NORTHFIELD, Minn. — An employee with Northfield Public Schools has been fired after being suspected of putting melatonin in the bottle of at least one infant under their care, according to a post on the district's website by Northfield Public Schools Superintendent Matt Hillmann.
The superintendent said the school district learned on Monday that a staff member found small tablets in the infant room of the Early Ventures childcare center at the Northfield Community Education Center.
The district said an investigation immediately began. After speaking with police, district officials suspected the tablets were child-sized doses of melatonin.
"We are of course angered and appalled that this kind of thing would happen in our school district," Hillmann said.
Hillmann said while they are not able to confirm, they strongly suspect it was slipped into more than one infant's bottle. Nine infants are cared for at the center.
"Putting anything in a child's bottle without the express permission of their parents is totally out of bounds and certainly does not represent what our school district stands for," Hillmann said.
While Hillmann said they believe it's melatonin, he said the Northfield Police Department has submitted the tablet to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for laboratory analysis to confirm.
Police Chief Mark Elliott told KARE 11 no information was available at this time but that the incident is currently under investigation.
Melatonin is a hormone in the body that plays a role in sleep, according to Mayo Clinic. Melatonin is also available as a supplement, typically as an oral tablet.
"People commonly use melatonin for sleep disorders, such as insomnia and jet lag," said Mayo Clinic.
Both Northfield Public Schools' policies and Minnesota state guidelines clearly prohibit the administration of any substances without parents' permission.
According to Hillmann, once their own investigation was complete they immediately fired the employee on Wednesday. Hillmann said they don't know how long it's been happening.
The district has personally contacted all of the families.
"We plan to follow up with families. We've already provided them with names of a parent educator and medical personnel who can support them moving forward. We will of course also review our processes and procedures to the best of our ability and ensure nothing like this happens again," Hillmann said.
Hillmann said they will work hard to rebuild trust, adding, "We care about kids; we care about families. Again, this is the kind of situation that damages trust. We just deeply care about these families and are truly sorry that this happened."
The district said it was not aware of any direct impact on the health of any children.
The incident was also reported to the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
DHS told KARE 11:
DHS has one open investigation for this licensed provider. State data privacy law allows us to confirm that there is an active investigation of a particular licensed program, but it doesn't permit us to confirm or deny that we are investigating a particular issue. Once the investigation concludes, certain information becomes public and can be provided.
Dear Northfield Public Schools Families,
I have some difficult news to share with you. This week Northfield Public Schools moved quickly to investigate and take action once informed of a potential violation of district policy and state guidelines. On Monday night, we learned that staff had found small tablets in the infant room of our Early Ventures childcare center at the Northfield Community Education Center. We promptly started an investigation. Our investigation revealed that one employee was responsible for the tablets. We now know the employee placed the tablets into at least one of the infant’s bottle. It appears likely the tablets were placed in more than one child’s bottle, but we aren’t able to confirm that. After conferring with the police department, we suspect the tablet was a child-sized dose of melatonin. The employee was immediately terminated based on the investigation results. We have made a report to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, and have made a police report.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Melatonin is a hormone that plays a role in sleep. People commonly use melatonin for sleep disorders, such as insomnia and jet lag.” Melatonin has not been extensively studied in infants. Both Minnesota state guidelines and Northfield Public Schools policies clearly prohibit the administration of any substances without parents’ permission.
Our urgent concern is focused on the needs of the families directly affected by these inappropriate actions. We have reached out individually to each family potentially involved. We will support them as they absorb the emotional impact of this experience and provide available resources. We are not aware of any direct impact on the health of any children.
Northfield Public Schools is angered by the appalling actions of this rogue former employee. We place the highest priority on trusting relationships with our community and understand this isolated incident may impact that trust. We will work diligently to rebuild that trust with our community.
Sincerely,
Matt Hillmann, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
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