Preschool worker arrested for hitting child
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Paige Julia Nachwalter, 26, was arrested yesterday and charged with child abuse without great bodily harm after allegedly hitting a child under her care at Orange Blossom Prep.
The child’s father reported the incident to the Florida Department of Children and Families after the child told his father that Nachwalter, an employee of Orange Blossom Prep (6200 SW Archer Road), had hit him five times on April 17.
The child was interviewed by the Child Protection Team on April 25 and reportedly said that Nachwalter had hit him “very hard six times.” When asked how she hit him, he reportedly slapped the top of his head and also said he was hit on his stomach; he said she hit him two times on the head.
An Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy reviewed video surveillance from the preschool from April 17 and reported that Nachwalter is the only adult seen in the room during the following incidents. The deputy reported that Nachwalter rushes toward a child who had just slipped and fallen and grabs the child, lifting the child off the floor by one arm. Nachwalter reportedly swings the child and carries the child to a nearby carpet, where she drops the child.
The deputy reported that Nachwalter’s attention then turns to the victim, whose back is turned in the video. Nachwalter reportedly “picks up speed, walks over to [the victim], grabs him from behind, appears to forcibly remove an item from his hands, spins the [victim], and shoves [the victim] to a nearby desk.” The deputy reported that it was unclear whether Nachwalter hit or contacted the victim’s face, “creating the mark later observed by family.”
The victim then walks over to the same carpet as the first child, and Nachwalter turns her attention to a female child who had been playing with the victim. Nachwalter reportedly grabs this child’s arm, and the child pulls back out of fear. Nachwalter reportedly pulls the child closer, grabs her arm with both hands, and swings the child onto a desk, where the child catches herself with one hand.
The deputy reported that Nachwalter was “clearly upset, acting out of emotion, and her movements are aggressive with each child. The video does not show that these actions by [Nachwalter] were for disciplinary purposes as she is not seen talking or counseling any of the three children that she had just engaged with.”
The preschool’s posted policies state, “Under no circumstance will corporal punishment (spanking, hitting) be imposed at this center.” The parents of the three children reportedly confirmed that they had never authorized the preschool to hit their children and said they would pursue criminal charges if probable cause is found that Nachwalter hit the victim in this case.
Nachwalter reportedly declined to speak with law enforcement about the incident.
Nachwalter has been charged with child abuse without great bodily harm. She has no local criminal history, and Judge Phillip Pena set bail at $15,000.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
She should not be working with children. And my guess is that she is on drugs.
WHAT A FAT LOSER. EGG FACED TURD LADY.
Did fartmom graduate from eastside???
What does Eastside have to do with anything
Sounds like you need a smack to the head.
This same person committed crimes to another child five years ago. I am appalled she is working with children again.
wrong, this person didnt work in childcare 5 years ago and lived elsewhere. Get your facts straight. How about wait until the evidence shows that nothing happened. Anybody can accuse anyone of anything and its guilty until proven innocent these days.
WTF is this her first job with children? Didn’t she know they are not like adults? I bet she does now 🤡
No, this is not her first job with children. shea has committed same acts in another daycare center. She needs to be stopped from working with children.
No she has not yall be talking bout nothing saying anything
Child’s Place. I remember going there as a kid back in ’85. Kids were peeing in the corners at nap time. Doesn’t seems like much changed.
There is a bigger question here. Why did the parents have to call DCF to bring attention to this? Where was her supervisor at the school? Did nobody at the school see this behavior? Was her behavior ignored by other staff at the school? Did no other staff member see the marks on the child prior to the child leaving the school? There is definitely more going on at this school that needs to be investigated.
It’s best when the parents care, feed, and educate their children instead of dumping them off at state paid daycare…
Not everyone has that luxury…
If I’m not mistaken this isn’t the first time at this location… different daycare I believe but similar story
Yes, you’re correct. Same place.
wrong, go do some research before commenting carelessly.
You’re wrong it is the same place with a different name it was called A Child’s Place and the owner got arrested for covering up and destruction of evidence here is the link I met the owner who is in the mug shot and she was still very hands on at that “school” https://mycbs4.com/news/local/daycare-owner-arrested-after-failing-to-report-child-abuse-at-facility
Wrong again, remember that anyone can accuse anybody of anything, the news reported accusations but never reported what transpired in the end, this business had to rebrand and rename because of the damage caused by a wrongful accusation.
