TEMPLE, Texas — Angry parents are speaking out after learning new details surrounding the arrest of a Temple daycare teacher at Ignite Learning Academy.
Jasmine Collum, 24, is charged with the offense of injury to child. She's accused of violently bouncing a three-month-old and causing brain and retinal damage to the child, according to an arrest affidavit.
Mya Warren is a Temple mother of two and has an infant of her own. She's been following the case.
"To harm a baby," she said. "Like how sick are you?"
According to an arrest affidavit, Temple police were called to McLane Children's Hospital on Oct. 16 to do a welfare check on the infant who had been brought to the hospital by EMS from the daycare on Hartrick Bluff Road.
Police reviewed video footage from inside the daycare that showed Collum "swinging and bouncing" the child in a very forceful manner, causing the child to "flop around as though they were a ragdoll," the affidavit states.
Collum then puts the infant in a bouncer and bounces it hard enough to cause the child's head and shoulders to be thrown forward several inches and then backward into the backrest repeatedly, the affidavit continues.
The report goes on to describe several ways in which Collum aggressively bounces the infant in the bouncer and on her lap by using her hands and feet.
In one instance, Collum is seen picking the child up then slamming them back down into the bouncer "so hard that the chair and the back of the child's head appear to strike the concrete floor."
At one point, the child becomes unresponsive and Collum takes the child to the daycare director who called EMS.
Doctors found the child had a subdural hematoma in the left frontal subdural as well as inter-retinal and pre-retinal hemorrhages in both eyes, according to the affidavit.
A doctor who watched the video said the injuries were consistent with what Collum is seen doing in the video.
Parents like Warren are left questioning the facility and its process of hiring employees.
"Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves for even allowing that to happen," Warren said. "That's your employee. You hired them. You have them with children."
Texas law requires background checks for people working in childcare. Background checks include criminal history, sex offender registry, child abuse and neglect registry and drugs tests. They're required before hiring new staff and at least once every five years after that.
"For all other facilities in this area, I hope they take notes on this and take actual precaution on who they have around children," Warren added. "Have cameras in the classrooms, have cameras, you know, everywhere, so you guys can keep an eye on these things. I think doing like routine check in on their employees to make sure that they're ok, they're in the right headspace because a lot of places, they don't check it on their employees like burnout is real."
Temple Police say an investigation into the case is active. Families can contact Detective Corporal Goodson at 254-298-5009 or email ggoodson@templetx.gov if they have any information they believe is pertinent to this case or any case that may be related.
Ignite Learning Academy declined to comment and says their attorney advised them not to speak.
6 News checked state records and found the facility received its full permit in April of 2024. In their August inspection, they had three citations that were all corrected.
6 News contacted Texas Health and Human Services who says their top priority at HHSC is the health and safety of children in the childcare operations they regulate. Texas HHSC inspects operations and takes regulatory action when warranted.
The HHSC website provides parents with a guide on how to choose childcare, questions to ask a potential provider, and information about the importance of staying involved in their child’s care.
Their TXChildcareSearch.org website allows people to search for childcare centers and childcare homes in Texas, view the past five years of compliance history for each operation, and read about the different types of childcare operations in Texas.
Licensing requirements for Licensed Child-Care Homes, Registered Child-Care Homes, and Listed Family Homes can be found on their website and minimum standards information, including background check requirements, can be found here.