Agoura Hills Daycare Teachers Accused Of Using Push Pins To Discipline Boys
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Two teachers at an Agoura Hills daycare center allegedly disciplined young boys by pressing push pins into their legs, according to a lawsuit.
The suit was filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court by four mothers against Tutor Time of Agoura Hills alleging negligence, negligent supervision and hiring, failure to report abuse, assault and battery, breach of contract and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
The two teachers in the lawsuit were identified as Rosa Nepomuseno and Jessica Morales.
According to the complaint, four mothers — identified only as Nicole Z., Kim M., Debbie S. and Krista L. — all enrolled children under the age of 3 at the center in 2013 and 2014.
The woman allege Nepomuseno and Morales "had a custom and practice of regularly using push pins to discipline toddler boys in their classrooms," according to the suit, which adds that the pins were pressed deep enough to inflict pain and injury.
"If a boy was deemed inattentive or failed to follow directions, these teachers would stick a push pin into the child's legs," the complaint read. "This practice was so commonplace at Tutor Time that the defendants had given it a name; they called it 'pica pica'."
The lawsuit alleges that a daughter of one of the mothers was "made to watch the defendants inflict this brutal punishment on her twin brother, which resulted in severe mental and emotional injuries to her."
A woman who answered the phone at the facility and identified herself as the manager said the center has been under new ownership since August. She declined further comment.
An investigation by the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services later found serious violations had occurred, but that the "defendants again hid this information from the parent plaintiffs," the suit states.
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