DEKALB COUNTY, Ga.,None — An investigation is under way into allegations that a group of kids from a metro Atlanta day care were treated unfairly at the Fernbank Science Center, a spokesperson for DeKalb County Schools confirmed. The school system operates the center.
The investigation follows a complaint by a day care center owner who alleged that race played a role in why a Fernbank Science Center employee refused to allow her students to eat lunch at empty picnic tables. The Fernbank Science Center is not connected to the popular Fernbank Museum.
The school system said the center does not discriminate and is working to determine what happened.
"It was racial discrimination. It was definitely racial discrimination," said Kiki Finch, owner of Happy Times Day Care Center.
Finch brought the kids, ranging in age from 2 months to 9 years old, to the popular science center. As she prepared to seat children from her day care at several empty picnic tables outside the Fernbank Science Center for lunch, Finch said a Fernbank Science Center employee said no.
"We were told, ‘You're not feeding those kids here,'" said Finch. Finch wondered why, since no one was sitting at the tables, she said.
In an interview with Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Jones, Finch said a gruff security guard made it clear the consequences of occupying the tables.
"It is my job to enforce the laws to the highest extent of the laws, and I fully intend to do so," Finch said the guard firmly explained to her.
"That tells me, ‘You sit at those empty picnic tables, I'll call the law on you,'" Finch explained to Jones.
Instead, Finch sat her kids along a retaining wall not far from the empty picnic tables, she said. But the area wasn't clean or comfortable, she said.
"The area was totally infested with termites," Finch said.
About five minutes later, Finch noticed a group of white children, from a different day care, sitting at the picnic tables, she said. Finch then inquired about why they were allowed to use the tables when her kids weren't, she said. Finch said she never got a logical answer and was told to leave the property or, once again, police would be called.
Finch has hired an attorney since she said she couldn't get any answers.
Her attorney, Wanda Jackson, said it certainly appears as if race was the reason the two groups were treated differently.
"Tell me why one group of kids were allowed to sit and eat with dignity and another group was not? Just tell me the reason," Jackson said.
Jones reached Fernbank Science Center Director Doug Hrabe by phone.
"This is a very unfortunate incident...a bad case of customer service," said Hrabe. He went on to say that he couldn't comment any further and referred any questions to the DeKalb County Schools' main office because the school system operates the center.
Finch said it is sad children were treated this way. She said she plans to file a federal racial discrimination lawsuit because no one will explain to her what happened.
"We've come so far, but apparently we haven't come far enough," she said, shaking her head.
On Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m. on Thursday, a graphic that was included with this story showed a logo from the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. A second graphic identified Doug Hrabe as the director of the museum. Hrabe is the director of the Fernbank Science Center, which is where the incident allegedly took place. The Fernbank Museum of Natural History is not connected with the Fernbank Science Center and is not associated in any way with the story. Channel 2 apologizes for the error.