OXON HILL, Md. — Two weeks after this video went viral on social media, WUSA9 has obtained new information about the Oxon Hill Center for Early Learning, and why they were shut down.
Friday afternoon, through a Maryland Public Information Act request, WUSA9 received the letter that was sent to the day care and the inspection report from the Maryland State Department of Education.
The letter is dated April 13 and is addressed to both the director and the owner of the Oxon Hill Center for Early Learning and reads in part:
Effective immediately, the Office of Child Care ("OCC") is suspending the child care center license for Oxon Hill Center for Early Learning ("Center") located at 6031 Oxon Hill Road, Oxon Hill, MD 20745, on an emergency basis. This emergency suspension is effective immediately upon delivery of the notice. You must surrender your license and cease operation.
According to the letter, the license may be suspended by the State Superintendent on an emergency basis, if it's determined that the action is required to protect the health, safety, or welfare of a child in the child care center.
The letter details a timeline of events. On April 7, the OCC received anonymous complaint about a video on social media, that showed a person identified as "Kayla" abusing children.
On that same day, the OCC said they were contacted by the day care owner, Jimmy Wilson, who reported the video and a complaint they received, involving the Center employee and two children.
On April 8th, Prince George's County police arrested 23-year-old Kayla Greenwell and charged her with multiple counts of child abuse and assault. Investigators believe Greenwell recorded herself abusing the children on her cell phone.
On April 11, an inspection was done at the day care according to the letter.
WUSA also received the summary of findings from that inspection.
The document revealed that the video was recorded on April 5 in Room 7, which is the three year old classroom. According to the summary, Greenwell was an aide and was assigned to that classroom with a teacher. The report indicates that the teacher had stepped out to go to lunch, during the timeframe that the video was allegedly recorded.
During the inspection, it was also discovered that an "unknown individual" was observed working one of the rooms, without prior approval from the OCC.
They also found an aide working alone, in a different classroom with school age children.
According to Maryland regulations, an aide must be under the supervision staff person in charge of the group of children to whom the aide is assigned.
The center was found to be in violation of 6 regulations and an emergency suspension of their license was issued.
According to the letter, the day care can request an appeal hearing. It's not clear if that had been done as of Friday night.
The day care owner did not respond to our requests for comment.