Lawsuit Claims Unsafe Discipline at Rockwall School Led to 3-Year-Old’s Emergency Airlift

Represented by The Button Law Firm, parents allege Galaxy Ranch Private School broke multiple childcare laws that left toddler with a skull fracture, brain bleed, and traumatic brain injury

DALLAS, Dec. 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — United States Army veterans Tony and Keisha Saunders are suing Galaxy Ranch Private School in Rockwall, Texas, claiming their 3-year-old son suffered a skull fracture, brain bleed, and traumatic brain injury from negligence that was captured on classroom cameras last March. The complaint states that the toddler had to be emergency airlifted to a hospital in Dallas due to the severity of his injuries caused by a series of failures by the school and its caregivers.

The lawsuit alleges that the incident stemmed from the toddler tapping his foot in spilled milk on the classroom floor. A caregiver at the school reacted by using inappropriate discipline tactics on the little boy. According to the complaint, the caregiver abruptly grabbed the 3-year-old by the arm, dragged him across the room into a blind spot of a surveillance camera, and placed him in a time-out chair when, the caregiver later admitted, his head struck an open bathroom door. Despite the little boy crying and asking to go home, surveillance footage from the school captured the caregiver ignoring him and proceeding to prepare the room for naptime, per the complaint.

The complaint states that surveillance footage also shows the caregiver repeatedly covering the toddler’s head with a blanket as he cried on his cot. When she later tried to force his eyes shut, she found the toddler was unresponsive, his small body completely limp, per the suit. According to the complaint, the caregiver discovered that the boy had vomited and appeared to show signs of seizure activity.

Nearly an hour after hitting his head on the door at Galaxy Ranch Private School, the toddler was unconscious and experiencing labored breathing and multiple seizures. The suit states the school then contacted emergency medical services and first responders helped the toddler breathe using a manual resuscitation bag. A CT scan at a nearby hospital revealed the toddler had suffered a skull fracture and brain bleed. He was then airlifted to a Dallas acute-care hospital and admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit for several days, according to the complaint.

“Galaxy Ranch Private School had us experience a nightmare we can’t wake up from,” says the toddler’s mother, Keisha Saunders. “Watching our son lie in that hospital bed, hooked up to machines, fighting to stay alive, is something I will never forget. We trusted Galaxy Ranch Private School, and our family will have to deal with the consequences of that broken trust every day.”

The Saunders chose Galaxy Ranch Private School because they believed what the school promised: an experienced staff and a safe educational environment with surveillance cameras. Instead, the lawsuit claims, the caregiver had only been at the school for three months and was charged with caring for 10 3-year-old children without additional help or supervision from the director at Galaxy Ranch Private School. The suit also states that the school received at least one complaint about the caregiver responsible for the Saunders’ son in her short time at the school. However, Galaxy Ranch Private School did not document the complaint or recall providing the caregiver with corrective training or taking action to ensure the caregiver was fit for the job.

An investigation conducted by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services substantiated the Saunders family’s allegations and cited Galaxy Ranch Private School for violating multiple childcare laws by using prohibited punishment tactics and failing the requirement of ensuring no child is abused, neglected, or exploited.

“A little boy’s life is forever changed because Galaxy Ranch Private School placed an overwhelmed, unfit employee alone in a classroom at maximum capacity full of energetic toddlers,” says Russell Button, the family’s attorney and founding partner of The Button Law Firm. “Nothing about what happened at Galaxy Ranch Private School was an accident. This was a preventable chain of dangerous choices that violated the minimum standards of childcare. Our lawsuit is about accountability and making sure no other child is ever put in this situation at a Texas daycare center.”

The case is Anthony Saunders and Takeisha Saunders, individually and as parents and next friends of L.S., a minor child, vs. Galaxy Ranch School, LP d/b/a Galaxy Ranch Private School; and Galaxy Ranch GP, LLC d/b/a Galaxy Ranch Private School, Cause No. DC-25-22164 in the District Court of Dallas County, Texas. A copy of the complaint can be accessed here.

About The Button Law Firm
The Button Law Firm (buttonlawfirm.com) is a Texas-based personal injury law firm dedicated to protecting children. The firm represents kids in daycare and child injury cases to help families achieve life-changing results and justice against bad daycare centers, schools, and companies that abuse and neglect the safety of children. With offices in Dallas, Houston, and Midland, The Button Law Firm stands by families across the Lone Star State, working to hold negligent organizations accountable and make communities safer for every child.

SOURCE The Button Law Firm


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