Three Toddlers, a Bank Parking Lot, and the Allegations Around Steven Stearman's Family Daycares

On Tuesday, December 5, 2023, three toddlers walked out through the infant room's back door at Building Blocks Childcare Center in Seven Points and into the parking lot of the Simmons Bank branch next door, where a customer leaving the bank nearly hit them.

That afternoon is back at the center of a week-long Facebook fight over the Building Blocks daycares and Trinidad City Councilmember Steven Stearman, whose family runs them. Four of the public posts at the center of it had drawn more than 700 comments and about 460 shares by midday Sunday, from parents, former staff, and Stearman's own family. Some of what is circulating holds up against the records. Some of it doesn't. I checked each claim against the State's licensing file, the police report, the court dockets, a sheriff's report, and Stearman's own written answers to my questions.

Why I'm Writing This

I noticed the noise around local daycares this week and had a few calls with people involved on Tuesday. I only started digging through the records and asking people specific questions on Friday. Of everything I was sent, the Building Blocks discussion had the most public noise around it, so that is where I started, and I've spent this entire weekend on it.

My own part in this comes first. I publicly endorsed Steven Stearman earlier this year, and I still credit his work on the council. Since September he and I have been in a public dispute: he blocked my personal Facebook account twice, and I drafted a formal complaint to the City of Trinidad about how he deals with residents and press online. I never sent it, and I'm still holding it. On October 13, I also commented in the Cedar Creek Lake Life thread where much of this played out. Parents, former staff and Stearman himself have contacted me since. Stearman unblocked me on October 16, after I asked him for an interview, and answered every question I sent him over the next two days, in writing and on the record. He welcomed the article. "I'm not against y'all publishing everything and put it all out on the table," he wrote.

What People Saw This Week

On October 12, Micah Adams posted in the Cedar Creek Lake Life group under the heading "On today's episode of 'Questionable Judgement', we showcase this gentleman here..." He wrote: "As a council member and business owner within the greater community, I would expect better candor. Both of his interests are currently navigating serious situations. Would you take this man seriously?"

His post carried a screenshot of Stearman's new Facebook profile picture: a parody image of Stearman dressed as MC Hammer, in a gold lamé outfit and gold chain under the words "CAN'T TOUCH THIS," shared with Brooke Organ's caption, "This is the owner of Building Blocks daycare."

The picture became the thing people kept coming back to. "The new profile picture really did it for me," one commenter wrote on Stephanie Morgan's post. "To make it into a joking matter and portray himself as invincible."

A day later Stearman posted another image to his friends: a duck in sunglasses and a suit at a judge's bench, with the words "I TOLD YOU I'LL SEE YOU IN COURT. Get your ducks in a row." and a stamp reading "THE PROCESS HAS BEGAN." Brooke Organ, Morgan's sister-in-law, shared a screenshot of it in Cedar Creek Lake Life: "he's threatening people for court who have spoken up lol."

Under that post, Adams wrote that Stearman "likely would have avoided this entire shit show had he just left alone pertaining to the public bragging and mockery," and that "he lost the hearts and minds of 90% of the mothers and grandmas in the greater community with his Facebook stunts."

Stephanie Morgan, the mother of one of the three children, has posted about the case all week. She told me she had given up when her case was dropped, and went public again after Stearman laughed and played down her case to a resident who asked about it when he announced he was running. She has written publicly, "I AM NOT ASKING FOR MONEY," and "WE ARE ASKING FOR ACCOUNTABILITY."

How Stearman and His Defenders Answered

Stearman answered Brooke Organ in the comments under her post: "this will be your chance to prove everything. Get ready."

He answered his critics directly in the Cedar Creek Lake Life thread on October 13. "Someone please have Stephanie herself come on here and state that everything she's posting is facts not allegedly not the allegation is," he wrote. "If she does that, she can have another shot at court... There's a reason she lost in court." To Nicole Sprabary, one of his most persistent critics in the thread, he wrote, "I'm two steps ahead of you stop acting like you know everything," and "the more and more you people keep dogging me the more and more my business keeps growing. Y'all just ain't figured it out yet. lol keep it coming." Then: "I can sit here all day. I'm fully retired. Let's do this."

Sprabary answered his talk of court with "why wait? Your allowed to file your own suit #discovery ya know." She told me she is fine with being named in this article: "I'm standing in my truths."

