A few Hamilton, Mississippi daycare workers seemed to have taken Halloween scare tricks a bit too far.
One of the videos that went viral on Facebook showed a Lil’ Blessings Child Care & Learning Center employee chasing after a terrified child, telling him to “clean up” or “act good.” What mostly scared the child is that the daycare worker was wearing a “Scream” mask.
In another video, an employee was seen wearing the same mask while close to the seated children. You can see them crying in the footage.
The way that the children were treated angered the kids’ parents. Because of what happened, and because the videos went viral on Facebook, four daycare workers were fired from their jobs.
Ceecee was one of the employees who was terminated from the job. She shared her side of the story in a 19-minute Facebook video.
“I am not a child abuser,” said. She said the devil… oops… the teacher made her do it.
Ceecee has been working at the daycare center for four years until the incident. She said that it was not meant to traumatize the children. After leaving the room, she took the mask off, went back to the kids, and told them that she was able to get rid of the monster and it would not harm them anymore.
She also said that last Christmas, they had a Grinch impersonator and that the children reacted similarly. But during that time, people thought that it was funny. Ceecee said that she promises not to go near the center in the future.
Shiela Sanders has owned the daycare center for 20 years. She said that she was not made aware of the incident until Wednesday, a day after the more recent video was taken. She also added that she does not allow that kind of behavior from her employees.
Kimberly Smith, one of the parents of the children in the video, said that she trusts that Sanders did not know about what happened. Despite the sad event, she believes that the daycare should not be shut down and that the innocent should not be blamed for the incident.
Another parent, Ashley Woods, said that no one should judge anyone to the point of making that person feel bad and alone. She added that Ceecee knew that she did wrong but is trying to tell everyone that she acknowledges the mistake and is saying sorry for what she did.
The parents and the owner do not condone the behavior of the workers, but they don’t want the place shut down. It’s the only daycare in the Hamilton area.
The Mississippi State Department of Health and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the matter.
Moral of the story: Be careful what you do when there’s a smart phone in the area. In other words, always. And don’t scare kids. And don’t blame the teacher. Blame the Devil.