To the editor:

Our child attended a local day care center and for five years the experience was positive and constructive. However, we removed him in May after we suspected he was being bullied by another child (we were told this was “a healthy competition”) and inappropriate remarks were made by staff to our child after he was pulled from the path of a moving car. The staff member told me and my child that she “would lose her job if he was hit by a car.”

It upset us to remove him from what we thought was a safe environment. After six meetings over three months with the director of the center and her assistant, it became clear it was not.

Most upsetting was their false public image of a professional, fully accountable administration and staff.

We entrusted them to keep our child’s best interests in mind. In the end, the director did nothing to correct the outrageous behavior of her employees.

We have moved on with our lives and our child is happily enrolled in elementary school. The hardest part of moving on is trying to get past the feeling of being treated unjustly for being our child’s advocate — for being a parent.

We want nothing other than to encourage parents to stand up for your children no matter how unpopular the decision, no matter how prominent the organization.

It is unacceptable how individuals at this center mishandled our concerns. We are not “disgruntled parents.” We are however, deeply disappointed knowing this will happen again to other families.

Doug and Cindie Tong,

Lawrence