Daycare Center ‘Mistakenly’ Served Bleach Solution to Children, Months After 3 Employees Were Charged with Alleged Abuse

A well-known daycare center in New York City is suspending its preschool program indefinitely after a serious safety mistake left children exposed to a cleaning chemical.

Bright Horizons Daycare, which has already faced scrutiny in recent months after three employees were indicted over alleged mistreatment of children, is now at the center of another incident. On Oct. 27, an employee reportedly served children from a water pitcher that contained a diluted bleach solution instead of drinking water.

An email from the Health Department confirmed the preschool program would be shut down indefinitely following the event, which “exposed children to a toxic chemical,” according to CBS News.

Bright Horizons said the situation was accidental.

“The safety and well-being of the children in our care is our highest priority,” the daycare said in a statement to the outlet. “Unfortunately, the staff member had mistakenly filled the pitcher from a dispenser which contained a diluted cleaning solution — prepared daily for sanitizing toys. This solution consists of two gallons of water mixed with a small amount of bleach.”

A spokesperson for the company told CBS News that a teacher also drank the liquid and contacted poison control after realizing something was wrong.

Erin O’Connor, director of the NYU Early Childhood Education program, told CBS New York the incident raised major concerns about basic safety systems.

“To me, it’s shocking,” she said. “One of the most basic structural indicators is that you have things set up in a way that there’s no way a toxic material would be near a water supply for children. It gives me pause about how much was done in response to the first incident.”

She also questioned whether protecting the center’s reputation may have been prioritized over protecting children.

“It just doesn’t feel like they have child safety in their best interest,” she added. “To me, it sounds like they care more about their appearance, like how they come off in hiding their mistakes.”

The incident follows allegations that surfaced earlier this year involving three former employees — Evelyn Vargas, Shakia Henley and Latia Townes — who were arrested for allegedly abusing as many as nine children between the ages of one and two, CBS News reported.

One mother told the outlet she was stunned another serious incident happened so soon after the earlier allegations.

“I feel like they should’ve been 100% on their best behavior,” she said. “It’s just hard to believe this kind of mistake happened, especially after the first incident.”

According to prior allegations, Vargas was accused of dragging a toddler by her hair, force-feeding children ginger shots, stuffing their mouths with tissue, placing packing tape across a child’s mouth, and restraining children to chairs.

Townes was accused of hitting three toddlers in the head with a metal bottle and spraying a toddler in the face from a bottle containing soap mixed with bleach.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced on July 30 that all three employees had been indicted and are facing multiple counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. Vargas also faces charges of Assault, Strangulation in the Second Degree, and Attempted Assault. Townes has also been charged with three counts of Attempted Assault in the Second Degree. All three have pleaded not guilty in the ongoing cases.

“As alleged, these day care workers abused and criminally mistreated multiple toddlers, no older than 24 months,” District Attorney Bragg wrote in a press release at the time. “My office’s Child Abuse Bureau is dedicated to protecting our youngest New Yorkers and is here to help them.”