A Lone Tree daycare center that has previously been the subject of allegations of child abuse and neglect is again under scrutiny following reports of educators abusing the children in their care.

The latest findings from state inspectors come less than a year after Crème de la Crème, 7550 Park Meadows Drive, was placed on multi-year probation. It’s not yet clear what impact the new allegations will have on the daycare’s continued operations.

In May, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood found that a staff member struck a child on the back of the head, according to a state inspection report. The state also found that teachers had shaken and yelled at children and used “physical discipline” as a form of leadership.

Further investigation by state investigators revealed that an employee had made “inappropriate and derogatory comments” toward a child and left the children standing with their noses against the wall during time-out.

The Department of Early Childhood, which did not respond to requests for comment from The Denver Post, forced the daycare to submit written statements of compliance. Online records do not indicate whether the facility has already done so.

The following month, Lone Tree police received a report of child abuse at the daycare. Parents told officers that a teacher had hit their child three times in the arm and then again in the face because she wouldn’t listen, according to a June 10 police report.

The child “said he was crying because it hurt when he was hit,” the report said.

The parents went to the police because they felt that Crème de la Crème was not taking the report seriously. The teacher, the parents said, was “very dismissive, defensive and said nothing had happened.”

Following the parents’ complaint, the daycare center suspended the teacher in question until the investigation was completed.

Ultimately, police did not arrest anyone and turned the investigation over to the Colorado Department of Human Services. The official noted that police were aware of 44 previous reports to Human Services about Crème de la Crème.

“I have again requested that the licensing authority step in and conduct a thorough investigation of the facility,” the official wrote in the report.

JamieDay Montgomery, a spokesman for KinderCare, the parent company that owns Crème de la Crème, said the teacher who hit the child on the back of the head has been fired. The daycare is training school staff on proper child care.

“Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the children in our care,” Montgomery said.

Crème de la Crème had a provisional license from the state for years due to repeated allegations of child abuse and neglect, the Post reported last year. In November, the state finally granted the center a permanent license.

At least two teachers at the Lone Tree daycare have previously been investigated by police on allegations of harming children, The Post found. One staff member pleaded guilty to child abuse last year after he grabbed a baby’s hair in moments of frustration and threatened to choke and stab her.