At the end of March 2026, a teacher at Childswork Learning Center was fired due to “allegedly” sexually assaulting a student on campus.  Families were not notified until the end of September when the perpetrator was arrested. There are still families who have not been notified. 

We are asking Childswork Learning Center to immediately:

1. Adopt clear supervision safeguards and staff accordingly in order to prevent staff from being isolated with children without visibility and accountability. Notify parents of any concerns immediately.

2. Eliminate the use of personal cell phones for      school business involving children. If phones are necessary for classroom communication, documentation or photographs, Childswork Learning Center should provide school-owned devices that remain on site, are managed by the school and are used only for approved school purposes. Staff should not take or store photographs or videos of children on personal devices.

3.Review all available records showing when Ortiz may have been alone with individual children. This should include check-in/check-out records, staffing schedules, classroom assignments, bathroom or transition practices, and any other documentation Childswork maintains. If those records show that a child was alone with Ortiz, that child’s parent or guardian should be directly informed.
     1. Provide each family with individualized information about their child’s documented contact with Ortiz to the fullest extent permissible. Ensure that any family with children who attended Childswork during Ortiz’s employment is notified of potential impact on their child.  
     2. Provide families with a written accounting of what happened and a corrective-action plan with deadlines, responsible parties and regular progress updates.

4. Require specialized child sexual abuse prevention, grooming-awareness and mandatory-reporting training for all staff, administrators and Board members yearly. Students shall also receive trauma-informed body safety curriculum in each classroom.

5. Childswork Learning Center sexual abuse insurance should assist in therapy payments for impacted children or to provide an onsight school psychologist who is available for parents and students who can provide centralized low barrier support for Childswork families. 

6. Commission an independent investigation into what Childswork knew, who knew it, how decisions were made, whether required disclosures were made, and why families were not notified.

7. Remove any administrators and Board members who participated in or supported the decision to withhold this information from families. Any administrator or Board member who knew about the allegation and approved, supported or failed to challenge the decision to withhold it from families for approximately 6 months should resign or be removed.

8. Ensure those leadership failures are formally documented and reported to the appropriate oversight bodies. Administrators found to have knowingly prioritized institutional interests over child safety should not simply be allowed to leave Childswork and move into another position of authority over children without that history following them through appropriate professional, licensing, regulatory and reference processes.

9. Bring in an independent child-safety expert to review supervision, bathrooms, staffing practices and every situation in which an adult could be alone with a child.

10.Childcare providers at Childswork will not face “chilling affect” on reporting issues of Child abuse. Release all written or verbal NDAs, retract any threats to employment, and allow teachers to discuss concerns with both legal authorities and parents, so that childcare providers can feel safe using their skills to protect children.