RCMP west of Edmonton are investigating assault allegations at a daycare.
On Thursday, Parkland RCMP said it received a complaint last week of an assault alleged to have occurred on Feb. 19 at the Little Stars Montessori Early Learning Centre, located at 280 Pioneer Rd. on the east side of Spruce Grove.
“So essentially what happened was on March 6, I believe it was the management of the daycare in town — that would be the Little Stars Montessori daycare — had notified parents of some alleged assaults that had occurred. Once the parents were made aware, they then contacted the Spruce Grove RCMP detachment,” said Parkland RCMP Const. Brody Dyson.
Mounties began investigating and said four victims have been identified to date.
“On the 10th, we received two more complaints of the same nature, followed by a final report on the 12th,” Dyson said, adding it was physical assault but did not go into further detail.
RCMP said investigators believe there may be more victims.
Parent Vanessa Alexis told Global News she pulled her child out of the daycare on Thursday afternoon.
She said she was not notified by the daycare last week and only learned of the alleged assaults after reading about it online after RCMP issued their news release Thursday morning.
“I was at work, I read what was said and I just came picked up my son,” she said, adding her child has gone to Little Stars for two years and she’s never had any concerns before.
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“The daycare ladies that my son has been with have been really amazing. Like, this is amazing facility. I just don’t know what kind of workers they were hiring. I’m not sure,” she said.
“I’m just a little worried. I’m picking up my kid and I just want to get him home.”
Global News went to Little Stars on Thursday, where a staff member refused to say whether or not it was the site of the investigation — however, it’s the only provincially licensed child-care facility in Spruce Grove with that name and RCMP confirmed that is the business under investigation.
All staff would say is they were meeting with their licensing team and were too busy to talk, and our crew was told to leave.
Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade Matt Jones said his department’s child-care licensing division is working with the RCMP as they look into issues at the daycare, which he said has about 100 kids.
“We’ve issued a probationary license to the child-care provider in question, and we will take further steps as additional information comes forward, including a potential closure of the program if it’s required.”
The ministry also said it has removed Little Star’s ability to care for infants, which will affect seven children. The probationary licence will expire on June 12.
Jones said since there’s an active investigation he couldn’t speak to specifics, but said generally the province always tries to work with providers to make changes before punitive action is taken.
“In some cases, that means that providers under probation can’t have certain educators alone with children. In some cases, their capacity is reduced. In some cases, we move on to a full-blown closure. But of course, that would impact, in this case, 100 children and by extension all the families.
“We’re working with the RCMP. I can’t comment further on that process, but we are engaged and we will do what it takes to protect children.”
RCMP said they encourage parents of the daycare to have a gentle but honest conversation with their kids.
“Our big thing now is just to determine if we have any victims out there that need to come in and report to the police,” Dyson said.
Police said if your child attends this daycare and you believe they may have been a victim of an assault, please contact Parkland RCMP at 825-220-7267.
If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or submitting a tip online.
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