Here is what happened (I doubt any of you will actually read this), just like this last reported incident will go unfounded. But lets destroy the life of a 26 yr old just starting out in life for no reason.
This week, the State Attorney’s Office in Gainesville filed a “No
Information” meaning they will not file criminal charges against Amanda Foust.
Mrs. Foust was taken into custody on February 11, 2021 pursuant to an arrest
warrant which alleged she had failed to report child abuse and had tampered with
evidence.
Mrs. Foust subsequently retained the Avera & Smith firm to represent her.
The evidence plainly demonstrated that Mrs. Foust neither tampered with
evidence, nor was aware of any allegations of child abuse until late Sunday
evening of the night before the Department of Children and Families arrived at
her business to conduct an investigation pursuant to allegations that had been
made by an unhappy employee. Upon reviewing video from the previous Friday,
Mrs. Foust terminated the accused employee for improper conduct.
Bond was initially set by a Circuit Judge at $50,000.00 based upon a request
from the State Attorney’s office. The State suggested the high bond was
necessary to secure the appearance of a 77-year-old mother and grandmother
with no criminal history. Mrs. Foust and her husband were residents of
Gainesville for nearly 50 years and Mrs. Foust had continuously operated A Child’s
Place child care center for more than four decades.
The incident resulting in Mrs. Foust’s arrest initially occurred on Friday,
October 2, 2020. At that time, a staff member, who had recently returned from
an extended leave, allegedly witnessed an incident of abuse involving a co-worker
and a child. Despite a written rule requiring her to immediately report such an
incident, the witness only informed other staff members on Friday afternoon that
she disapproved of the way her co-employee was interacting with children
assigned to her care. The witness did not allege child abuse, nor did she provide
any specifics indicating that such had occurred. Neither the director of A Child’s
Place nor Amanda Foust were made aware of the witness’s concerns on Friday
afternoon, October 2, 2020.
On Sunday night around 10:00 p.m., the witness sent a text to her
supervisors advising them that she was quitting her job and making an unclear
accusation regarding having reported child abuse the previous Friday. Upon
reading the text, Mrs. Foust immediately directed staff to meet with her the
following morning so they could discern what had actually occurred. The next
morning, as Mrs. Foust and her staff were reviewing videos of the teacher’s
improper interaction with a child, the Department of Children and Families (DCF),
which had also been notified of possible abuse, arrived to investigate. After
reviewing the video, Mrs. Foust immediately removed the employee from the
classroom and, later that day, terminated her employment. That employee was
subsequently arrested and faces charges by the State Attorney’s office based, in
part, on video provided by Mrs. Foust.
Although a former employee and a DCF investigator alleged that Mrs. Foust
had seen the video of the incident prior to Monday morning and failed to report
an act of abuse, the internal logs of the video recorder system proved otherwise.
The allegation that Mrs. Foust had altered an incident report given to the
parents of the child victim was dismissed upon affidavit evidence that Mrs. Foust
neither authored the letter (it was not in her handwriting) nor made the obvious
and immaterial correction written by the facility director.
While Mrs. Foust wishes to express her gratitude to the office of the State
Attorney for its decision to dismiss the charges against her, she regrets having
suffered both personal embarrassment and financial losses based upon the
reporting of her arrest and bond. Mrs. Foust requests the media provide the
dismissal of the charges against her with the same level of coverage that it gave to
her arrest.
$15k bond???? For hitting children? The judge needs to be replaced.
This lady committed the same acts towards several other children at another daycare. How does she keep obtaining these jobs?
This same daycare was involved in a abuse case years ago. All they did was change name to Blossom Prep & will probably do the same again! At the end of the day they have a poor moral compass when it comes to hiring!
wrong again, no abuse has ever taken place there. It’s public record. Maybe do some research before commenting carelessly. There have been 2 accusations in the past 5 years and all were unfounded, all charges dropped and no evidence whatsoever of any wrong doing.
That’s what you get for hiring an ugly employee.
