Cypress day care center shut down, affiliated with toddler's death in hot van

CYPRESS, Texas (FOX 26) — A Cypress day care center has been permanently shut down after the state said it didn’t follow the proper procedures when transporting young children. It was affiliated with another day care center where a toddler died during the summer of 2018 after being left in a hot van.

The day care centers operated as the Discovering Me Academy. Its Antoine location in northwest Houston was shut down shortly after the death of 3-year-old RJ Pryer. Almost six months later, the Discovering Me Academy’s second location in Cypress has also shut down. 

According to documents from the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, the Discovering Me Academy’s Cypress location received more than a dozen violations in 2018. 

An inspection dated in mid-September 2018 revealed the day care center had up to two months to fix issues related to “failure to provide the proper supervision when transporting children” and “failure to ensure all drivers had proper background checks before transporting children,” but never did.

Records from January show the Discovering Me Academy in Cypress has been shut down permanently.

Dikiesha Pryer is the mother of 3-year-old RJ Pryer, who died in that hot van in July 2018. His death was ruled a homicide.

"Being at any location with those workers, that director, that owner, the kids were in jeopardy just like mine," said Pryer. She also said the news of the second day care center location also being shut down for neglecting to provide the proper supervision to kids is ironic. 

"It means they practiced doing the wrong thing all the time, even after RJ passed," said Pryer. "Saturday will be six months and you’re still doing the same things, the same exact things that lead to the death of my son." 

Pryer said she's still waiting for justice.

"No one’s been arrested," added Pryer. "No one’s been charged. But it’s still been six months and we still have to keep RJ’s name out there and let people know what has happened to him."

A sign on the front entrance indicates the daycare has been renamed to Little Einstein’s Academy and is currently in the process of gaining its permit for operation. 

FOX 26 News also reached out to the director of the Discovering Me Academy but she declined to comment.