Upper West Side day care center infested with mice droppings, parents say

UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- Parents are horrified over a disgusting find inside a Manhattan day care center: mice droppings on cots where the children nap and on the toys they play with.

Despite complaints from parents, the Goddard Riverside Day Care Center at 114 West 91st Street on the Upper West Side remains open.

"The cot. Oh my goodness, I could not believe that my kid, slept on something like that," one parent said.

Mouse droppings, they say, were on the cots where their 4-year-olds nap during day care. And the moms tell us that's not the only place they snapped pictures of rodent droppings here at the facility.

"And then we started seeing droppings here, droppings there, in lounge for the teachers, droppings by the computer and keyboard," said Goddard parent Shanghel Meighan.

They say every time they complained, management at the site was not responsive.

"Every time that I brought it up to management, to any of the directors, they would just hush me up and say 'oh, we are working on it'", said Goddard parent Penelope Martinez.

But the city's health department was also working on it and cited the center for critical violations requiring immediate cleanup.

Stephan Russo is the Executive Director of all Goddard's Day Care Centers and promises that he does hear the parents concerns.

"It's an old building. This kinda thing does happen, but it doesn't take away from the responsibility of correcting it," said Russo..

He says they had private exterminators there Wednesday. Additionally, the New York City Housing Authority, which owns the building, says they'll continue to treat the site weekly.

Meanwhile the mom of 4-year-old Ryan, already hospitalized for worsening asthma, says if this continues it may take more than that.

"The work cannot be done with kids in there. I feel the school should be shut down until everything is fixed," said Goddard parent Phillippa Bowden.