A Woodstock school embroiled in a recent controversy over a field trip to a gun range has been issued a cease and desist order by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.
Holdheide Academy can no longer operate its pre-kindergarten program in the same building intended for older children, DECAL officials said. The order was issued Monday.
“This cease and desist simply means they must stop caring for preschool children from their licensed program in a building meant for older children in their private school which is unlicensed,” DECAL spokesman Reg Griffin told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Academy owner Tammy Dorsten said the school had already begun the process of moving the pre-kindergarteners to their lower building, but it quickened the process after DECAL’s order.
“Holdheide is a SACS accredited program and a private school. We move children according to their own developmental, academic and social readiness,” Dorsten said in a statement. “We had two children who tested into our pre-K program and who were naturally in the pre-K class despite being a month from their 4th birthday. (DECAL) has asked us to move the Pre-K class back into our lower school and so we have abided by this request.”
The academy faced criticism last week for taking two second-graders on a field trip to a gun range in Canton.
Dorsten told The AJC she took the children as part of a lesson about Annie Oakley, Davy Crockett and Pecos Bill. The students’ parents signed off on the trip and were very supportive, Dorsten said.
DECAL launched an investigation into the claims after social media posts showed the two children at the gun range. That investigation continues, Griffin confirmed.
This isn’t the first time the school has been investigated by DECAL. In 2016, the academy was issued a $1,196 fine for violations of three transportation and safety rules between August 2015 and May 2016.
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