CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. (Times Union) — The owner of a day care center where two employees were charged in connection with the alleged abuse of a toddler last month says he intends to fight the revocation of the facility’s license to operate.
The state Office of Children and Family Services moved to revoke the license of the SmartEarly Learning Center on Monday, according to a notice on the office’s website. The decision came in the wake of an incident on Jan. 21 in which a worker allegedly struck a toddler, according to the State Police. The employee, a 48-year-old Ballston Spa woman, was charged with felony assault and endangering the welfare of a child. A second worker, who troopers said failed to intervene or report the alleged abuse, was also arrested and charged with child endangerment last week.
“We have the ability to defend ourselves and we believe what we did was 100 percent the right thing,” John Max Miller, SmartEarly’s owner, said Thursday. He said he had been cooperating with the police and noted his facility has surveillance cameras that are accessible to the parents of the approximately 90 students enrolled at the day care.
He said this effort at transparency would likely be used as evidence against him by OCFS. He said his company responded to the office’s notice of revocation within two days of it being issued.
Hearings are conducted by an OCFS hearing officer and the office and the day care provider can provide proof, including witnesses and relevant documents to the officer, Michael Belsky a lawyer at the Tully Rinckey law firm said. The hearing officer makes a recommendation to the OCFS commissioner who makes a final ruling.
Miller said that process allows OCFS to act as “judge, jury and executioner.”
