More families accusing Charlotte mega-church daycare of discrimination

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — More families are now accusing a south Charlotte mega-church with claims that the daycare discriminated against their children.

Calvary Church has been fighting to have a civil lawsuit thrown out of court, and while the judge's ruling hasn't been filed yet, it appears the judge did grant the plaintiffs' attorney’s request to add one more family to the lawsuit, bringing the total to five.

The total number of families who have made accusations of discrimination is 14, but some of them can't be plaintiffs because their claims are not timely.

The lawsuit accuses Calvary Church's daycare of discriminating against their children and then kicking them out because they have disabilities.

Channel 9 has been following the accusations since the first lawsuit was filed in January.

The church's attorney argued last month that there isn't a requirement for Calvary to provide medical care, only to call parents and a doctor.

The church asked the judge to throw out the lawsuit because the parents are listed as plaintiffs, not the children.

The plaintiff's attorney said his office will now request documents from Calvary Church daycare and depose witnesses, including the daycare director.

Channel 9 reached out to the church and received the following statement:

“Over the past 39 years thousands of Charlotte-area children have attended Calvary Child Development Center. Typically enrolling some 800 children ages 6 months to transitional kindergarten/kindergarten, the Child Development Center is widely regarded as a national model for excellence in daycare and early childhood education. We are proud of our long history of educating and nurturing children, and are honored to regularly host directors and staff from child development programs around the country who come to study our methods, programs and curriculum.

“The Center was founded by Pat Collins, who still serves as Director and oversees a dedicated team of 161 teachers and support staff. During the school year we offer a half day Preschool Learning Program and year round ‘Child Development Care’ in addition to Age Appropriate Electives and Summer Fun Programs.

“We take seriously the development, education, care and safety of the children entrusted to us and regret that five families have initiated litigation against Calvary. While Calvary vigorously disputes the charges in the complaint, we will dispute and answer them in the appropriate legal forum and not in the media.”

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