Two months ago, I told you that a day care center affiliated with a Charlotte megachurch is being sued by the families of four kids who were allegedly drummed out because they were disabled or because staffers thought they were disabled. Well, on Wednesday, a fifth family sought to join the suit against the center and its director, alleging that their daughter is still reeling from being falsely told she has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Calvary Child Development Center has long had a reputation as one of the premier day care centers in the Charlotte area. It’s an outreach of Calvary Church, which is best known in Charlotte for its distinctive pink building. However, according to Serena Kelleher, all isn’t as it seems. Her daughter, Sophia, attended Calvary CDC during the 2013-14 school year.
Kelleher told WBTV in Charlotte that Sophia’s teacher sent her home with negative notes day after day–to the point that Sophia actually became afraid of the teacher. She frequently came home crying since she knew “there was a note in her folder that she didn’t have a good day.” The toll it was taking on Sophia’s psyche was very obvious to her mother, who said that it was clear “her little ego relied on what this teacher would say about her every day.”
A day care teacher berating a toddler is bad enough. But Kelleher says that this teacher crossed the line into something far worse. She says that at a meeting, Sophia’s teacher told her that her daughter had ADHD. Moreover, this was done with the full support of the center’s longtime director, Pat Collins. Kelleher was stunned. However, that turned to outrage when Sophia’s pediatrician told her that Sophia displayed perfectly normal behavior for a five-year-old girl.
In a motion filed on Wednesday, the Kellehers sought to join the pending lawsuit against the center and Collins, contending that they were “harassed by the school” after Sophia was falsely pegged as having ADHD. They also contend that Sophia attended a YMCA summer camp in 2014 with no problems. She is now enrolled at a local elementary school in Charlotte, where she was recently honored as a “Terrific Kid.”
According to the plaintiffs’ attorney, Joshua Van Kampen, what Calvary is accused of doing to Sophia and others isn’t just wrong–it violates both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the North Carolina Persons with Disabilities Act. The latter state law was enacted specifically to fill the gaps in the federal ADA, and requires that all day care centers in the state make “reasonable accommodations” for the disabled.
To give you an idea how outrageous this is, my girlfriend, who has taught in both elementary and secondary schools for over 20 years, told me that no one who works with kids should say this to a child. She further added that if a teacher in a public school or a private school that didn’t have its head up its butt said this to a child, he or she would be fired on the spot. Legally, teachers are only allowed to suggest that a student see a doctor about potential behavioral problems. They are not, repeat, NOT, allowed to make a diagnosis on their own.
Here’s some real medical advice on how to diagnose this.
Since the suit was originally filed, Van Kampen says he has uncovered a pattern of discriminatory behavior dating as far back as 1989. Sophia’s ordeal would seem to bolster the original plaintiffs’ case. After all, one of them claims that she was told her four-year-old son needed to be put on medication right away because he appeared to have ADHD. However, Calvary wants the suit thrown out; a hearing on that motion is slated for May 9.
Kelleher says that Sophia is still reeling from her experience at Calvary. Sophia finds herself trying to be perfect all the time, but she has to tell her every day that “you don’t have to be perfect to be loved.” Sophia is currently in counseling.
I hope this judge allows Sophia and the other kids to be heard. After all, this is simply too egregious to ignore. If this is even half true, this day care center is Christian in name only, and will need to be cleaned out from top to bottom. And that job would start with firing Collins.
One of the plaintiffs, Jon Dunning, has started a petition asking Calvary’s pastor, John Munro, to intervene and stop this travesty. Sign here.