Stearman has defenders too. His wife, Felicia, wrote in the October 13 thread, "based on the inspection and the teacher files we provided, we were doing everything by the book and following licensing requirements," and that "The approximately 1,000 other families who have come through our daycare over the years and have been happy with their experience speak volumes." Matt Stearman, who shares the councilmember's last name, wrote that he had worked for Steven and attended the daycares as a child, and that "Every incident is and has been thoroughly investigated. Corrections were immediately made in cases that needed them." One parent wrote that her children went to the Seven Points center for four years "and I never had a problem other then my son being put in an Elsa dress."

When I raised the profile picture with Stearman, along with the number of parents contacting me because of how it looked, among other things, he answered, "I understand what you're saying. I can deal with the issues as they come. I appreciate your time."

The comment sections have turned ugly in both directions. Some commenters called for violence against Stearman. Stearman told me his family has been getting death threats. People on every side of this are angry, and some of them have every reason to be. Nobody should be threatened over it, and the jabs back and forth on social media don't get anyone the answers they're after.

What the Records Show

What Happened on December 5, 2023?

Seven Points police were dispatched to Simmons Bank at 4:19 p.m. "in reference to 3 small children walking in the Simmons Bank parking lot," according to the report of Officer Williams #1406. A bank employee told him the children belonged to the daycare, "that the Employees where was not aware that the children was out," and that a customer "nearly hit the children after conducting business with the bank."

The officer wrote that Stearman showed him the door the children used, "and I noticed that the door does not lock without proper force applied." A source provided me the officer's body camera video from that evening. I watched all 30 minutes of it, and what I describe from it here is my own observation. I'm not releasing it, because it shows children, bystanders and worried parents. On that video, Stearman tells the officer, "it had that happen with the door before," calling it "just those adjustment things" with the closer, and, about the locks, "I fought with the fire marshals over this already. I had locks on them." He explains that fire code wouldn't let him put chain locks on the exit doors.

Posts this week said Stearman knew about the door before that evening. Commenting on one of Morgan's Facebook posts, Sprabary listed "the faulty door" among complaints that weren't taken seriously and wrote, "Stearman knew." I couldn't verify that anyone told him about the door before December 5. On October 13 of this year, Stearman wrote in Cedar Creek Lake Life, "Where exactly does it say I had prior knowledge of an issue with that door?" When I asked him about it, he wrote, "no one ever told me about the door," and that the wind was holding it open that evening. When I put the body camera line to him, he answered, "The wind catch it open." He says the door has since been screwed shut and a fence added.

What Did the State Find?

Two days later, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission cited the Seven Points center (operation 1703421). The State's public record for that center, in its own words:

Citation Date	Finding (the State's words)	Risk	Verified Corrected
7/31/2023	"During the opening time the caregiver had 3 infants and 8 older children for a total of 11 children, leaving her out of ratio."	Medium	Corrected at inspection
9/7/2023	"A child was observed asleep in a bouncer seat during inspetion at nap."	High	Corrected at inspection
12/7/2023	"Three children exited the building from a door in the infant room and were outside of the building unsupervised for over 10 minutes."	High	1/31/2024
12/7/2023	"The infant children were left unsupervised in the classroom when the caregiver left the room to take a school age child to their classroom."	High	1/31/2024
12/7/2023	"The operation allowed a child that was dropped off by the school bus to come in the door from the outside directly into the infant room and pass through the room and then be taken to their room."	Medium-High	1/31/2024
12/7/2023	"The incident reports for the incident were not signed by the parent and one parent did not receive an incident report."	Medium	1/31/2024
12/13/2023	"The DFPS workers are the legal guardians of a child at the operation and were not allowed back to visit the child's classroom when they requested."	Medium	1/12/2024
1/17/2024	"There was one caregiver caring for a group of children unsupervised that had a provisional background. This was corrected when the operation put another caregiver in the room."	High	1/31/2024

The State's correction note on the passageway citation reads: "The operation has blocked the back door so infant room cannot be used as a passageway."

How Long Were the Children Outside?

The State's finding is "over 10 minutes." That is the figure this article relies on.

Stearman told Stephanie Morgan that evening that it was about four minutes. He told me he later estimated four to eight minutes, working from the bus driver's call at about 4:08 p.m., the roughly four-minute drive from the bridge, and the 4:19 p.m. dispatch time. "At the time, I did not have video footage available, so I conducted my own investigation using the information available to me," he wrote. "I have never denied that the children got outside, and I have never attempted to minimize the seriousness of what happened."

