The building Dana Riley chose for her Owings Mills day care was best known for getting shut down: The former owner’s husband was accused of sexually abusing children there, and his now ex-wife went to prison for shooting him in July 2022.

Lingering memory of the scandal meant Riley faced immediate problems when she opened Legacy Child Development Center that December. She started with just four children in a school built to hold nearly 90.

“It stayed at that number for a good three to four months,” said Riley, 45. “It was hard finding employees, too. Nobody wanted to work here.”

Shanteari Young, a former owner of Lil Kidz Kastle Daycare Center, once at the same location, was sentenced to four years in prison and two years of supervised release for shooting James Weems Jr. Her ex-husband survived the incident but is serving a life sentence in prison for sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl at the day care. He picked and dropped off students at several elementary schools using the center’s van and is accused of sexually abusing three other children as well.

Though she’s not connected to Lil Kidz Kastle, Riley has spent the last two and a half years earning the community’s trust. She drew staff with competitive wages and accepted child care vouchers to appeal to low-income families. But the solution that sealed her success hangs just above the reception desk: nonstop, live footage of the classrooms.

“One of the first things I offer parents any time is for them to come up to the center and we look at the camera footage together,” Riley said. “Having that comfort and reassurance — that goes a long way with parents."

Riley left a 12-year career with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and has drained her retirement funds to run Legacy with a business partner, who has since left. She said the building’s previous owners, Young and Nicole Knox, made it so easy to purchase that she wasn’t concerned at first about its history.

“They created an opportunity for me as a young minority owner to purchase a day care center, which is really hard to do,” Riley said. “And then once we opened this center, I was like, ‘Oh my God. What did I get myself into?’”

The building was ready to go and relatively cheap; Riley also didn’t have to make any payments until six months after she got her license to operate. The former owners of the 8,000-square-foot facility even threw in furniture and the van Weems drove, which Riley sold because, well, “you know why.”

Riley said that every time Young is in the news, parents ask questions. People showed up to a fall festival at Legacy to ask if Riley was related to Young. (She’s not.) And because she kept the previous center’s phone number, people called to say awful things, Riley said.

Young and Knox, who are named as defendants in three pending lawsuits against Lil Kidz Kastle Daycare Center, declined to comment because of the litigation. But Young said she wishes Riley the best.

“I’m just glad that it’s a day care and it’s still up and running and it’s still helping the people and the families and the community,” Young said.

Randallstown resident Danielle Daise found Legacy because she could use her son Camren’s child care scholarship there. She didn’t learn about Weems and Young until several months after he started.

By then, she’d come to trust Riley and her son’s teachers, who she said are like “professional aunties.” Daise believed Riley when she told her she wasn’t affiliated with the old day care.

Though she often checks the cameras at work, she’s never seen something she didn’t like.

“If I was to have to move, I would do the travel just so that he could stay in that day care,” said Daise. “I’m very confident in Legacy.”

About 75 kids attend Legacy today, ranging in age from 6 weeks to 12 years old. Riley said she’s usually at capacity, but a freeze on child care scholarships has slowed down enrollment.

In the lobby, Riley can see and hear feeds from all over the center. Family members can access livestreams from the playground and classrooms their kids attend, but the sound is off. Diaper changing tables are strategically placed out of view.

Some parents work from home and watch the livestream all day, Riley said. Grandparents will call immediately if they have a concern.

But parents feel less compelled to babysit their feeds as time goes on, said Tanasia Johnson, who teaches 2- and 3-year-olds at Legacy.

“I’ll go like, ‘Oh, did you see them do this today?’ And they’ll be like, ‘Oh, no, I don’t watch the cameras anymore,’” Johnson said. “But in the beginning, they’ll be watching it every day.”

Alanna Harris has gotten used to the cameras over the last four years. The preschool teacher doesn’t feel micromanaged because she said Riley only carefully monitors the cameras when she wants to see if someone needs help or a new teacher starts. Riley watches them for tone, temperament and appropriate behavior, she said.

“During my orientation, I let them know that this center is unique. You’re under surveillance 24/7, and it’s not for everyone,” Riley said. “You cannot be on your cellphone, surfing away. You have to be actively engaged because you’re being watched.”

Doug Lent with the Maryland Family Network said that while the child care-focused nonprofit doesn’t collect data on how frequently parents are looking for cameras or how common it is for centers to have them, programs with larger budgets are more likely to have more technology.

Lent would not comment on Legacy specifically or its building’s history, but he said parents should consider the fact that any authorized adult can see all children in a given classroom, not just their own. Riley said she’s never had a parent raise a privacy concern, and families are told not to take pictures of or record the livestream.

Lent suggested that parents pick a child care provider they feel confident talking to.

“I would much rather have that relationship with the provider than feel like I need to check in throughout the day, though I get the instinct,” Lent said.

Riley said she’s “totally transformed” the center’s reputation in less than three years.

In the lobby, there’s a picture of Legacy’s original four babies in high chairs and a bouncer. One certificate notes an award from a national early childhood accreditation program, and another marks a top-quality rating from the state.

But if that’s not enough to draw parents in, Riley knows what will. A brochure for the program features a picture of her cameras, alongside a promise: “Watch your children from home.”

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.