The TCC board of trustees took no action to reverse the college’s decision to close the NE Campus Children’s Center despite parents’ disapproval during its meeting Oct. 17.   

When the session ended after more than an hour, Board President Teresa Ayala said that the board is not taking any action as a result of the closed session.  

TCC General Counsel Antonio Allen said the Children’s Center is an academic learning lab that needs to meet the standards of TCC and the state.  

“What you heard the chancellor say is that part of the reason for the decision to close was that as a result of this incident, we went back and we looked at the operation of that lab,” Allen said. “And what we found in looking at the operation of the lab is that the way it was being operated didn’t meet the standard.”  

Allen said that due to the investigation and personnel matters that he could not comment on what parts of the operation didn’t meet TCC and state standards. He also said the administration didn’t agree with the parents’ characterization of the incident.  

The Children’s Center illness/report form that was provided to The Collegian and the Board of Trustees by the parents said “that the child was laying on his cot when (the teacher) walked over to him telling him to stop making noise and then she proceeded pull his cot from under him causing him to fall on the floor,” the report said. “Several minutes later as the (child) was laying on the floor the (teacher) proceeded to ask the (child) to stop doing what he was doing. ‘Making noise’ and then walked over to him and grabbed his arm and pulled him across the carpet to a different area. The (teacher) then proceeded to hold his arms for an extended about of time until he cried.”  

The parents dispute the accuracy of the reports. They said that the part of him being on a cot is inaccurate and that he was on a soft mat. They also said that the words “fall” and “pulled” in the report are exaggerated and that he was only moved about 5 feet next to the (teacher’s) chair and that the (child) did not cry.  

In May, a self-reported incident led the Texas Health and Human Services to decide that standards were not met and there was a greater risk to the safety of children. This incident involved a caregiver grabbing a child by his arm as a method of redirection and resulted in one teacher being fired, according to the parents  

“When you have a similar situation occur, months later, that’s going to prompt you to not only look at it as an individual issue, but look at the program more broadly,” Allen said. 

“Think about whether or not is it an individual issue or is it a cultural issue with regard to the operation.”