COLORADO SPRINGS — News 5 followed up on the two daycares shut down last week by the Department of Human Services.
A teacher from the Counterpoint School said she is heartbroken about the closure because she and her co-workers loved their job.
The complaint report from DHS included that Play Mountain Place had more kids present than the license allowed, tried to hide the children from inspectors behind what is referred to as a fake wall, and three employees did not have a CBI or FBI background check.
We spoke with a teacher from Counterpoint, who said the reason their facility was closed was only because they were licensed through the same person as Play Mountain Place.
However, she feels the two centers have been unfairly grouped together, and she said the community should know the teachers at Counterpoint did everything by the book.
Stephanie Kring said that January would have marked her 5-year anniversary with Counterpoint School. Kring said the teachers from Counterpoint have gotten lumped into what happened at Play Mountain Place.
"Just by her association I guess, made us guilty, and we're not, we never did anything wrong... We're being taken down with her," Kring said.
The "her" she was referring to is Carla Faith, who ran both daycare facilities. Kring said it's especially difficult when she and roughly 16 other teachers gave everything they had to around 120 children at the daycare.
"We're hurt, along with all the parents, all of us together have been grouped in a giant disgusting mess, and ultimately the people who suffered the most are those kids," Kring said.
Kim and Branden Marshall said they had a child go to Play Mountain Place, and then Counterpoint. The Marshalls said their daughter thrived while at Counterpoint.
"When she found out that Counterpoint had been closed, you know, she actually started crying," Kim said.
The Marshalls also said their younger child was at Play Mountain Place on the same day as DHS.
"I drove over there, saw a bunch of cop cars, and my heart dropped, thought maybe a shooting, attempted kidnapping," Branden said, recalling his experience picking up his daughter.
Now the Marshalls, along with several other families, are searching for a new childcare option.
"We have no idea, there's a lot of people needing childcare and a lot of people that don't have openings," Kim said.
Fortunately, the Marshalls said relatives will help them this upcoming week by watching their daughters.
"There's a handful of people that watches my daughters, and we don't trust very many people... We're very protective," Branden said, adding that they would never leave their daughters somewhere that was not safe.
However, the Marshalls said they thought they could trust Faith, and now feel betrayed. It's an emotion shared by Kring, who has lost both her job and paycheck. Kring also wanted to deliver a message to the children from Counterpoint, saying "I love them, that I'm so sorry I didn't get to say goodbye, and I'm sorry that they don't understand."
Both Play Mountain Place and Counterpoint have had their licenses revoked and are currently closed. Right now, no criminal charges have been brought against Faith as the investigation continues.
News 5 will continue to update this story.
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