Morgan told me her former attorneys gave her timestamps from the bank's surveillance video showing the children were outside a total of 48 minutes, and that they have the video but told her they couldn't legally show it to her. I haven't seen that video, and neither has she, so 48 minutes is a figure she was told, and I can't confirm it.

Stearman wrote publicly on October 13 that he has the bank video: "oh yes, I have it. And it's not what she says." When I asked to watch it privately, he declined on his lawyer's advice: "the lawyer is not gonna let me release that to you. It deals with our lawsuit."

Who Went After the Children?

The accounts conflict. A teacher's sworn statement from that evening says, "3 ladys refused to give children back after being asked several times."

The bank's side tells it differently. On the body camera video, the women from the bank tell the officer the daycare employee didn't try to take the children back inside, left them with the women, and went back in. One of them asks, "are they even safe if we give them back to them?" The bank employee quoted in the police report said the daycare staff didn't know the children were out.

Stearman sent me a screenshot of a group message Morgan wrote to staff at 6:23 p.m. that evening, about two hours after the incident: "WE LOVE YALL!! ... just know it happens and thank god it wasn't worse." She later unsent it.

He also says Morgan's son stayed at the center "over a week after." I put both to Morgan. She told me that when she wrote it, she had been told the children were out three to four minutes and that staff went after them as soon as they got out. She learned the fuller story days later from the police report, she said, and her son stayed only until she realized what had happened, when she pulled him. She didn't say when she unsent the message.

Did the Center Report It to the State?

That evening, Stearman told the officer he "had already spoken to the state about this incident," according to the police report, and he says it twice on the body camera. He first told me, "I emailed her immediately on my way there. And she called me back at 6 AM roughly the next morning and did the intake herself." Later the same day, he wrote, "I called her and she did it for me. Her name was Michell smith with all care Licensing." He says he doesn't have an intake number.

Morgan told me she called the next day and a CPS worker told her it hadn't been reported. The State's public licensing record shows no self-reported incidents at any of the four centers. Child Protective Services and the State's child care licensing division take reports through separate channels. The lawsuit's May 2024 press release said the State cited the center for not reporting; no such citation appears on the State's public record.

Is Stearman the Owner, or "Fully Retired"?

"I don't run the day-to-day operations, nor am I regularly at the facilities," Stearman wrote in Cedar Creek Lake Life. He told me Mary Grant and his wife, Felicia, "do all the work I do nothing," and that "The only time I get calls is when there's a big purchase to be done." He also told me, "I'm not the owner Seven Points."

He told me he has "been fully retired for about four years." While I was interviewing him, he offered his own proof: "All right if you need proof of my retirement, I have my hours on the Xbox. It's about 6000 so far already this year. Lmao." He does still hear from the centers. Since 2023, he says, each location texts him every hour with how many children and teachers it has, "that way I know the ratios of every classroom."

The records split the businesses up:

• Seven Points (1703421): a June 21, 2024 email to Stearman from Brittany Mims, a Child Care Regulation supervisor at HHSC, lists it as a sole proprietorship under Felicia Dehtan, the name Felicia Stearman signed as "Owner" on a 2020 center memo. Stearman says Felicia was the Seven Points director until about Thanksgiving 2023, before the incident.
• Athens (then 1788134) and the Gun Barrel Lane center by the Sonic (then 1708624): the same email lists both as partnerships between Stearman and Mary Grant. The email calls the Gun Barrel Lane center "Kaufman" because it sits in the Kaufman County part of Gun Barrel City.
• The Harbor Point Road center in Gun Barrel City (then 1705023): a sole proprietorship under Stearman, which the email calls "Gun Barrel."
• Building Blocks Childcare Center Inc.: the Texas Comptroller lists Steven Stearman as its registered agent and sole director.

The same HHSC email asked Stearman to add himself as a controlling person at Seven Points, quoting the State rule that counts "a sole proprietor and the sole proprietor's spouse." Stearman says he wasn't a controlling person in December 2023 and was added after that review.

On the evening of December 5, 2023, the officer's report calls Stearman "the owner." When a child got out of the Athens center four months later, Stearman "advised he was the owner of the daycare center," according to the Henderson County sheriff's report.

Owning a business and being retired from running it can both be true. Nothing I've seen shows Stearman running the centers day to day. The records do show him holding an ownership, partnership or controlling-person role in the businesses, and he is the person the State wrote to when it wanted the paperwork fixed.

