A long-running childcare center in Burlington’s New North End abruptly shut its doors last week amid two investigations, one by state regulators and one by police, into allegations that a former staff member physically abused children.
Parents whose children attended Frog & Toad Child Care & Learning Center, located in the city’s Robert Miller Community and Recreation Center, were notified in an email last Thursday that the center would shut down “effective immediately.” The program’s executive director and owner, Tiffany Corbett, began refunding money to families over the weekend, parents said. Another Frog & Toad center in Essex, also owned by Corbett, remains open. Corbett did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Two parents at the Burlington center who spoke to Seven Days about the closure said Corbett had reassured them for weeks that, despite an ongoing state investigation, the program would remain open. The decision to close permanently was Corbett’s, not mandated by the state, according to Janet McLaughlin, the deputy commissioner of the Department for Children and Families Child Development Division.
The parents shared with Seven Days several emails from Corbett, including one on February 27 that said the Child Development Division had opened an investigation “into a concern involving a specific staff member.” In the email, Corbett told parents that a licensor she had spoken to had assured her that “the concern is not systemic or program-wide” and that the center, which is licensed to serve 33 children, was not facing closure.
In subsequent emails, Corbett told parents that state investigators had visited the center and would be reaching out to families involved in the investigation. She reassured them that the probe was of “a single teacher.” On March 6, Corbett told families that DCF’s investigation had “expanded to include video footage of the outside of our building as children often play in those areas.”
“The licensor again reiterated that as a program, Frog & Toad is good, and is not risking closure,” Corbett wrote.
On March 11, Corbett emailed parents to tell them that a male teacher — who Seven Days is not naming because he has not been charged with a crime — would be fired based on the state’s “preliminary findings regarding the mishandling of children.” Corbett said it was “difficult to reconcile” the teacher’s conduct with his “11-year history as a previously celebrated member of our team” but said she agreed with “the state’s determination that he is not fit for service at the time.” She encouraged parents to come to her or the Burlington program director, who is related to the staff member under investigation, with their concerns.
The following day, Corbett sent another email to families, telling them she had provided investigators with additional video footage and incident reports from the center’s toddler classroom. Corbett also wrote that she had met with a detective from the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations who told her that “they are moving forward with criminal charges, and that they are limiting their focus to a singular person.”
In an interview on Monday, Det. Lt. Richard Weinisch, the special investigation unit’s director, confirmed the criminal investigation was under way but noted that it could take some time because of the number of people to be interviewed. Weinisch’s unit opened the criminal probe after DCF reached out during its investigation, he said. While coordinating with DCF is standard practice for the unit, he said, it is “not common” to launch a criminal investigation into a childcare worker.
It is unclear why DCF first launched its investigation into Frog & Toad. But a former teacher told Seven Days that she had called the department’s child-abuse hotline in early February to report what she had observed during her yearlong tenure working at the center. On multiple occasions, the teacher said, she raised concerns to both the site director and owner about the male employee now under investigation.
The teacher said she witnessed him hitting a child in the stomach after the child hit him; throwing out toddlers’ food after they dropped or threw it; yelling at kids; and pushing several children into snowbanks while they were playing outside. She said the program director and Corbett said they would “take care of it,” but things didn’t improve.
The whistleblower was fired and later that day called in the reports of abuse. According to a termination letter she shared with Seven Days, she was let go for speaking to children in a way that was “punitive” and “abrasive.” The teacher, who Seven Days is not naming due to her concerns of being blacklisted from childcare programs, disputed Corbett’s characterization, saying she had spoken sternly to a child in a different classroom who had kicked a wall while she was reading a story to preschoolers.
The teacher said she thinks that the concerns she raised with the director and owner contributed to her termination.
The teacher, who has worked in childcare for more than two decades, said DCF should have better oversight of childcare programs. A recent state auditor’s report found that staff from DCF’s Child Development Division “lack consistency in their evaluation, documentation and follow-up of serious violations” at childcare programs.
On Monday, March 16, Corbett held an in-person meeting for families to discuss the investigation. The center owner once again tried to reassure parents that Frog & Toad was not at risk of closing and that the investigation involved “a single bad actor,” according to Bernice Walenty, a parent who attended.
The center was open the next three days, Walenty said, but some parents decided to keep their kids home because they were worried. Then, last Thursday night, parents found an email from Corbett in their inboxes.
“After 26 years of service to our community, I regret to inform you that I have made the decision to close our Burlington location,” it read. “Thank you all for the many years of wonderful memories.”
No further explanation was given.
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