Charges have been filed by the Lyon County Attorney’s Office after a lengthy investigation into possible child abuse at Emporia State’s Center for Early Childhood Education.
The center’s former director, Keely Persinger, faces a count of failing to report suspected abuse or neglect. Former teacher Kimberly Schneider, meanwhile, faces five counts of child endangerment.
The affidavits are sealed. Pretrial hearings are slated for 8:30 am June 18 in both cases.
The County Attorney’s Office investigation followed a related investigation from the Kansas Department for Children and Families, which became public in late April 2017. Details of the DCF and local investigations were never released.
However, information obtained online through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment showed a number of alleged violations, including a 3-year-old child was not supervised during a field trip to a swimming pool in June 2016. A child entered the bathroom without staff, left using the wrong door and walked across a parking lot to the center unattended. Two days later, the center allegedly allowed children to walk a mile to an unspecified activity with a 99-degree heat index. DCF substantiated both complaints and filed an administrative order with the intent to assess a fine against the center.
Additional complaints, including refrigerator-freezer temperatures, lack of documentation for staff credentials, lack of immunization records, lack of records for fire or tornado drills and other concerns, were documented in 2014 and 2015.
Also, four families later filed suit against ESU and the center last August, alleging physical and emotional abuse of four preschool-aged children by Schneider. The suit alleges Schneider held the children’s faces down on their nap cots until they cried themselves to sleep, forcibly held the children down, restrained the children to their seats with straps, demeaned the children and spoke to them in a derogatory fashion among other allegations. The ongoing lawsuit also charges ESU, CECE and Persinger with negligence, negligent supervision and negligent retention.
Emporia State University is declining comment with this case ongoing.
The center serves about 60 children. Persinger directed the center from June 2006 until May 2017, while Schneider taught at the center from August 2008 until May 2017.
