Margaret Sebaugh and her 2-year-old daughter, Elaine, wait outside Kids Company day care on Bryant Way on Tuesday. Photo by Paul Conrad

The sudden and apparently unannounced closing of a Bowling Green day care left children in limbo and parents scrambling to find different child care arrangements. Kids Company Early Learning Center at 1051 Bryant Way closed its doors Friday afternoon and told many parents as they arrived to pick up their children that it would not be reopening, according to client John Harnage of Bowling Green. Harnages two sons, ages 5 and 2, attended the day care. We walked in there Friday and they told us it was closed, Harnage said. I think theres just a lot of unanswered questions. We just kind of assumed it would always be there. The day cares owner, Sherry Piersol of Lexington, was unavailable for comment Tuesday and during the past several months has been under scrutiny by state investigators because of the conditions at a Kids Company she owns in Lexington. Checks for one- and two-week services were given to Piersol on the Thursday due date the day before the day care closed. Many parents, including Harnage, Stephanie Browning and Eric Oliver, all of Bowling Green, said their checks have been cashed. The checks were for anywhere from $155 to $175.Oliver, whose two children attended the day care for almost four years, said parents are planning to meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Barnes & Noble Booksellers at 1680 Campbell Lane to discuss what action can be taken and what city day care centers have openings. When something like this happens, it brings all of us together, Oliver said. I dont mind losing the money. Im concerned about the employees who were doing a good job, and you have the kids. The Lexington facility closed April 21, even though it could have remained open while a judge decided whether to renew its license. After several investigations into anonymous complaints about the Lexington facility and an annual relicensing inspection, state inspectors found numerous violations in the Lexington day care facility, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. The violations ranged from uncleanliness in eating and bathroom areas to severe under staffing teachers often not showing up to work and inadequate staff working with large groups of toddlers. An administrative judge promised a ruling regarding the temporary or permanent suspension of Piersols license before July 23 following a state hearing last week in Frankfort. Piersol requested the hearing in regard to state investigations which revealed alleged violations, but neither she or any other representatives from Kids Company attended the hearing. Three Kids Company facilities are operated by Community Education Development Corp. of the Bluegrass, of which Piersol is the director. In addition to the one in Bowling Green and Lexington, there is a day care in Richmond. Today would have been the fourth anniversary of the Bowling Green day care center, which began operating May 31, 1996, according to Gil Lawson, spokesman for the state Cabinet for Health Services. Any day care provider watching more than seven children must be licensed by the state, Lawson said.