ST. MARY'S, Ga. — JoLees Creative Academy is under investigation by the St. Mary’s police department for alleged child abuse and neglect.
“It’s just been an insane lack of communication,” said one father, Aaron Sparks. “Kids coming home with busted lips, black eyes, bruises, bumps that just aren’t explained.”
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On March 7th, Sparks received a call from Jolees Creative Academy saying there was a biting incident involving his 1-year-old child and that he had to be picked up.
When he got to the school to pick up his son, Sparks said the school then informed him that the toddler also had a busted lip.
When Sparks asked for footage documenting his son’s new injuries, he said the videos he was provided with didn’t add up.
“They just don’t make sense,” said Sparks. “So when confronted with that, I was told that I have an hour to pick up my son or else, so I had to come pick up my son, leave work. And that’s when we decided it’s time to get the police involved.”
Aaron took his concerns to Facebook on Thursday, March 20th and posted the pictures of his son’s injuries. It caught the eyes of many parents, including Tashima Brown, whose child also attends the school.
“I went and I read all the comments, and I was like, dang, I don’t believe that’s going on at daycare. And I felt really bad for the family,” said Brown.
“And then at 5:00 when I went to go pick my son up, he lifted up his arm and he said that he had a boo boo and it was a pinch mark and it punctured his skin. And I asked him where he got it from and he said his teacher, Big Mama. After that, I went to the police and I filled out an incident report, and they told me that I was the third person that come this week with the same allegations.”
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We reached out to JoLees Creative Academy for a comment via email late last night, and when we knocked on their door today, no one came to the door.
However, the school did post an official statement on their Facebook page:
“We are heartbroken that such harmful statements are being spread about our center. The safety, education, and care of children have always been and will continue to be our top priority.”
Action News Jax confirmed that the school’s administrator, Chadrika Johnson, had her previous childcare facility in Brunswick shut down by the State of Georgia.
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According to responses to an open records request filed by Action News Jax, The Brunswick Fire Department responded to Molding from the Start Childcare Center in July of 2022 after receiving reports that people in the building had lost consciousness.
The intake form states the following:
“This was the result of carbon monoxide. BFD identified the source of the carbon monoxide as a generator which was being improperly operated inside the building. Multiple unconscious children and adults as well as others showing symptoms were transported for medical treatment.”
Then, on January 31st of 2023, the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning notified Ms. Johnson that her license to operate Molding from the Start Childcare Center was being revoked due to “Correctable abuses, derelictions or deficiencies in the operation and management of the child care learning center which were brought to the attention of the license holder, but not corrected within a reasonable time.”
The center officially shut down in March of 2023.
Aaron Sparks was not aware of Ms. Johnson’s previous childcare center history when he enrolled his 1-year-old at JoLees Creative Academy earlier this year. Now, Sparks has this message for other parents:
“That just goes to show you, no matter how much research you do, you can’t have all the information about someone.”
As for whether the state will be pursuing another investigation into JoLees Creative Academy following the recent allegations, Georgia DECAL said it cannot comment at this time.
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