KY day care that ordered children to spit on boy fined $1,000, officials say
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- State issued $1,000 fine and Type A citation after seven-month abuse report delay.
- Teacher ordered classmates to spit on a 3-year-old; footage and witnesses backed claim.
- State regulators say Type A violations rose statewide by mid-2025
The Ashland child care center where a teacher ordered small children to spit on a 3-year-old classmate as punishment last year was fined $1,000 and received a Type A citation, the strongest possible, although the facility was not closed, state officials say.
The Herald-Leader reported Friday about a lawsuit filed against UK King’s Daughters Child Development Center by two families who had children enrolled in the facility. One plaintiff is the mother of the boy who was spit on; another is the mother of one of the children ordered to spit.
After the Herald-Leader’s story was published, the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services said in a statement its Office of Inspector General took action against the child care center last March.
The penalty was severe because the facility did not promptly report the spitting incident, as it was required, cabinet spokeswoman Beth Fisher said.
“The citation was issued after the facility failed to report an incident of alleged abuse for seven months, which directly violates immediate reporting requirements, and conditions at the center were determined to have posed an immediate risk to the health, safety and welfare of a child at the facility,” Fisher said.
“Team Kentucky believes every child deserves a safe, nurturing and high-quality environment in which to grow and learn, and we are committed to ensuring compliance with safety standards in all childcare facilities licensed in the commonwealth,” she said.
The Boyd County sheriff told the Herald-Leader last week that a criminal investigation into the incident has been turned over to local prosecutors.
According to the lawsuit and an inspector general’s investigation, a teacher at the Child Development Center — later fired — punished a 3-year-old boy by ordering his classmates to line up and take turns spitting on him in August 2024.
The incident was witnessed by other employees and captured on the facility’s closed-circuit television footage, but management did not report it until earlier this year.
While investigating the spitting incident, facility management learned that child care staff also punished children by ordering them to stand against a wall while they were pelted with balls, according to the lawsuit.
In testimony to state legislators in July, state regulators said violations of health and safety standards in Kentucky child care centers have been growing worse in recent years. Type A violations, daycare license revocations, denials of new licenses and emergency license suspensions all were on the rise as of mid-2025, state regulators testified.
