herself in to authorities March 10. Benadryl, or diphenhydramine, cannot be given to anyone under the age of 6 without a doctor’s approval, according to the product’s description.
Hughley was charged with six counts of child cruelty, eight counts of simple battery and two counts of reckless conduct.
After further investigation from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, another teacher, Shelby Webb, and the director of the daycare, Cathy Stevick, were arrested on March 18, the sheriff’s office said. Stevick was charged with three counts of failing to report child abuse, while Webb was charged with one count of cruelty to children and one count of simple battery.
The Forsyth Methodist Church was accused of violating the parental approval for administering medicine that requires specific written authorization from a physician or parent, not maintaining records of all medications given to children, of committing criminal acts in front of a child, and of not reporting child abuse and for inflicting physical punishment, verbally abusing and humiliating children at the daycare, according to DECAL.
Jelley and DECAL’s arguments will be heard in front of an administrative law judge at the Office of State Administrative Hearings. But a hearing had not been scheduled at the time of publication.
