Texas daycare accused of running ‘child fight club’ with 4-year-olds

BS BULLETIN:

A Fort Worth family is suing a daycare for more than $1 million after a substitute teacher allegedly encouraged her own 4-year-old son to fight another 4-year-old.
Surveillance video allegedly shows the teacher grabbing, shaking and dragging the boy before encouraging the children to continue fighting.
Texas regulators later cited the daycare for multiple violations involving discipline and child safety.

Parents send their 4-year-olds to daycare expecting the adults to stop the fights.

A Texas family says one of the adults allegedly helped start one instead.

Heather and Richard Harris have filed a lawsuit against Arka Risinger Educators LLC, which operates Arka Montessori Academy of Risinger in Fort Worth, after an April 27 incident their attorney described as a “child fight club.”

According to the lawsuit, the Harrises’ 4-year-old son was moved into a combined classroom late in the afternoon when another boy struck him in the back.

A teacher initially separated the children.

Then, according to the complaint, substitute teacher Chynia Johnson entered the classroom. The other boy was her son.

The lawsuit alleges Johnson’s son again confronted the Harris child and that Johnson encouraged the altercation rather than stopping it.

Surveillance footage allegedly shows Johnson grabbing and shaking the boy, dragging him and at one point sweeping his leg out from underneath him, sending him to the floor. The complaint further alleges she encouraged her son to continue hitting and kicking the child.

The boy’s parents say they initially received a much different explanation.

When his mother arrived, she found him crying and injured, according to the lawsuit. Staff allegedly told her the children had gotten into a fight and employees had broken it up.

She asked to see the surveillance video.

That’s when the family’s account of what happened changed dramatically. The family says the boy suffered bruises, scratches and post-traumatic headaches and later developed anxiety and fear associated with daycare.

Texas Health and Human Services investigators subsequently cited the facility for violations involving improper discipline, prohibited grabbing and pulling, yelling at a child and employees failing to demonstrate appropriate judgment and self-control.

FOX 4 reports the facility had accumulated 16 safety citations since opening in January 2024, including previous incidents involving children allegedly being left unattended. An Aug. 20 inspection, however, found no deficiencies.

Johnson is no longer employed at the daycare, according to reporting on the case, and no criminal charges have been filed.

Arka Montessori did not respond to requests for comment from FOX 4 or Chron.

The Harrises are seeking more than $1 million in damages.