Texas parents sue daycare for more than $1 million, alleging a substitute turned their 4-year-old’s class into a ‘child fight club’
Video footage of a substitute teacher at a Fort Worth, Texas daycare allegedly encouraging two children, one of whom was four years old, to fight has landed the owners and operators of the centre in something worse than a time-out. They’re facing a $1-million lawsuit, Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth reports.
Heather and Richard Harris have filed the suit against Arka Risinger Educators LLC, which does business as Arka Montessori Academy of Risinger, alleging the surveillance footage at the school showed the teacher escalating an altercation between students and physically assaulting the four-year-old. Another teacher, who witnessed many of the events, allegedly did nothing to intervene.
The Harrises say in the lawsuit that “their trust was violated when the safe environment they were promised turned into a child fight club.”
Moneywise has sent a request for comment to Arka Montessori Academy, but has not yet received a response.
Timeline of events
The lawsuit offers a timeline of the alleged events, which it claims was taken from the daycare’s security cameras.
On the afternoon of April 27, it says, the four-year-old was taken into the classroom of teacher Jacqueline De Luna, a normal activity as classes are combined when morning teachers leave for the day. De Luna’s back was turned, and another boy walked up and struck the four-year-old, which resulted in a brief fight. De Luna then separated the children.
The other boy was allegedly the son of a substitute teacher, Chynia Johnson, who then entered the room to cover for De Luna as she went to use the restroom.
Johnson’s son, the suit alleges, then pointed to the four-year-old and pushed him in the chest. The four-year-old raised his hands, and Johnson then allegedly grabbed his arm, shook him, and shoved him away. Then, the suit claims, she spoke with her son and stood aside as he attacked the four-year-old again, but was knocked to the ground. Johnson then once again allegedly grabbed the child and swiped his leg out from under him, crashing him onto the hardwood floor.
De Luna, the court filing alleges, had returned to the classroom by this point, but did nothing to intervene in the situation.
When the four-year-old’s mother arrived, she said the child was crying hysterically, and the parent was only told there was a fight. A review of the security video showed the larger story, the Harrises say.
A history of troubles
This isn’t Arka’s first incident. The facility has run up 16 safety violations with the state since it opened in January 2024, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Child-Care Licensing Division.
While no incidents like the one in the lawsuit have been noted previously, there are prior citations for leaving children unattended outside or in the classroom.
No criminal charges have been filed in the case regarding the four-year-old. Local media reports that the substitute teacher involved in the incident no longer works there.
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Texas daycare faces $1M ‘fight club’ suit
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