Barrie daycare fires educator following investigation into abuse of children

A Barrie childcare centre says they are reviewing allegations of inappropriate conduct by an educator. Adrian Ghobrial reports.

A Barrie, Ont., daycare that reviewed allegations of inappropriate conduct by an educator following complaints from parents who reported their children were assaulted in July and August has fired the employee.

BrightPath Early Learning and Child Care confirmed the decision in an email to CTV News on Thursday afternoon.

“Following our initial investigation, we became aware of additional information,” BrightPath said in its statement.

“As a result, we have terminated the employment of this individual with immediate effect. BrightPath leadership is committed to maintaining a safe and nurturing environment for our children, families, and staff members.”

The company said it works closely with government agencies and strictly adheres to all reporting requirements outlined by provincial licensing bodies, as well as its obligations under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act.

A week ago, BrightPath confirmed an internal review was underway after it received a complaint on Aug. 7 alleging a four-year-old girl was flicked on the nose and mouth by her educator and sprayed with a bottle containing cleaning products.

“I think that was the part that really got to me, was that someone was there and saw this happen and didn’t say anything,” said the girl’s mother, Cristina Pedano.

The child told her father the educator sprayed her because she was misbehaving during nap time, and that he also flicked her in the face.

After their child demonstrated how she had been flicked in the face, the Pedanos reported the incident to BrightPath and the authorities, prompting an investigation by Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions, which the Pedanos said found the spray bottle used on their daughter contained either soap and water or water and bleach.

Barrie police were also called to investigate but declined to answer any questions from CTV News about the investigation.

The Pedanos said they learned the educator returned to work at the child care centre weeks later.

“The response back was like, ‘He is a tenured employee. We did training, and we think that that’s enough,’ and we said, ‘No, that’s not enough,” Pedano said. “We want you to acknowledge what you did, we want you to take accountability, and we don’t understand. Like, why are you continuing to employ this employee?

“You know that he’s done things in the past.”

Another family came forward to CTV News to share a similar story involving their son and the same educator.

“There was this educator who flicked him on the nose and on his mouth, and then he said that it was because he was not sleepy, and he didn’t want to take a nap,” said Amanda Filippini.

“When I saw him crying, shivering, for me it was something that was beyond the physical thing,” said the boy’s father, Guilherme Filippini.

Following a complaint to the Ministry of Education, the Filippinis said investigators mistakenly interviewed BrightPath staff members who were not working on the day of the alleged assault.

“They interviewed the educators who were supposed to be at the classroom but were on vacation,” said Amanda Filippini, who revealed the ministry declined to reopen the investigation into the alleged assault of their son, who, for the final month of his time at BrightPath, was separated from his friends and moved to a different classroom.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Education confirmed to CTV News that it was reviewing the allegations.

“This employee was under another investigation already that he was supposed to be on a safe work plan where he wasn’t supposed to be alone with other children and is supposed to have another educator with him at all times,” said Jeff Pedano.

In a statement to CTV News, BrightPath said its leadership remains “committed to maintaining a safe and nurturing environment for our children, families, and staff members,” adding, “We continue to strengthen our professional development practices and reaffirm our strict safeguarding measures and policies to ensure the utmost safety of our children.”

The company’s CEO spent last Friday afternoon in Barrie speaking one-on-one with staff and parents but was not made available for comment to CTV News.

“The well-being and safety of the children in our care is always our highest priority, and we remain committed to maintaining the highest standards of care and professionalism across our centres,” BrightPath said.

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