Toddler Dies After Choking Due to Lack of Supervision at Day School

A fatal day care accident last October left a toddler dead after she choked on a small rock and did not receive proper medical attention.  In fact, 2-year-old Isabella Estep’s teacher did not even realize the child was choking or unconscious until 5 – 10 minutes after the child began choking on the rock when she was on the playground.   Once the teacher, Mia Jennings, realized that the child was unconscious after the other children in the day school were poking Isabella and trying to pull her eyelids open she picked up Isabella Estep and ran down the hall of the school building to find someone to administer CPR to the young child and attempt to revive her.  By this point it was too late for to revive the young girl though she went too long without receiving oxygen and was not dead. 

This story is very sad and tragic for the Estep family.  The loss of their daughter was very traumatic considering when they brought their child to the day school they expected that their child would be properly supervised and taken care of.   If the child would have only been supervised properly the child would have possibly been able to still be alive to this day.   The Woodbridge Day School in Dallas, TX not only failed to keep a child safe from harm on the school premises but also hired an unqualified teacher, Mia Jennings, who did not have a high school diploma and also was not trained to administer CPR, which is a crucial qualification required by Texas day care laws. 

The schools owners, Neyse and Robert Hall, underwent an investigation on their school which found evidence of child neglect and 20 specific incidences where the school did not meet state mandated requirements.   Mr. Hall, understanding a major loophole in Texas daycare licensing, decided to sell the school.  Selling the school allowed the school to continue operating without having the names of the teachers appear on Texas Department of Family and Protective Services website because it us under new ownership.  This loophole prevented the information of Isabella’s death from ever being posted on the site with the details of her death or the negligent cause for her tragic unnecessary death.

The Estep family is currently in a lawsuit against the day care because of their “failure to provide the minimum degree of competency and good judgment” in this case.  The Texas injury attorney handling this case, Jeff Rasansky, states in a recent press release “They [the day school] have not been truthful about their role in this child’s death, and they have taken steps to prevent parents of other children from ever learning about their involvement.

This is a terrible story and unfortunately child injuries due to school negligence happens far too often.  Hopefully in this child injury case the appropriate people will be held liable for the schools negligence and lack of professionalism.