Peachtree City daycare left toddler unattended on hot playground, mom claims

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. - A Peachtree City day care is under scrutiny for allegedly leaving a two-year-old girl alone outside in the heat on Tuesday. Now, police and the state have opened investigations into the incident that was caught on surveillance video.

"This day care had cameras, and you still lost my child," Pamela Johnson told FOX 5.

The single mother says when she and her two small children made the recent move from Chicago to Atlanta, finding a day care that allowed her to check on the kids in real time made her feel some comfort in an unfamiliar place.

"I picked this day care because of the cameras," she explained.

Johnson tells FOX 5 what she felt watching the Fayette Early Learning Academy’s camera system Tuesday afternoon was anything but relief.

"I see my son, and he’s sleep. But, I don’t see my daughter, and they’re supposed to be eating lunch," she recalled.

Officials with the day care confirmed a teacher left her daughter unattended.

"Temperance basically was outside, but it took for me to ask where my daughter was for them to even know that my daughter was missing," Johnson stated.

Johnson says a staff member told her that her daughter, Temperance, was alone for 35 minutes.

Video from the facility shows the toddler out on the playground at around 11:55 a.m. while temperatures were in the high 80s and the heat index was 95 degrees.

Johnson believes at one point she appeared to pass out.

"You can see my daughter trying to walk to get to the gate or the door, and she collapses. She falls," she said.

The mother tells FOX 5 she was even more upset to learn staff did not try to get her daughter medical attention before she picked her up and took her to the emergency room hours later for examination. 

In response to a request for comment about Tuesday’s incident, the daycare’s program director Melissa Staples said: "…the teacher responsible for said child was terminated immediately … teachers are expected to do head counts anytime they leave the classroom…"

It goes on to say: "At no point in time was the child in distress or exhibited any signs of needing medical attention. The child was brought inside and provided with water and a popsicle."

Staples also told FOX 5 she called Johnson several times after the incident, but Johnson did not answer.

Temperance (Photo submitted by family)

Johnson says she’s hesitant about going to another day care but does plan to enroll her children somewhere else.

The day care is listed in "Good Standing" on the state’s early care and learning website.