Day care used ‘unknown medications’ to calm kids at nap time, Missouri officials say

A day care has been giving children “unknown medication” to calm them for nap time without parental permission, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The state department suspended the child care license for Busy Bee Learning Academy in Linn on April 1, two days after its Office of Childhood investigated a complaint against the center.

State officials received a complaint alleging that owner and director Tonya Newbound was “giving children gummies at naptime for the children that can chew them and giving a powder in the milk of children that can’t chew” on March 24, according to the immediate suspension letter delivered to the facility. MDESE provided a copy of the letter to McClatchy News.

An employee with Busy Bee Learning Academy told McClatchy News on April 5 that the center is not commenting on the allegations at this time, adding that requests for comment would be sent to their attorney starting April 6.

When a compliance inspector and program coordinator went to investigate the complaint on March 30, they found “three mounds of gummies in the window sill of the kitchen at Busy Bee Learning Academy” and took photos as evidence, according to the letter.

‘Just like candy’

Newbound was asked about the gummies, and authorities say she first said they were “lavender candy gum drops” that are herbal supplements meant to help children in her care go to sleep. She admitted she did not get permission from parents to give the children medicated gummies or lavender.

State investigators say they could not determine what kind of gummies they were because Newbound no longer had the bottle. Newbound was asked to look up the brand, and she provided three different examples on her phone: Equate Children’s Black Elderberry Gummies, Chapter One Magnesium Men, Women, & Kids Gummies, and Vicks ZzzQuil Pure Zzzs Restorative Herbal Sleep.

Authorities said those were different than the gummies found in the kitchen, and Newbound said she wasn’t sure which type she had been giving the children.

“She is giving them whatever gummy she can find to calm them down at nap time,” records state, but she said the gummies did not have melatonin or CBD.

“I must be ignorant, I thought these things were just like candy,” Newbound said, according to the letter. She said she thought it would be OK since “she did not see anywhere in the rule book that she could not do this.”

One of the workers asked the director if she’d continue giving the medication to children, and she responded, “I won’t give them herbal supplements but I will not say that I won’t give them medication because I don’t believe that herbal supplements are medication,” according to the document.

‘Calming the children down’

Other caregivers reported that their director brought in the gummies, and while one said she was told they were candy, another said “she thinks they are melatonin gummies but doesn’t want to lose her job for saying that.”

A third staff member, also a parent of a child at the facility, said Newbound previously told her “the gummies were for calming the children down.” She said she has never seen what kind of container the gummies come in.

The next day, though, that same parent admitted she had her mother take a gummy to a pharmacy as she wouldn’t authorize her own child to eat it. Pharmacy staff believed the gummy to have melatonin, she said, and she later took the gummy to the Osage County Sheriff’s Office for testing.

The parent and staff member also said she tried a gummy herself “and it make her really tired,” records say. She also reports Newbound would give children a powder substance if they could not chew the gummy, and she was told it was Vitamin D.

Another parent said she believes her 1-year-old was being given melatonin at nap time after another parent (also a staff member) told her about it, according to the letter. The parent says Newbound “got irritated and walked away” when she asked the director not to give her kid anything without her authorization.”

‘Unwilling or unable to provide a safe environment for children’

Following an investigation, state officials say Newbound and Busy Bee Learning Academy “are unwilling or unable to provide a safe environment for children.”

Officials say the center violated several rules when keeping medicine in reach of children, giving medicine without parental permission and not cooperating with MDESE.

“The Osage County Sheriff’s Department is conducting its own separate investigation into possible criminal charges,” KCRG reported. The sheriff was not immediately available to speak with McClatchy News on April 5.

A spokesperson with MDESE says Busy Bee Learning Academy has 10 days to appeal the immediate license suspension. Without the license, the facility would not be legally allowed to care for more than six children.

Linn is about 180 miles southeast of Kansas City.

This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 1:48 PM with the headline "Day care used ‘unknown medications’ to calm kids at nap time, Missouri officials say."