MORRISVILLE, Vt. (WCAX) – Questions and complaints about missing money continue months after the abrupt closure of child care centers in Colchester and Morrisville earlier this year and the launch of a state investigation. It started after Little Saplings in Colchester allegedly didn’t pay its rent. Families told WCAX the owner owed them thousands of dollars. As Cat Viglienzoni reports, the owner’s past financial failings were not on the radar of state licensors.
When Marcie Ayotte moved back to Morrisville, she needed child care for her one and three-year-old children. Without a car, her options were even more limited, and the two open spots at Little Saplings seemed like the answer to allow her to go back to work.
“That was my only choice — was Little Saplings,” Ayotte said. But she says she started to notice red flags, including a gate that wasn’t latched well and that she pointed out to staff. “They said a couple times that they would fix it.”
Ayotte says it wasn’t though, and that her son, three-year-old Cash, got out. A dance studio staffer in the same building who found the child told her. When Ayotte says she asked Little Saplings about it, they blew it off. “He was like, ‘Oh yeah, but we got him right back in,’” she recalled.
But state investigators looking into problems at Little Saplings told her Cash had actually been unattended for 10 to 15 minutes, until the dance academy staffer brought him back. No one had come looking for him.
Reporter Cat Viglienzoni: What was your reaction as a mom when you heard that?
Marcie Ayotte: I was scared… He was at the main doors that led to the main road. So, if he would have gotten out, he could have gotten hit by a car… He could have been killed, he could have been seriously hurt, he could have been taken. And then this would be a whole different interview.
It was then she learned about a Facebook group of people who claimed that Little Saplings owner Scott Breveleri had defrauded them and of the issues at the shuttered Colchester site. “I just kept asking why. Why were they even allowed to have a daycare?” Ayotte said.
She’s not the only parent wondering why the Morrisville location was even able to open at all given the history of violations at the Colchester site.
“At the time their program in Colchester was in substantial compliance, there was no reason to deny them a license,” explained Beth Maurer with the Vermont Department for Children and Families. She says a program’s past violations don’t necessarily stop them from opening new locations if they can show they’ve turned things around and parents aren’t complaining. As for the allegations of fraud against Breveleri…
Reporter Cat Viglienzoni: Would that show up on something like the state’s background checks?
Beth Maurer: It would not because there was not a conviction.
Maurer says anyone opening a program gets checked on various criminal databases for things like abuse, neglect, and sex offenses. However, bad business practices — or allegations — won’t show up. “We’re doing the best with the tools that we have,” she said.
Reporter Cat Viglienzoni: And would you say that the case like the Little Saplings one is a rarity?
Beth Maurer: Yes.
The state has some 1,200-hundred licensed child care programs and Maurer calls the Little Saplings case the exception, not the rule. She recommends parents start by checking the Bright Futures website and looking through state inspection reports. She also urges parents to ask questions if something appears fishy.
“That would be a red flag if someone’s asking you to pay that much in advance. But I also appreciate that as a new parent, you’re like, well, I don’t know,” Maurer said.
Vermont already has some of the most restrictive child care licensing requirements in the country, but Maurer says they’re reviewing their rules to see if there’s anything that could prevent something like this from happening again. “What can we learn from this, what in our practices can we change, if anything,” she said.
After the incident with her son, Ayotte says she looked again and now her children are in a different child care that she praises. But she would like to see a more extensive vetting process for who can open up child care so that parents have peace of mind. “When you can’t send them to daycare knowing that they’re safe — that’s a hard thing to do,” she said.
DCF says any families who think Little Saplings owes them money should contact the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. We know multiple — have already filed complaints.
Both Little Saplings locations each got over $14,000 in readiness grants from Act 76. DCF says they have documentation proving that the money, as well as previous subsidy payments, were used for approved purposes.
Little Saplings and owner Scott Breveleri have not responded to requests for comment.