Photo by Saif71 for Unsplash
Local mom April Wallace is suing Eastridge Academy in the Lake Highlands area after her 6-year-old daughter incurred a head injury at daycare in August 2022, according to the lawyer representing the family of the injured child.
Wallace claims in a lawsuit that a daycare staffer intentionally shoved her daughter off of a chair, and she says her child suffered “serious physical, emotional and mental injuries” as a result of the incident. Further, she says, staffers did not contact her or emergency services to report it, and the school allowed the worker in question to continue on staff, according to April Wallace vs. Paramount Learning, LLC in Dallas County, Texas.
“The [daycare] was responsible for providing a safe environment for children and ensuring that serious injuries are recorded and reported,” according to the lawsuit. “The defendant breached these duties by permitting one of its employee caregivers to inappropriately discipline children, by allowing that caregiver to remain on staff after the incident, and by failing to create a corresponding incident report and inform the appropriate state entity of the injuries [the unnamed child] sustained.”
According to a written statement from The Button Law Firm, Wallace is “seeking to hold the daycare accountable for violating multiple safety laws that enabled the unqualified worker to physically abuse her daughter, including failing to follow strict hiring, training and supervision practices and ignoring incident reporting protocols” required by the state of Texas.
“The safety and protection of children at any daycare should be the upmost priority,” says firm partner Russell Button who represents Wallace and her family. “Eastridge Academy failed this young girl, and the abuse she experienced is deeply troubling.”
An independent investigation into this incident by Texas Health and Human Services Child Care Licensing Division and the Department of Child Protective Services decided allegations including “humiliating and ridiculing a child,” “corporal punishment” and hitting a child with a hand” were substantiated as outlined in the lawsuit.
The April Wallace vs. Paramount Learning case indicates that Eastridge Academy received 10 citations for not maintaining a safe environment for children over three years leading up to the incident. Those ranged from “neglecting to qualify, train and supervise employees to failing to properly care for children,” the law firm statement notes.
We have reached out to Eastridge’s administration for a response and will update this post if they provide a statement. Google reviews for the facility are mostly positive. In response to a negative review, Eastridge stated five months ago that they were “under new ownership and have made many great changes to our center to improve the quality of care for our children, families and staff.”
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff in this case requests a jury trial and seek an award of exemplary damages.
