Infant suffocated to death while napping on couch at KC daycare, lawsuit says
Editor’s note: A new preschool, Children’s Garden Academy, took over the space at 6175 Paseo Boulevard in 2022, after Happy Day Preschool closed, according to Missouri Secretary of State business filings. Children’s Garden Academy runs under new management and ownership, and is unaffiliated with Happy Day Preschool.
A mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday against a now-defunct Kansas City preschool after her son died in the preschool’s care, according to Jackson County court documents.
The unnamed mother is suing Happy Day Preschool, previously located on Paseo Boulevard, after her son suffocated to death on a couch in the building, according to court documents.
The owner of Happy Day Preschool, Sherry Easter, was assigned to the child’s classroom. On Jul. 1, 2022, the state’s Office of Childhood received a tip that Easter left infants alone without supervision, court documents state.
The tip was substantiated, according to a 2022 report from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The report contains three rule violations, all three regarding leaving children without adult supervision.
Court documents state that on July 13, 2022, Easter took the woman’s son to the breakroom so “he would not wake up the other children during naptime.” Easter allegedly put the child on a couch in the room and left.
According to a second 2022 report from DESE, the only staff member in the room was a 16-year-old.
The report later noted that the 16-year-old had not completed a background check or filed paperwork with the facility.
A second caregiver entered the room and noted the caregiver on the couch “with a blanket next to her,” according to the report.
A third employee picked the child up and noticed he was blue and not breathing, according to court documents. Easter attempted to administer CPR while an employee called 911.
The preschool never created an accident report for the incident, according to the report.
The child’s death certificate lists his cause of death as “acute bronchopneumonia with unsafe sleep environment as the significant condition contributing to the death,” according to court documents.
On July 18, 2022, caregivers at the daycare told an investigator that Easter would put the infants to sleep, turn off the lights and shut the door, leaving the room for up to an hour at a time, according to the report.
Another caregiver told investigators that she had witnessed Easter place blankets over the children’s faces multiple times, according to the report, including multiple times when the children fell asleep in swings.
Following the incident, the preschool’s license was suspended, and revoked, according to the rule violation report.
The 2022 report was not the first made against the preschool, according to documents DESE.
In 2019, the preschool was cited for five rule violations regarding discipline after an employee at the day care hit two children on their heads, according to the 2019 report. Further documentation from the report cited a history of employees at the day care allegedly harming children by “spanking” them and shaking them.
Easter told investigators at the time that she didn’t report the incidents to the child abuse and neglect hotline because she “felt she dealt with the incidents,” according to the report.
The Star was unable to reach Easter or a representative for Happy Day Preschool for comment.
Easter has previously been convicted on charges of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death stemming from the July 13 incident, according to Jackson County court documents.
She was sentenced to five years probation.
This story was originally published July 2, 2025 at 3:53 PM.
