Katie Muhammad, the owner of Katie's Kids Learning Center, has decided to shut down her remaining three daycare centers across South Florida. The sudden move comes just over 11 months after a toddler's lifeless body was found in the backseat of a Katie's Kids daycare van in Delray Beach.
Since the baby's death, Muhammad claims she's lost everything and simply can't go on.
"My house is in foreclosure, I've lost my car. I've pretty much lost everything," she said during an exclusive interview earlier this week.
Muhammad made the decision to close her remaining centers Wednesday night after months of financial and personal turmoil. The closures include a Katie's Kids Learning Center on SE 2nd Street in Boynton Beach, another location at NE 3rd Avenue in Delray Beach, and the Wexford Academy in Margate, which is in Broward County. The shutdown leave 211 children looking for child care elsewhere.
It was August 5th, 2010 when 2 1/2-year-old Haile Brockington's body was found in the backseat of a Katie's Kids daycare van. According to investigators, the child had been left in the van for approximately, 6 hours before another child, boarding the bus to go home, discovered the little girl.
State investigators have charged the daycare's former driver, Amanda Inman, and former director, Petra Rodriguez, with aggravated manslaughter charges. According to local and state investigations, the death was the result of protocol that was in place but not followed by these employees. The death forced Muhammad to close that daycare center but she was hoping to keep her remaining three opened.
"We provide a really good service. We help the community a lot. The parents know if they need anything, even food will be dropped off at their homes," said Muhammad. 100 percent of those enrolled were low income families who were subsidized by the government.
Muhammad claims in addition to her personal loss, her business wasn't making any money. Her enrollment, while steady, wasn't enough to keep her paying the bills. She said she didn't have the money to pay her employees. In addition, her insurance company is in the process of finalizing a 7-figure settlement with the Brockington family. Muhammad claims her insurer was threatening to drop coverage after the settlement. Muhammad said her ultimate decision to close the centers came on the advice of one of her bankruptcy attorneys.
Since the toddler's death, Muhammad's daycare centers have failed a series of health inspections. Her Boynton Beach and Delray Beach facilities have been cited for a number of safety violations including peeling paint and dusty vents, to issues with employee background screening. At Wexford Academy in Margate, an April 2011 inspection detailed how a toddler's teacher had her boyfriend at the facility, "all the time" who, "has a record." During an unrelated complaint investigation, an inspector observed a driver transporting children who were not wearing seatbelts and standing up in the back of the van. Muhammad claims the children had unbuckled the belts themselves and the driver couldn't pull over on a busy street. As of Wednesday, Muhammad had appealed the finding.
NewsChannel 5 broke the news about the center closings to Andred Yaffa, an attorney representing the Brockington family. "I'm sure parents will feel comforted knowing no other child will be subject to what Haile went through,"said Yaffa. I hope that other daycare owners will have learned from this," he said.
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