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A Memphis daycare center has surrendered its operating license to the state of Tennessee after a one-year-old child was left outside in a hot car for more than six hours and later died.
The Education is Key Childcare center in North Memphis handed over its license to the state board Monday morning (May 23) a week after one of the daycare employees picked up an infant on the way to work and forgot the child in the car. Temperatures in the area reached over 80 degrees, officials said. The child was taken to a nearby hospital where he died.
The Tennessee Department of Human Services has since launched an investigation. According to the Department, Education is Key received its license in February 2017 and has not had reported violations since opening its doors.
A spokesperson for the Department added that the employee was authorized to transport children, but the vehicle used to transport the infant was not approved.
"It wasn't the daycare itself. It was just the person being neglectful and not looking in her surroundings," community member Colette Blackwell told WREG News 3.
"Honestly, my grand babies went to that daycare and after school care, and it was no neglect on that part. I love that school. They taught them well there," Blackwell added, noting that with the daycare center shut down, parents and caretakers are left without any other options for childcare.
"That's the only other daycare around in this area unless you have to go like, in Frayser," Blackwell said.
No charges have yet been filed in the fatal incident, the news outlet reported.
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