KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A video showing a Kansas City daycare employee yelling and hitting a child has gone viral on Facebook.
"It's inappropriate and awful," said Megan Huffman, Owner of Rising Sun Learning Center.
As the owner of a local daycare, Huffman was shocked after watching the video for the first time on Wednesday.
Paseo Montessori is the preschool where the video was taken. Antionette Lawson is now the former employee that filmed it.
"I don't think that she should be working there," said Lawson.
In the video, you can see and hear a woman yelling at a child. You also see the woman slap the child on her bare foot. Lawson said the little girl is younger than two-years old.
"That's why like I really recorded it because I mean, the kids need justice, they really do," said Lawson.
Lawson worked at Paseo Montessori for only four days. She said she was fired after posting the video on Facebook. During her time there, Lawson said she witnessed the woman yelling, hitting and shaking the children.
"People can say that it's not abuse but that's abuse, if that's not your child and you're spanking the child and you're grabbing them aggressively and you're spanking them on the foot, and hitting them with a shoe, that's abusive and that's just wrong," said Lawson.
After calling Paseo Montessori, 41 Action News was told the woman in the video is still employed. They also said Lawson is a disgruntled employee and did not comment any further about the woman in the video.
If parents experience problems with their preschool or daycare, Huffman said they should get involved and call the Missouri Section for Child Care Regulation at 816-350-5450.
"Their job is both supporting child care centers and supervising them," said Huffman.
The state of Missouri inspects daycare's twice a year. Paseo Montessori had their license renewed in January.
Huffman said while she feels the incident is a clear violation, it's not enough to close Paseo Montessori.
Last month, Paseo Montessori had a paper work violation. They did not meet the requirements of background reviews for some of their staff members but that was the only issue reported this year.
