At least seven staff members and the parents of more than fifty children are left trying to find another daycare after theirs closed suddenly on Tuesday afternoon.
Fox Learning Center, located on Hickory Avenue, near Teel Road, closed suddenly after an altercation between one of the owners and some of the staff members. The incident still has staff and parents scratching their heads over what happened.
Keli DeMoss, an employee at the daycare, said April Fox, co-owner of the daycare, suddenly appeared at the building on Tuesday afternoon and began shouting at one of the teachers. “I couldn’t tell what was being said, but all I could think was, ‘We don’t need this in front of the children,’” she said.
DeMoss said she’d been hired as the director, but wasn’t actually able to do the duties of a director because it was necessary for her to be in a classroom the whole time. “We didn’t get lunches or breaks,” she said. Other employees have corroborated her story, saying that Fox wasn’t even present at the daycare for most of the time it was open. “Most of our children and parents didn’t even know her,” they said.
The location passed the Sapulpa Planning Commission earlier in 2021 after being vacant for three years. The daycare opened in March but was nearly driven to close its doors after just 45 days. However, on May 28th, another person, who asked that she be referred to as “Mrs. B,” stepped in to sign a contract with Fox that would keep the doors open, but also give her 50% ownership of the business. Mrs. B said it was the last time Fox came to the daycare until months later, when she verbally assaulted the other teacher, calling him what Mrs. B described as “sexual slurs.”
Several employees with whom Sapulpa Times spoke said money seemed to be an issue at the daycare from the beginning. “We didn’t have any DHS subsidy at first,” DeMoss said. “There would be no money for groceries, and [Mrs. B] spent her own money getting us cribs and groceries.”
By the time the daycare closed, 90% of the children were under DHS subsidy, funds that Mrs. B says Fox took from the business. “During the last three weeks, I noticed our business account was wiped clean of all the funds for her personal use and transferred to her personal account,” she said. “When I reached out to tell [Fox] that we needed groceries and cribs/sleep mats, she said, ‘Well, that’s a problem, because we don’t have any money.’”
Fox could not be reached for comment.
A week prior to closing, Mrs. B says the electricity was cut off to the building, the same week as payroll. She was able to call and get the electricity restored, but the staff paychecks were late, and at least one did not clear the bank due to insufficient funds.
On Tuesday, October 12th, Fox appeared at the daycare and announced that she was closing the doors, giving the teachers just four hours on a weekday afternoon to contact parents and have them pick up their children. Mrs. B says the situation has left her sick to her stomach. “When [Fox] left in May, only 12 children were enrolled. Now we have grown so much and turned into a family. This was one of the most horrific days of my life,” she said.
Mrs. B says her goal now is to purchase the property and reopen the daycare under the direction of DeMoss, who has always wanted to run her own daycare. She says that legally, she still has rights to the property, and that she will do everything she can to fight “until the end.”
“It’s only right to get our babies back and provide a loving childcare environment, as they deserve,” she said.
