Beginning Years’ Owner: Children Would Not Have Been Outside At Time of Accident

Cathleen Farrell, the owner of Beginning Years Child Development Center on North Street said children at the preschool would not have been at the playground during the time of , regardless of the weather.

 “We don’t go out to the playground until around 4 o’clock at the earliest,” Farrell said. “That’s just how our schedule is.”

The accident occurred around 3:10 p.m., according to Medfield Police Chief Robert Meaney Jr. and it had been assumed by many that if it had not been raining Monday, the children at the preschool would have been outside when a 1998 Jaguar accelerated across two parking lots from mailboxes at the Post Office and landed upside down in the sandpit of the playground.

“[Reports] had said if it had been a nice day, we would have been out at the playground but that’s not true,” said Farrell.

Farrell and her staff of six teachers acted professionally and kept the best interests of the children in mind as they communicated with police, parents, landlords and building contractors of the situation.

 “[I contacted parents via e-mail] immediately, probably within a half-an-hour after it happened,” Farrell said. “We didn’t want parents to hear it on the news or hear it from a friend and think there was an emergency. That’s really important to me. That’s how I would have wanted it for myself.”

One of those parents that received the center’s e-mail was Melissa McCormack, a Medfield resident, who has a son and daughter enrolled at the preschool.

“The reaction by the center directors was immediate, thorough and they addressed all of my concerns in full,” McCormack said. “They really handled the situation amazingly and they are also holding an information night for parents to further explain the added measures they are taking to secure the playground. This was an unexpected fluke incident and the way this has been handled proves to me that Beginning Years’ staff are professionals on all levels.”

McCormack’s daughter Chloe, four, and son Brayden, three, attend the half-day program at the center and were not present at the time of the accident. Farrell said only 19 or 20 children were in the building when the accident occurred.

“There were the 50 [children] that were being reported but [they went home],” Farrell said. “We’re bigger in the morning and the half-day program had gone home by that point.”

Farrell said the accident occurred as the children’s naptime was ending and the staff did an “extraordinary” job handling the situation.

“The lights weren’t on in [the center] and the shades were drawn and [the children] didn’t know anything was going on,” said Farrell. “The staff [was] extraordinarily professional and kept it all together and did not miss a beat. That’s what we’re trying to do; that’s what you need to do for the children because you don’t want to upset their world in any way, shape or form and it’s unnecessary for this.”

The preschool continued its normal day inside despite the surreal scene outside.

“There was singing going on, it was a typical pre-school afternoon,” said Farrell. “Cleaning up their mats, reading books, playing. The children were not at all aware of what was happening outside.”

The center will continue to communicate with parents and send frequent updates, according to Farrell, who said she didn’t know if there was anything else the center could do at this point and felt like all angles of the situation had been covered.

“We’re trying to take all the steps to keep people informed and be in regular contact with the police and the fire chief was here and the environmental company was here to clean out the sand and take the stuff away,” said Farrell. “I believe we are doing all the right things and it’s about communication and making sure we are communicating.”

Perhaps the most important task for Farrell and her staff is keeping the children’s environment as “normal as possible.”

“It was a horrible accident and thank God no one was hurt,” Farrell said. “For the children’s sake, let’s just move on and take care of them. If they don’t know anything has happened, they don’t need to know anything. It’s better for them.”

Farrell said the landlords and building contractors placed boulders in the area of where the elderly woman drove her vehicle through before turning over in the playground.

“They are putting boulders up, if you look at the space where she came through, she only hit one of the railings, which is astonishing,” Farrell said. “So if they put the boulders there or even if there was a car in that space back there, she would have hit the car. They are also going to put some marble posts there.”

The motor vehicle operator, Lucy Jackson, according to Fox 25 Boston, was reported by the station as being 86 years old and was taken to the hospital with minor injuries along with her daughter and passenger. No children were hurt.