LaSalle daycare worker fired for allegedly using aggressive force on children

An incident at Les Canaries 2 Daycare in LaSalle has caused outrage among parents.

On the morning of Oct. 6, 2016, screaming alerted a supervisor to a potential problem.

“The supervisor entered and two of the children told her that the educator had slammed their heads against the table,” Christopher Pattichis, the daycare’s general manager, said.

A video shows the educator attempting to get the group under control before appearing to forcefully push two of the children’s heads down towards the table.

The daycare reviewed all footage of the educator from the 10 days leading up to the incident, and identified another occasion in which the woman appeared to grab children by the ears.

“Both of these things are completely unacceptable, completely against our aggressiveness tolerance zero policy,” Pattichis said.

The daycare distanced itself from the educator immediately following the table incident.

She was denied entry to the premises when she showed up for work the following day.

Over the next seven days, daycare administrators met with staff, parents and children before deciding to formally suspend the educator.

“At the conclusion of seven-day period, we determined that we have to start taking measures to end this person’s employment,” Pattichis told Global News. “Our protocol does give our educators a fair discipline process.”

The educator was heard by an internal ethics committee at the end of October.

“It was determined by this committee that she had acted completely improperly, she had committed a serious error, and therefore that she should be dismissed,” Pattichis said.

The educator simultaneously submitted her resignation.

Pattichis said he never expected anything like this from the educator, who had been with the daycare for almost six years.

“It wasn’t something I could have predicted,” Pattichis said.

The daycare never filed a report with the family minister or the police.

Pattichis told Global News that duty lies in the hands of the parents.

“The parents are fully informed of this situation,” Pattichis said. “I had one parent say: ‘I will go to the police if you don’t fire her.’ And I said: ‘that’s fair, you can go to the police whenever you want, we have no issue but I’m assuring you she’s not going to work for us again.'”

Global News reached out to Montreal police who couldn’t confirm if there had been a complaint.

Now, some parents seem determined to make sure the educator doesn’t find employment in any other daycare either.

One concerned mother took to Facebook to spread the word of the October incident.

Her post has received dozens of angered reactions.

One post read: “How can humans like this exist?”

Another person wrote: “Pay close attention in case she tries to work at another daycare!”

Pattichis told Global News that there is no universal system in place between daycares to report problem employees but said that the educator won’t be able to count on him for a favourable reference.