CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- When Taylor Robinson picked her daughter up from daycare at the La Petite Academy of Midlothian on Nov. 15, she said she was met with an unpleasant surprise.
A chunk of her almost 2-year-old child's hair was missing.
"She turned around, and there was a big, bald spot in the front of her head. I was very shocked," Robinson told CBS 6. “I could barely even speak. I just could not get my thoughts together. It has given me so much anxiety. I could not sleep.”
Robinson explained she had received a phone call from staff earlier that day alerting her that an incident involving her daughter's hair had occurred, but she said she did not realize the seriousness of it until she saw her child.
According to a school incident report that Robinson shared with CBS 6, the child was on the playground and playing by the picnic table when her hair bead got caught in the hole of a honeycomb design picnic table. When the child tried to get unstuck, her braid ripped out.
The report showed there was "no visible sign of injury" and staff "continued to monitor" her throughout the day.
“I’m asking questions like, ‘Oh, my goodness, you know, how did that happen? Was she at the table by herself? Who was around?'" Robinson said.
Robinson said she and her husband met with school leadership after the incident and was told it occurred as the teacher was taking the class inside.
“So, if you're taking the class in and my daughter is at a picnic table by herself, she's not being watched," Robinson said.
On the school incident report, under the section that says how to prevent the incident in the future, it notes: "Keep closer eye and make sure students sit properly on picnic table."
When asked whether the child was being appropriately monitored at the time of the incident, La Petite spokesperson Courtney McKenzie said in an email, "The child was under the appropriate supervision of her teacher while on the playground."
McKenzie said the daycare also inspected the picnic table to confirm it was age appropriate and in good repair, as well as reach out to licensing partners to make sure all protocols were followed. She added La Petite continuously reviews supervision and safety protocols with staff.
"The safety and wellbeing of the children in our care is our highest priority. We consistently follow state guidelines for student to teacher ratios," McKenzie said.
“Our expectation is that we pick up our child the same way we drop them off," said the child's father Derek Posey.
The parents requested to see the surveillance footage, but McKenzie said the video systems for the playgrounds are limited and did not "adequately capture" the area in question.
“If the incident is not on camera, we want to see before, we want to see after. What was their response to her when it happened?'" Robinson said.
Robinson and Posey said they noticed a change in their daughter's behavior after the incident, adding that she didn't want to talk to her parents and was crying.
They have since unenrolled their daughter from the school.
“Our daughter was definitely upset and traumatized," Robinson said.
“I don't want this to happen to anybody. No child, no parents should have to go through this," Posey said.
The parents said they filed a complaint with the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), and the VDOE confirmed with CBS 6 that it has opened a complaint investigation in response.
A spokesperson with the state agency said the findings of that investigation will determine any possible next steps.
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