Teachers at a daycare in South El Monte, California, are accused of putting mood-calming stickers called “Zen Patches” on children without their parents’ permission. This was revealed to parents last week, who were shocked.
Parents of students at Options for Learning Head Start were furious, according to FOX 11 Los Angeles. They are now asking that teachers be held responsible and that children be kept safe.
Two of the kids who had the patches on them—a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old—talked to officials about where the patches were put.
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Parents told the station that they were upset about what was going on and said that stickers were put on every child in the classroom and then taken off before the kids were let out for the day.
Vicky Cano, a parent, told the news station, “We were shocked and very upset because when you bring your kids, you expect it to be good.“
The story got out when the mother of one of the preschoolers showed up at school without warning. It was said that a teacher had been using mood-calming patches on the kids to keep them in line and make them sleepy.
Other things that made parents suspicious were when their kids started acting differently and having trouble sleeping.
A doctor named Dr. Daniel Turner-Lloveras told FOX 11 about the possible risks of putting any kind of drug on kids without their parents’ permission.
He made a point of saying that the kids might have had bad effects, like allergic reactions, and that these kinds of goods are not formally regulated.
We tried to get in touch with the school and Options for Learning Head Start, but we didn’t hear back right away.
Options for Learning Head Start CEO Paul F. Pulver told FOX 11 that an internal review of what happened in South El Monte confirmed that “aromatic stickers were given to a limited number of students.” He also said that the 16 kids in the class were the ones who got them.
Pulver also said, “Their distribution broke our policy, which says that parental decision-making and consent are needed for all of these kinds of things.” The worker who gave the stickers has been fired.
Parents of the children told FOX 11 they want more, even though the teacher was fired.
She told the news station, “Firing her is not good enough at all.” “I want fairness. “She needs to go to jail.”