Insurance, and the Rule About Calling CPS

Stearman confirmed the centers don't carry liability insurance, in 2023 or now. "We don't carry the insurance and we have the forms that are required by state that the parent signed and it's also posted in the building," he wrote. The form, which he sent me, is titled "Acknowledgment of No Liability Coverage" and quotes Texas Human Resources Code §42.049(c). That section covers an operation that can't get coverage "for financial reasons or for lack of availability of an underwriter." An operation in that position can go without coverage if it notifies parents in writing and tells the State why. He says every parent signs it, Morgan included, and that he reports it to the State on its portal. I haven't seen the State's copy of that notice or the reason he gave, so whether the centers meet the exemption is his account, and I haven't verified it. He denies a quote attributed to him online, "good luck getting a penny," writing, "I never said that."

Posts this week said staff had to go through a director before calling CPS. The center's own employee handbook, which Stearman sent me, says: "Building Blocks Childcare Center Inc requires employees to inform the director or owner prior to making the report to Child Protective Services." He says the rule only requires staff to give notice: "They only have to inform us that they are calling."

Texas law counts day-care employees among the professionals who must report suspected abuse or neglect themselves, within 24 hours (48 hours when the children got out in 2023), and it says, "A professional may not delegate to or rely on another person to make the report." A separate section bars an employer from firing, suspending or otherwise punishing an employee who reports in good faith, including any action that "would dissuade a reasonable employee from making or supporting a report." I found nothing in the law that forbids an employer from asking for notice before a report. The law does forbid letting that notice take the place of the employee's own report, and it protects the employee who reports from being punished for it. As Stearman describes the handbook rule, it asks only for notice.

One of Morgan's Facebook posts went further. It relayed an account from an unnamed teacher: "There were many times that CPS should have been called but despite us being 'mandated reporters' we had to talk to the director first and if they didn't think it was a big deal then nothing got done." I couldn't verify that account, and I don't know who the teacher is or which reports she means. Stearman told me no staff member has raised it with him: "Nobody has said anything to me I promise that."

Two more anonymous accounts in the comments on Morgan's post are about how injuries were handled. A former parent wrote that when her infant was bleeding, Felicia Stearman told a teacher not to call her and to tell her at pickup instead, and that the teacher called her anyway. A former employee wrote that she was told Stearman had an employee write an infant's head-injury incident report differently than it happened. I couldn't verify either account, and neither writer has spoken with me. Stearman told me the first is not true: "she would never say that." Of the second, he wrote, "I have no idea what you're talking about," and that the center logs its incident reports: "If I know the kids, we will have a copy." Of both, he asked, "why on earth would they not call state."

Stearman told me, "As far as any teachers that said they saw abuse I'm for them coming out, but they're the ones that's gonna go to jail if they saw something and didn't report it." Asked whether staff have come to him, he wrote, "Nobody has said anything to me I promise that. I don't deal with staff. I don't think they have my number," and, "I have a director group. Directors have a staff group." Of staff who now say they saw abuse and didn't report it, he wrote: "No, somebody didn't report they're claiming it now they can go to jail. I don't care. They deserve it."

Is the Old History Hidden Under Old Numbers?

Morgan has said the centers changed their numbers so past violations no longer show. Three of the four centers do now operate under new, consecutive operation numbers: the two Gun Barrel City centers, on Gun Barrel Lane by the Sonic (1799619) and on Harbor Point Road (1799621), were permitted in August 2024, and Athens (1799623) in January 2025. Seven Points kept its 2020 number, and its 2023 citations are still public.

The history under the old numbers isn't on the State's public site either. When I searched the State's child care site on October 18, it found no providers under any of the three old operation numbers. The Athens center's current listing begins with a July 30, 2024 inspection, so the April 2024 escape doesn't appear in the State's child care search, where a parent checking a center would most likely look.

The State raised the paperwork issue itself. Brittany Mims's June 21, 2024 email asked Stearman to correct the controlling-person listings and added, "If the submitted 2910's are incorrect and you would like to reapply as an LLC, please let us know and we'll be happy to get those applications processed." Stearman says the renumbering came from paperwork the State asked them to fix: "The names did not change. But they had the issue a different operation number." The new permits followed six to seven weeks after the email, in the same weeks Morgan's attorneys obtained a temporary restraining order in her lawsuit aimed at the Stearmans' personal assets. That is a coincidence of dates, and I have no record that connects the two. Whether the closed operations' files hold anything beyond what's in this article is a question only HHSC can answer, and I haven't seen them.

Was the Athens Child Found Near the Highway?

Colby Latta wrote publicly that her son "got out of" the Athens center "and was found by strangers in the parking lot near the highway." Stearman told me, "It was not near the highway."