This place needs to be shut down immediately! This is not the first time this has happened at this school and the owner was arrested in the past for trying to cover up abuse. They have the worst management I have ever seen. The owners are shady as hell and the “Director” is an incompetent tool who just does what they tell her because she knows that she couldn’t be a director at any other preschool that actually had accreditations. From what I was told the owner that got arrested was not supposed to have anything to do with the school and her daughter was supposed to be in charge, but she was constantly there and was still very much involved with the place, so I am not surprised at all. A family member that worked there said that they had never worked for a place so out of control and that there were more incident reports filed at that place in a day then they had seen filed in a week at other preschools. Also, your child will not learn a single thing at this “preschool” the director never checked lesson plans, and my family member said they could barely teach them anything because how out of control the classes were and that management and the owners wouldn’t do anything about the problem children and the parents because all they cared about is that the parents paid them. I could write a book on how bad this place is so I will just end with If you have your kids, please do yourself a favor and take them somewhere else you can’t put a price on your child’s safety!
This week, the State Attorney’s Office in Gainesville filed a “No
Information” meaning they will not file criminal charges against Amanda Foust.
Mrs. Foust was taken into custody on February 11, 2021 pursuant to an arrest
warrant which alleged she had failed to report child abuse and had tampered with
evidence.
Mrs. Foust subsequently retained the Avera & Smith firm to represent her.
The evidence plainly demonstrated that Mrs. Foust neither tampered with
evidence, nor was aware of any allegations of child abuse until late Sunday
evening of the night before the Department of Children and Families arrived at
her business to conduct an investigation pursuant to allegations that had been
made by an unhappy employee. Upon reviewing video from the previous Friday,
Mrs. Foust terminated the accused employee for improper conduct.
Bond was initially set by a Circuit Judge at $50,000.00 based upon a request
from the State Attorney’s office. The State suggested the high bond was
necessary to secure the appearance of a 77-year-old mother and grandmother
with no criminal history. Mrs. Foust and her husband were residents of
Gainesville for nearly 50 years and Mrs. Foust had continuously operated A Child’s
Place child care center for more than four decades.
The incident resulting in Mrs. Foust’s arrest initially occurred on Friday,
October 2, 2020. At that time, a staff member, who had recently returned from
an extended leave, allegedly witnessed an incident of abuse involving a co-worker
and a child. Despite a written rule requiring her to immediately report such an
incident, the witness only informed other staff members on Friday afternoon that
she disapproved of the way her co-employee was interacting with children
assigned to her care. The witness did not allege child abuse, nor did she provide
any specifics indicating that such had occurred. Neither the director of A Child’s
Place nor Amanda Foust were made aware of the witness’s concerns on Friday
afternoon, October 2, 2020.
On Sunday night around 10:00 p.m., the witness sent a text to her
supervisors advising them that she was quitting her job and making an unclear
accusation regarding having reported child abuse the previous Friday. Upon
reading the text, Mrs. Foust immediately directed staff to meet with her the
following morning so they could discern what had actually occurred. The next
morning, as Mrs. Foust and her staff were reviewing videos of the teacher’s
improper interaction with a child, the Department of Children and Families (DCF),
which had also been notified of possible abuse, arrived to investigate. After
reviewing the video, Mrs. Foust immediately removed the employee from the
classroom and, later that day, terminated her employment. That employee was
subsequently arrested and faces charges by the State Attorney’s office based, in
part, on video provided by Mrs. Foust.
Although a former employee and a DCF investigator alleged that Mrs. Foust
had seen the video of the incident prior to Monday morning and failed to report
an act of abuse, the internal logs of the video recorder system proved otherwise.
The allegation that Mrs. Foust had altered an incident report given to the
parents of the child victim was dismissed upon affidavit evidence that Mrs. Foust
neither authored the letter (it was not in her handwriting) nor made the obvious
and immaterial correction written by the facility director.
While Mrs. Foust wishes to express her gratitude to the office of the State
Attorney for its decision to dismiss the charges against her, she regrets having
suffered both personal embarrassment and financial losses based upon the
reporting of her arrest and bond. Mrs. Foust requests the media provide the
dismissal of the charges against her with the same level of coverage that it gave to
her arrest.