A mom from California was left disgusted after learning that one of her daughter's preschool teachers had taken an inappropriate video of the 2-year-old and then posted the picture to Snapchat as a "joke." But Shannon Galofaro isn't laughing.
The video, which showed a preschool teacher at the Sunshine Learning Center in Valencia, California, pulling down her daughter's ("M.G.") pants and underwear while she napped with her bottom in the air, has since been deleted. But to the mom, what happened was more than a prank. Instead, it was a dangerous invasion of her daughter's privacy. Now, the mom is suing the school for failing to let her know about the incident sooner and, more importantly, for failing to protect her child.
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The incident happened in August 2018 and, according to a complaint filed by Galofaro's lawyer, was hidden from the mom while management performed an investigation.
The complaint, which was sent to CafeMom by Galofaro's lawyer, Coleman Watson, states that on August 31, 2018, a preschool teacher "videotaped herself removing a blanket from (M.G.) who at the time was sleeping in a face down position with her bottom in the air."
"The worker then then pulled M.G.’s panties down in close proximity to her knees and pulled M.G.’s dress up above her mid-driff," the document notes. "At that point, M.G.’s partially naked body was exposed."
The teacher then uploaded the video to Snapchat and captioned the footage, "This girl's ready for a three day weekend" and used an emoji to cover her face before tagging several other employees in the Snap. The complaint also says that there was another employee in attendance while the teacher made the video but failed to do anything to stop her.
Not everyone thought the prank was funny. Another teacher who received the message brought the video to the attention of the school director.
The teacher who reported the incident has not been named, but according to the filed complaint, that person immediately showed the video to director Sean Adalchi, who then told that person "not to disclose the incident to M.G.’s parents and to allow 'corporate' to conduct its own internal investigation of the incident."
Galofaro says she didn't receive word about what happened until five days later, on September 4, but from her account, school officials seemed to have softened what had transpired in their explanation of the events.
"They told me that they took a picture of M.G.'s bottom, her pants must have slid down just a little bit, and they didn't mean anything by it," the mom told KTLA 5. School officials then told Galofaro that the teacher had been fired and the Snap had been deleted from her phone.
Additionally, the mom said that after asking why it had taken so long for the video to be brought to her attention, she was frustrated to hear that Sunshine Learning had conducted its own investigation. "It consisted of deleting evidence, not contacting the police, not contacting social services. They waited until the footage in the classroom has deleted itself before they told me anything," she added.
Another teacher who was disturbed by the video took it upon herself to contact the authorities and the preschool was then investigated by the Department of Social Services. It cited several violations by the school, including failing to report the incident and putting children at risk.
During a police investigation that was also conducted, the offending teacher said she only posted the video "in fun" and "to get laughs."
But according to Galofaro, the cheap trick has caused her daughter some serious harm.
The complaint insinuates that there might have been a history of abuse from this teacher previous to the incident on August 31. It states that from August 24 on, M.G. started having night terrors and "would wake up in the middle of the night at home screaming, “'someone is touching my leg.'”
The document also noted that M.G. "began to regress from being fully potty-trained to routinely having accidents on herself." She would also allegedly beg her mother not to take her to school, specifically not to the offending teacher's classroom, and her mom noticed that while in the teacher's care, her daughter "often had bathroom accidents and soiled herself."
During an interview with police, the complaint noted that M.G. told investigators that the teacher "sometimes 'pulls her pants down'” when she believed that M.G. is sleeping.
The case is obviously heartbreaking for Galofaro. That is why she's filed a lawsuit against Cadence Education, which owns Sunshine Learning Centers, and is speaking out about the incident publicly.
And Watson tells us that his client hopes there is a lesson other parents can learn from her story. "We would like parents to know that they should always remain vigilant with entrusting their children to the care of third parties, like Sunshine Learning Center and Cadence Education," he wrote in an email to CafeMom.
CafeMom reached out to Sunshine Learning Centers for comment at the time of the incident, but has yet to hear back.
