One of Charlotte’s largest and most prominent churches may have some explaining to do. Four families have filed a lawsuit accusing the church’s day care center of turning their kids away because they had disabilities, and contend that the center has been engaging in discriminatory behavior since at least 2003.
Calvary Church’s pink building, which seats more than 5,000 people, has long been a landmark in south Charlotte. However, the plaintiffs contend that there’s a dark underside to that pink building. They say that Calvary Child Development Center and its director, Pat Collins, either refused to admit their kids or threw them out on account of their medical conditions. Two of the families sued Calvary in January, and two more families joined the suit on Wednesday. Read the original complaint here.
The saga began in mid-2015, when three-year-old Lucas Dunning had several episodes where he turned pale and collapsed not long after he began attending the day care at Calvary. Although staffers initially thought he was having seizures, doctors ultimately diagnosed Lucas with abdominal migraines. Lucas’ parents, Jon and Lucy, say that even though Lucas was medically cleared to go to preschool, Collins refused to allow him to return to Calvary because his teachers felt “uncomfortable and scared” by his medical issues. Lucy was dumbfounded, saying that a church-run day care ought to be “lifting you up in times when you’re most vulnerable.”
While scouting out day cares, the Dunnings got in touch with Amaya and Luis Borjas. They believe that their son, Francisco, was thrown out of Calvary because staffers callously refused to help manage his Type 1 diabetes. The Borjases came to the day care daily to give Francisco insulin, even going as far as to buy a house near the church so they could be there at a moment’s notice. Luis claims that nonetheless, Francisco’s teacher had threatened to resign if Francisco was allowed to return. Incredibly, despite the day care’s size–it claims to enroll 850 kids from six months to pre-kindergarten–it doesn’t have a school nurse. Luis said he offered to donate the money to hire one, but Collins turned down that offer almost out of hand.
According to their attorney, Joshua Van Kampen, Calvary’s alleged actions aren’t just wrong–they’re illegal. Specifically, the suit contends that Calvary violated North Carolina’s Persons With Disabilities Protection Act, which requires day care centers and other public facilities to make “reasonable accommodations” for disabled people. It was enacted to fill in the gaps in the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. The Dunnings and Borjases want Calvary to have a registered nurse on campus during day care hours, and also want day care staff retrained on their ADA obligations.
Wednesday’s amended complaint alleges more callous behavior from Calvary. Liz Brundage says that in September, a teacher told her that her four-year-old son, Carter, needed to be medicated because his acting out appeared to be a sign that he had ADHD. After Carter accidentally knocked a friend over, Collins told Liz that Carter had to leave right away. Carmen Shaw says that she tried to place her five-year-old son, Jax, in Calvary’s special summer camp day care since he has developmental delays. However, Carmen says that Jax was placed in the regular day care instead, and then kicked out.
Additionally, Van Kampen has gotten in touch with four families whose claims weren’t folded into the suit because they are outside the statute of limitations. However, they are no less chilling. One child was reportedly kicked out in 2003 for developmental delays. Other parents say their kids were denied admission because of prosthetic legs or nut allergies. These families plan to testify in order to show a pattern of discrimination at the day care.
Calvary’s lawyers say that the lawsuit has no legal merit. However, since the original suit was filed, the day care has added a troubling clause to its application form. It requires parents to accept that Collins has the right to expel a child for any reason–including for health reasons. From where I’m sitting, Collins is effectively giving the finger to these families. It won’t allow him to look good in court.
