By Breanna Lee/WMBD-TV
BLOOMINGTON – The parents of a young girl are sharing their story after they say a bully hurt their daughter at a local daycare.
Bloomington parents are using social media to share what they say happened to their daughter at Katie’s Kids Learning Center.
“When they showed me the picture, like my jaw hit the floor,” said Alvin Baker, Lily’s father. “I was like, are you kidding me. This is serious. Like she needed to go to the hospital.”
Lani and Alvin Baker got a call Monday morning saying their daughter Lily had been hurt. But they didn’t know how serious it was. When Lani arrived at the daycare, she saw Lily had deep cuts in her forehead, one that cut all the way to her skull.
“Anger. I wanted to know who did it, how it happened,” said Lani Baker, Lily’s mother. “And it was, no I can’t tell you that.”
Lani said a boy at the learning center hit Lily with a plastic, toy saw. But it reportedly wasn’t the first time he’d pushed Lily around, and she wasn’t the only victim.
“Here’s a case of this kid was displaying some of those tendencies and they at least had no recourse to remove him,” said Alvin Baker. “And you know, as a result, our daughter gets a saw embedded into her forehead.”
Alvin said he and Lani are upset they didn’t find out about the boy’s history, until after their daughter was injured. But a new state law states kids can’t be expelled from pre-k, even if they’re violent.
“And we weren’t looking for her to move mountains, but she didn’t even offer, hey we’re going to keep a closer eye on the kid, or we’re going to separate them at recess,” said Alvin Baker. “I mean she literally offered nothing.”
The Bakers said Lily had to get stitches because of how deep the cuts were. So they took to Facebook, hoping to inform parents of the severity of the incident, since the learning center didn’t. Now the post has reached the young boy’s mother, who sent an apology.
“She was very gracious and humble, and apologetic,” said Alvin Baker. “And she acknowledged that her son does have anger issues. And she’s going to seek counseling for him. And it was really nice that she reached out and apologized.”
Alvin and Lani said they have nothing against Katie’s Kids, that they loved Lily’s teachers, but they wish more action had been taken after the incident. The Bakers took Lily out of Katie’s Kids, and plan to take her to a different pre-school.
The Bakers said the daycare canceled a planned meeting with them on Thursday, and declined to provide a copy of the handwritten DCFS statement of the incident. The Bakers plan to contact DCFS to request an investigation.
WMBD reached out to Katie’s Kids Learning Center, but haven’t gotten a reply.
