Preschool Cited for Methods of Discipline

State authorities have cited the owner of a preschool in Yorba Linda for allegedly using discipline techniques that included restraining children to cots and banishing a child to the supply room.

The Department of Social Services ordered Martha Villeneuve, owner of Village Preschool on Imperial Highway, to stop using such disciplinary procedures or face punishment from the state, department spokeswoman Corinne Chee said.

The department contends Villeneuve placed one student in a supply room and held the door shut because she misbehaved, Chee said. The department also found evidence that on more than one occasion, Villeneuve physically restrained children to their cots when they refused to nap.

Villeneuve strongly disputed the findings of the state investigators, saying, “They were not there.” She charged that two-thirds of the incidents reported to state authorities were fabricated by a former employee at the school.

“This teacher . . . said that I pushed the little girl and caused us a lot of trouble,” Villeneuve said. “Nobody has ever pushed a kid down purposely.”

Chee said several complaints prompted the state’s investigation.

In an interview Friday, Villeneuve acknowledged putting a little girl in a room alone, but said it was justified because the child had been screaming and disturbing her classmates.

But Villeneuve said the teacher who complained to the state exaggerated the severity of the incident. The teacher described the room to state investigators as a supply closet, but Villeneuve said the room was a bathroom that doubled as a supply closet and had a window.

“If I had gone in there, it would have been fine,” she said. “I closed the door and she was crying. I should have called the mother immediately, but I didn’t. The law won’t let you do anything. Won’t even let you pick them up and carry them out of the room.”

The report filed by the Department of Social Services said Villeneuve “pushed and pulled the child into the room, closed the door and held the doorknob to prohibit the child from exiting. The child yelled and cried. The door was not opened until the director [an employee of Villeneuve] intervened.”

In 1991, records show, the state investigated a complaint that Villeneuve was using physical restraint to discipline children who were misbehaving, but did not cite her. The report said investigators could not substantiate the claim.

Villeneuve said at the time that she and her staff sometimes put children in chairs and “hugged” them as a way of calming them down.

She also has been cited 10 times in the past for failing to properly screen the teachers she hired, said David Hall, an inspector with the Department of Social Services. The state requires that school owners in such a situation either screen the teachers or fire them. It was not clear what action had been taken in this case.

Inspections over the years also revealed that children were sometimes left without proper supervision, and in one instance a child was found sleeping alone in a room with harmful substances, according to state reports.

Brea Police Department officials said Friday that they have investigated the school’s operations and plan to share the results with representatives of the district attorney’s office on Monday.