Charlotte County YMCA employees suspended months after child discipline violations

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. – Two YMCA employees were suspended Friday from the Edgewater YMCA Child Development Center after a report about child discipline violations resurfaced, the new Charlotte County YMCA CEO said.

A YMCA preschool teacher was accused of hitting children and placing them into a closet for “time-out,” according to a September 2015 report from the Department of Children and Families. Two employees told DCF the small “children were terrified of the closet,” the report said.

The child discipline was a violation considered “severe, humiliating or frightening to children,” DCF said last year. Charlotte County Family YMCA CEO David Fulscher said he responded swiftly by suspending the teacher and the center’s director once the violations were brought to his attention.

“It’s very disturbing — very disturbing to us and I am very concerned that we did not know about that because basically one time is too many but if it continues on a regular basis that’s even worse,” Fulscher said.

Fulscher said there was a breakdown in communication because administration was not notified about the violation.

DCF periodically sends inspectors to YMCAs to monitor sanitation, facility safety and other concerns. There were two inspections conducted at the Edgewater YMCA since the child discipline violations were reported. The latest one was in January.