The Henderson County sheriff's report, which Stearman provided, dates it to Thursday, April 18, 2024, four and a half months after Seven Points. By Stearman's camera, as he told the deputy, the child left about 12:18 p.m. and was back inside at 12:21. The person who found him reported the child "next to the road at Athens Equine." Stearman told the deputy the teacher was alone with her class and couldn't leave the other children to chase him, and that the second adult who is normally there "left for a few minutes to run to Walmart." The child wasn't hurt.

The deputy filed his own report with CPS that day, citing "the apparent lack of adults present to pursue the child, in addition to the lack of any physical barrier preventing the child access to the roadway." Colby and Dylan Latta later sued the corporation and Stearman (CV24-0560-173), represented by the same firm as Morgan. That case was dropped on May 19, 2025, about two weeks after hers.

The sheriff's report says "road," not "highway," and it doesn't say exactly where the boy was standing. I haven't been to the property, but on a satellite map the center's parking lot sits about 100 feet from the highway's service road. That doesn't tell me where he was found. It does mean the highway is close by, which fits Latta's description better than Stearman's flat "It was not near the highway."

Did Stephanie Morgan "Lose in Court"?

The court record shows no ruling either way. Morgan and Justin Brannon, the parent of another of the three children, sued in May 2024 (CV24-0249-3, 3rd District Court, Henderson County). That August they dropped the corporation as a defendant and added Felicia Stearman, two property companies, and both Stearmans doing business as the Seven Points center; by their final petition, in February 2025, the corporation was a defendant again. In August 2024 the court granted their request for a temporary restraining order on the Stearmans' personal assets. A restraining order is short-term relief. That month both sides filed briefs on the plaintiffs' request for a temporary injunction, which would have lasted until trial, and in September the plaintiffs filed a second, emergency request. The docket shows no order granting either one. In October 2024, the court granted Stearman's motion to compel the plaintiffs to produce discovery. A hearing on the restraining order set for January 22, 2025 was canceled and marked "Passed Hearing." In February 2025, the plaintiffs moved to quash Stearman's notices to depose Morgan and Brannon. On May 2, 2025, they filed a voluntary nonsuit without prejudice, and the judge signed the order four days later.

Stearman told me that's how his lawyer put it: no damages to prove, no injury, and "therefore, yes they were losing this case." After this article was published, he told me the restraining order lasted 14 days and that the plaintiffs couldn't prove damages to get the injunction, which is why the January hearing was passed. The docket doesn't give a reason, and I haven't read the restraining order itself, so the 14 days is his account. He says the plaintiffs dropped it once his attorney scheduled their depositions. Morgan wrote publicly that she "simply couldn't keep carrying the financial and emotional weight of it all by myself."

The filings fill in the rest. The October 2024 order gave the plaintiffs until October 29 to turn over their medical records, medical bills and lost-wage records. The judge struck the paragraph that would have awarded Stearman attorney's fees and wrote that fees were "taken under advisement"; the docket shows no fee award after that. The February 2025 motions to quash objected to the date and place: they said Stearman's side set the depositions without asking when the plaintiffs were available, at a location convenient to neither the plaintiffs nor their lawyers. The docket shows no ruling on them. The nonsuit gives no reason. It dropped every claim against every defendant, and the judge's order dismissed them all "without prejudice to the refiling of claims."

Did a 20-Year-Old Run a Center?

Parents have said a Building Blocks center had a 20-year-old director. State rules require a child care center director to be at least 21. Stearman confirmed it, writing that "we did request a waiver before that was done." Asked whether the waiver was granted, he wrote, "The waiver is on file at state." I haven't seen it.

Was Anyone Charged?

Seven Points police asked the Henderson County District Attorney's office to seek a state jail felony charge of abandoning or endangering a child against two of the workers. The referral was based on Detective J. Gomez's investigation, the officer's report, and a report from Mandy Bryan, a specialist with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

A grand jury declined to indict. A county response to Stearman's own records request, dated July 18, 2024, located no-bill records for three people. None of them was charged. Stearman told me the State's child protective agency also opened cases on the two workers the police referred, and that both appealed the findings. I haven't seen those records, which state law keeps confidential.

Stearman has written publicly that he paid for a lawyer for one of the workers. He also sent me a recording of an October 31, 2024 phone call with Detective Joe Gomez, who he says was the Seven Points detective on the case. Asked whether it was an accident, Gomez says, "Well, you know, like I said, I couldn't," breaks off, and then says, "I'm sure it was an accident." When Stearman asks whether the workers did it intentionally, Gomez answers, "No." The clip ends while Gomez is still talking. Stearman says that is all of it, as his attorney produced it in the lawsuit.

