OLATHE, Kan. — State officials are investigating after a group of five toddlers – mostly two- and three-year old – wandered away from an Olathe day care on Thursday morning.
According to Olathe Police, a manager at an apartment complex near 142nd Street and Mur-Len Road reported shortly before 10:00 a.m. that a maintenance worker found the kids wandering between two of their buildings.
The kids had wandered away from the Little Learners Day Care Center adjacent to the apartment complex through an open side gate.
Police say that one mother took her child to an area hospital because of some scratches, but the children were otherwise unhurt in the incident.
FOX 4 has learned that three employees were watching a total of eight children when the five wandered away. A parent who declined to talk on-camera told FOX 4 that parents received a letter on Friday from the day care stating that two employees who were watching the children have been fired.
Police say that a third employee, whose child was in the group that wandered away, quit on the spot and took her child with her.
Little Learners employees say that the children were only gone for a minute or two, but police say that they were actually missing for up to 15 to 20 minutes.
The case is now in the hands of state investigators.
