Children wandering neighborhood, walking near pool lead to arrest of Kansas daycare owner

A McPherson daycare provider was arrested and her license suspended after police found four children, ages 2 to 5, wandering the neighborhood, officials said.

Tracy Shawndele Barr, owner of Golden Explorers, posted the $13,750 bond after being arrested on suspicion of aggravated endangering of a child and driving under the influence. Barr was arrested Wednesday and posted bond that same day, officials said.

Barr did not respond to a call from The Eagle.

McPherson police were initially called at 10:48 a.m. Wednesday about children wandering the neighborhood close to the daycare in the 700 block of East Kansas Avenue. A couple of children and a dog had wandered into a backyard with a pool.

Police found those children and a couple of other children when they arrived, according to Capt. Mark Brinck. Barr pulled up with another child in the vehicle, also between the ages of 2 and 5, when officers went to the daycare as part of the investigation, he said.

Brinck would not say if they’ve been called to the daycare before or why Barr said she left the children unsupervised.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued an emergency suspension of the daycare on Thursday. The order can be appealed.

KDHE’s website shows four complaints made against the daycare center: two in 2019 and the rest in 2021. The last complaint was unsubstantiated. Other complaints found cigarettes and a lighter accessible to children, a handrail on the front porch not being available, four-month-old napping in a playpen with a pillow and a blanket not tucked properly, and training and background checks not done on helpers.