Sprabary told me, on the record, that Stearman "coached" one of the young workers "on what to say to the state and police," starting right after the children got out and more than once. She says the worker told her so directly. I couldn't verify it, and the worker hasn't spoken with me. Asked whether it was accurate, Stearman answered, "No."

What Stearman Told Me

I sent Stearman 15 questions and three rounds of follow-ups, and he answered every one, often at length and with documents. The one thing he declined was the bank video, on his lawyer's advice.

He listed what has changed since 2023: the Seven Points fence and the sealed door, hourly headcount and ratio texts from every location, incident reports sent to parents the moment they're entered, and push-button locks and high keypads on the Athens classroom doors.

A recent incident involving a child at one of the centers is under State investigation, he says: "State came out today on the one child from last week. I believe that's the only open investigation." The State's public record won't show findings until the center has had due process.

He told me he has retained an attorney, whom he named as Robert Wood, to sue Morgan for defamation, "only for the allegations and allegedly comments that she constantly post." He said it hasn't been filed.

Stearman was appointed to the Trinidad City Council in June and is on the November 3 ballot to keep the seat.

He offered me a tour of the centers ("If you would like I can tour to see"). I didn't take it before publishing, but I may take it up later.

"The kids got out it's horrible. Haunts me everyday," Stearman wrote to me. "My issue is all about the allegation is and allegedly."

What Others Told Me

While reporting this, I asked the community on the Watchtower Facebook page to share anything they wanted known alongside this article, and people wrote to me directly as well, some on the record and some off. I read all of it. I didn't have time to run down every angle before publishing, so this article sticks to the claims that went viral this week and the ones I could put to Stearman. Nothing anyone sent me has been set aside. After I review the comments and public discussion on this article, I'll take the rest to Stearman, and if he's open to it, I'd like to interview him again and publish his answers in a follow-up article.

What I Make of It

The core of what Stephanie Morgan has been saying holds up. Three toddlers got out through a door that didn't latch without force, they reached a bank parking lot where a car nearly hit them, and the State found they were outside unsupervised for over 10 minutes and that infants were left alone in the room they came through. Those findings are on the State's public record, and the State verified them corrected by the end of January 2024.

Some of Stearman's public statements sit uneasily beside the records. He wrote that no one told him about the door; on the body camera that evening he said, "it had that happen with the door before." He told me the Athens child was not near the highway; on a satellite map, the center's parking lot is about 100 feet from the highway's service road. He wrote that Morgan lost in court; the docket shows a voluntary nonsuit and no ruling. His account of how he reported to the State moved from an email to a phone call in the same day. Morgan's account and his can both be true on reporting, since CPS and licensing are separate channels, but neither of us has the intake that would settle it.

Some of what he says about himself does check out. He describes himself as retired from the centers' daily work, and nothing I've seen contradicts that, even though he still owns or controls them. Some claims circulating about him don't hold up. Posts suggesting someone was criminally charged are wrong: a grand jury declined to indict, and no one was charged. The police referral sought a child-endangerment charge; the detective's "I'm sure it was an accident" came in an October 2024 call, after the grand jury had declined to indict. The endangerment provision of the Texas Penal Code, §22.041(c), applies to conduct done "intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence."

What I don't have: the bank video, the State's history under the three old operation numbers, the director-age waiver, and the State's findings on last week's incident.

If anything in this article is wrong, or you have a concern about these centers that hasn't been raised, message me or email me directly. That includes anyone who wants to go on the record. I'll put what I receive to Steven Stearman in a neutral setting and publish his response, without it turning into a pile-on across a dozen Facebook groups. If you want to comment publicly, please do it on the Watchtower Facebook post for this article, so the discussion stays in one place instead of spreading through every local group. Anyone who wants to follow it will know where to find it, and everyone else can finally get some peace from the noise. I'll review the comments, messages and emails on Monday, add any corrections to this article, and follow up with what either side brings me.

Lawsuits can bring answers, but they cost everyone involved, and they rarely change what happens in a classroom tomorrow. Mistakes and accidents that have already happened can't be undone, but everyone involved can work every day to improve on them and keep the children in these classrooms safer. I hope everyone can acknowledge what went wrong, stop tearing into each other, and put that energy into the kids, starting today.