SUNY Cortland Childcare Center Closure: Inside the Collapse
A trusted campus daycare dissolved after four employees were arrested. Here is what court records, state regulators and grieving parents say happened to the children in their care.
The SUNY Cortland childcare center closure became official on June 18, when the board overseeing the facility voted to permanently dissolve operations. The vote ended months of turmoil that began with a quiet two week shutdown and grew into one of the most disturbing child welfare cases central New York has seen in years. Four former staff members now face criminal charges. A family has filed a $10 million lawsuit against New York State. And state regulators say the center racked up 29 unaddressed safety violations before its license was ever pulled. For the working parents of Cortland County, the closure is not just the end of a daycare. It is the end of trust.
This is a story about what happens when an institution built to protect children fails the very families who relied on it, and what comes next for a community trying to rebuild.
How the SUNY Cortland Childcare Center Closure Unfolded
>
The Child Care Center operated as a private, not for profit corporation on the SUNY Cortland campus, serving up to 108 children of students, faculty and staff. For years it functioned as exactly the kind of resource families need to balance work, school and parenting.
That changed in the spring of 2026. According to court documents, the first alleged incident dates back to January 21, when staff member Aimee Wyatt allegedly grabbed a child with a medical condition and forcibly moved them. It was the beginning of a pattern that would unravel over the following months.
By late April, SUNY Cortland University Police had opened a full investigation. The center announced what it called a temporary two week closure to bring the facility into compliance. It never reopened.
The Arrests
Four employees were ultimately arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child:
- Aimee Wyatt, 50, of Truxton, arrested three separate times between April 22 and May 8, facing four counts of endangering the welfare of a child plus one count of fifth degree criminal solicitation
- Karen Diescher, 50, the center’s director, charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child
- Kelsi Carlisle, 29, charged with two counts of the same offense
- Heather Hurteau, 57, also charged with two counts
A fifth employee, Christopher Chapman, was confirmed to be under investigation but had not been charged as of the most recent court filings.
Court records describe a troubling timeline. Wyatt was arrested on three separate occasions, charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of criminal solicitation. Investigators allege Diescher witnessed some of the mistreatment firsthand and, rather than reporting it to authorities, wrote the concern down in what court filings call an employee concern journal.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
The most detailed picture of what happened inside the center comes from a $10 million lawsuit filed June 1 against New York State by parents Eric Edlund and Jessica Carrick-Hagenbarth, on behalf of their toddler daughter.
According to the lawsuit, Wyatt kicked the child and aggressively grabbed another child by the wrist and arm. The suit also alleges Wyatt locked a 3-year-old in a bathroom for 20 minutes and forcibly pulled a 2-year-old off a toilet after the child had an accident. Perhaps most disturbing, the complaint claims Wyatt told other children at the daycare to kick and stomp on a 3-year-old who was on the ground screaming for help.
The family’s attorneys argue the child suffered both physical and lasting psychological harm. The lawsuit seeks damages for what it describes as the wrongful, reckless and grossly negligent conduct of state employees tied to the facility.
These remain allegations in a civil filing and a pending criminal case. None of the four defendants has been convicted, and the charges against them are misdemeanors that have not yet been resolved in court.
A Pattern State Regulators Missed
The New York State Office of Children and Family Services, the agency responsible for licensing daycare centers statewide, had flagged the SUNY Cortland Child Care Center for 29 unaddressed violations before the arrests became public. Once the allegations surfaced, the agency moved to place the center’s license in pending revocation status, a designation confirmed as of May 28.
That raises an uncomfortable question for parents across New York. If a facility on a state university campus, subject to regular inspection, could accumulate that many open violations without losing its license, what does that say about oversight at smaller, less visible daycare operations across the Mohawk Valley and the rest of the state?
SUNY Cortland’s Response Draws Scrutiny
SUNY Cortland has repeatedly described the Child Care Center as an independent entity, telling reporters the facility operates separately from the university as a private nonprofit. A university statement following the closure said the center’s highest priority will always be the safety and well being of the children in its care.
But an investigation by CNY Central found that description incomplete at best. Reporters discovered that the center’s own tax filings list the executive director position as contracted through SUNY Cortland. Court records also show that Diescher worked as an adjunct professor for the university, and both Diescher and Carlisle appeared in the official SUNY Cortland staff directory. The findings suggest a far closer relationship between the university and the daycare than school officials have publicly acknowledged.
That distinction matters. SUNY campuses receive state investment specifically to expand childcare access for student parents. New York invested $1.72 million as part of a $10.8 million statewide effort in recent years to grow childcare capacity on SUNY campuses, including at Cortland. Governor Kathy Hochul called the initiative essential, saying at the time that quality child care is the cornerstone of a child’s development. If that investment came with too little oversight of how centers were actually run day to day, families deserve a clear accounting of what went wrong.
What This Means for Mohawk Valley Families
Cortland sits roughly an hour south of Utica, but the SUNY Cortland childcare center closure should matter to every parent in our region who relies on campus based or state licensed daycare. The same Office of Children and Family Services that licensed this facility licenses centers across Oneida County. The same gaps in reporting and enforcement that allowed alleged abuse to continue for months in Cortland could exist anywhere inspections are infrequent and complaints go unheard.
Parents searching for childcare should know they have the right to:
-
- Request a facility’s full inspection and violation history directly from the Office of Children and Family Services
- Ask whether staff have undergone background checks and mandated reporter training
- Report any concerning behavior immediately rather than waiting to see if it happens again
- Ask pointed questions about who actually owns and supervises a center, especially when it operates on a college or university campus
The closure of the SUNY Cortland Child Care Center leaves dozens of families scrambling for new arrangements heading into the fall semester. It also leaves a community asking how an institution trusted with its most vulnerable members could fail so completely, and for so long, before anyone outside its walls knew the truth.
Accountability does not end with a dissolved corporation or a handful of misdemeanor charges. It should extend to every level of oversight that let this go on. State lawmakers and SUNY administrators owe Cortland County families a full public review of how this center was licensed, monitored and ultimately allowed to operate with nearly thirty open violations. Until that review happens and real reforms follow, no parent dropping a child off at any SUNY campus daycare can be fully certain their child is safe.
