VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Wave Children’s Learning Center in the Great Neck area of Virginia Beach is permanently closing Friday after its long-time insurer decided to stop providing coverage, according to a statement from the center. While it’s unclear if the center’s history factored into the insurer’s decision, WTKR News 3 learned about an alleged incident that led to a settlement between a child’s parents and the center, as well as a felony child abuse charge against an employee. State inspection records also appear to describe the allegations, as well as previous violations at the center involving “rough handling” of children.
The learning center, which offered care for children from 8 weeks old to 11 years old, is part of Wave Church. The center was housed at Wave Church's campus on Great Neck Road.
In its statement, the center says they were dropped by its insurer due to a recent claim the center filed, and they haven’t been able to find coverage elsewhere.
The Wave Children’s Learning Center will permanently close May 30th, 2025. We know this sudden and painful announcement is jarring to the families who we know and love, and to our staff members who mean the world to us.
Our long-time insurer notified us that they would no longer insure the learning center and Virginia law requires us to carry insurance. The decision shocked us as we have been a customer of the insurance carrier for multiple decades. The decision to drop our insurance coverage was based on a recent claim filed by the learning center.
Since being made aware of the decision a few weeks ago, we have worked tirelessly to find another provider to no avail. We genuinely thought we could find a solution without sounding alarm bells.
We will do everything in our power to limit the impact to families and our staff.
Over the years, we know we have created a nurturing place where children have been able to grow, learn and thrive. There are simply no words to truly express how disappointed we are that the learning center had to close.
The center did not go into specifics about the filed claim.
Wave Children’s Learning Center teacher charged with felony child abuse
We’re now learning more about allegations made last year that led to legal action against the center and an employee’s arrest. Court records show a compromise settlement was reached between the parents of a child and Wave Church Inc. and Wave Children’s Learning Centers LLC on April 17. The settlement stems from a civil lawsuit filed earlier that month on behalf of the parents and the minor.
WTKR News 3 also obtained an arrest warrant for Jhamica Jackson, 30, of Virginia Beach, regarding allegations from the same parents named in the civil matter. Jackson was a teacher at Wave Children’s Learning Center, the warrant states.
The warrant says on October 9, the parents brought their child to CHKD, where they learned she had a broken right clavicle with a linear bruise on her right shoulder.
The parents say their child was fine when they dropped her off at daycare the day before, but later that day, Jackson called them saying the child was “fussy” and “not moving her right arm as much,” the warrant says.
Camera footage from the center shows Jackson incorrectly picking up the child from the arms out of the bouncer, causing the child to immediately cry, the warrant says. After that, the child stops using her arm as much.
Jackson was arrested back in December. She’s charged with felony child abuse.
Records show previous violations at the center
Following news of the closure, WTKR News 3 looked into the center’s inspection records from the Virginia Department of Social Services, which outline troubling evidence officials say happened at the center as recently as last fall.
The department’s records show findings from inspections dating back to 2020. Officials found violations out of five of the nine inspections carried out during this time period.
Evidence of "rough handling of a child"
A report details an incident that appears to match the allegations against Jackson, including the Oct. 8 date of the incident. The report says a child was roughly handled when an employee “approached the infant from behind and abruptly reached down into the bouncer seat, grasped the infant by a shoulder and an arm and pulled the child out of the seat.”
Employees terminated after one takes "inappropriate actions to relieve a child's constipation"
Another report stems from the center self-reporting an incident on June 22 of last year involving a 15-month-old infant who was known to have difficulties with constipation.
The report outlines how a staff member “placed the child on the changing table, removed the child’s diaper and used inappropriate actions to attempt to relieve constipation.”
Four other employees were aware of what the staff member was doing, and some were “uncomfortable with these actions,” the report says. An employee did not report the incident to the director until about four hours later.
One employee who witnessed what happened said the child cried when the staff member entered the room and kept crying when the staff member was touching the child, the report adds.
There was also evidence that the inappropriate actions to relieve the child’s constipation had happened before the incident that prompted the report, and that another staff member reportedly took the same actions on the child earlier that day, the report states.
The report says the infant’s parents were made aware of the incident. The staff member who carried out the “inappropriate actions” during the incident was terminated, as well as another staff member who reportedly did the same thing to the child earlier.
A staff member who was aware of what was happening did not return from a leave of absence and was also terminated. The employee who reported the incident and another employee who witnessed what happened were given additional training.
Investigators find a dozen “rough handling of children” instances over two days
An inspection that started in September of 2023 uncovered incidents involving “forbidden actions," all captured on video, a report states. Five of the documented incidents happened on Sept. 12 and six more happened on Sept. 13.
One of the incidents includes an employee grasping an 11-month-old by the right upper arm, lifting him about a foot off the ground and “moving him with a pushing motion to another spot on the mat,” the report says. The infant then “bounced as he landed on the mat and put his left hand down on the mat to brace himself.”
In another incident, an employee quickly approached a child from behind then “picked up the child by both upper arms, swung the child around and abruptly placed the child on the floor approximately 6 feet away,” the report says.
In response, the center says they retrained staff on the proper way to move and pick up children and had staff complete online training.
WTKR News 3 has asked Wave if the violations impacted the center's closure. This article will be updated if we hear back.
