(CBS-DETROIT) – The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential is suspending and planning to revoke the licenses of two area day care centers.
The announcement comes as the agency concludes a months-long investigation into 4K Learning Center Detroit and 4K Learning Center Southgate, both owned by Isatou Whitfield.
The agency reportedly found a series of abuses at both centers dating back several years.
Asia Boynton, of River Rouge, is one of several family members who filed reports that led to the closure.
“I found my son in the back of the classroom, with tables around him and tied to one of the table legs,” Boynton told CBS News Detroit. “And he couldn’t move.”
Boynton filed a report with Southgate Police and immediately moved to remove her son from the 4K Learning Center due to what she believed was the owner’s gross incompetence.
“If you’re managing anything, you need to know what’s going on in your daycare,” Boynton says. “And for you to continue doing so, no matter how long it takes, is unacceptable.”
On October 24, the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential filed an emergency order ensuring that no child will have to endure what allegedly happened to Boynton’s son at one of the Whitfield-owned locations .
In the report, the agency noted findings including three videos from 2021 that allegedly showed Whitfield physically and verbally abusing children.
The report states that in the first video, Whitfield sat in a van punching, kicking and stomping on a child. The video then reportedly showed Whitfield asking the child, “Do you like that (redacted)? Do you like that (redacted)?”
The suspension order goes on to describe a second video in which Whitfield allegedly holds a screaming child by the head and shouts, “My little (redacted) is going up your (redacted).”
The third video reportedly showed Whitfield choking another child while shouting, “I’ll kill you (redacted). Can you hear me?”
“I feel like they should have been closed after that happened,” Boynton said. ‘He is autistic and cannot speak. Imagine what else they would have done to him. If I hadn’t walked in and seen them, they’d probably still be doing it to this day.”
Walter Murphy
