KANNAPOLIS, N.C.,None — Parents are supporting a local daycare after one of their former teachers was arrested for "manhandling" students.
WATCH: Parents Supporting Daycare After Former Teacher's Arrest
About 60 parents attended a closed-door meeting at the Kids Korner Child Development Center after a former teacher was charged with five counts of assaulting children.
Eyewitness News talked exclusively to the mother of one of the alleged victims. Barbie McDaniel said she knew something was wrong when her 4-year-old son came home last Thursday afternoon.
"He had fingerprints wrapped around his left arm, and he had told me that Miss Whitney had done it. And when we called the school on Friday, they reviewed the tapes and seen that she had put her hands on him," McDaniel said.
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The school fired Whitney Belk on Friday.
Eyewitness News was not allowed inside the parents-only meeting Thursday night, but once it ended, several parents approached our news crew to defend the day care.
"They cry when I come to pick them up. They're so disappointed when I come. This is home for them. This is their second home," said Lisa Wheeler, who has two children who attend the day care.
Gary Wright, who is a parent of a student at the daycare, said "This center here, has been here a long time. I trust them. I fully support them. I support all the teachers here."
Kannapolis police said Belk assaulted four other children, and it was all caught on camera. Eyewitness News spoke to the detective handling the case. She told us she couldn't release the video but said the video is "instrumental" in proving the crime.
WATCH: Parents Attend Meeting At Daycare
McDaniel says her son's bruises have healed, and he's been back in class at Kids Korner since Monday.
"A lot of people might wonder, if your child was assaulted at this day care, why send him back? What's your answer to that?" Eyewitness News asked her.
"It was one teacher, it wasn't the day care. He's been there for four years, and nothing's ever happened before. He loves it, loves the teacher, and we love the teachers," she responded.
Many parents told Eyewitness News they came to the meeting with one burning question. They wanted to know if the school knew about the incident on Friday and fired Belk that day, why other parents weren't notified for nearly a week.
Eyewitness News brought that question straight to the day care owner.
"We were not allowed to tell anything until today. DSS had to come in, police had to come in, the detectives," said Cindy Stack, who owns Kids Korner.
"It's frustrating because we would have liked to tell everybody sooner," she continued.
Stack said Belk had been employed for four years without a single complaint. She said the policy is to always have two teachers in every room, but said the assaults happened in the few moments after a lunch period, while one teacher was cleaning up.
"It was a shock to watch the tape. And we knew what we had to do," Stack said.
McDaniel said her son loves being back with his friends at Kids Korner but is thankful Miss Whitney was arrested.
"I told him that Miss Whitney was in jail, and he said thank you, thank you."
Belk is charged with five counts of assault of a child. Those are all misdemeanor crimes. She posted her bond before she was formally booked into Cabarrus County Jail.
Kids Korner Child Development Center has been open for 27 years and has 230 students enrolled, ages infant through 12. There are 33 staff members. Kids Korner was last inspected on Nov. 22nd, and it was given a superior score and five stars.
Click here to search for a child care facility through the North Carolina Division of Child Development website.
Related Story: April 14, 2011: Day Care Worker Charged With Assaulting Children Contact Crime Stoppers