Wesley Responds to Glenview Police Drowning Report

The child care center sent home a letter to parents Aug. 31 addressing the finalized report and extending their sympathies to the Cardenas family. Four-year-old Vicente drowned while under Wesley’s supervision on a field trip to Roosevelt Pool June 15.

Wesley Child Care Center sent home the following letter to parents Thursday afternoon in response to Glenview PD’s report. (To read a full statement from the Cardenas Family following the close of the investigation, click here.) Dear Wesley Child Care Families, The Glenview Police Department has issue their final report regarding the drowning of Wesley Child Care Center preschooler, Vicente Cardenas, at the Glenview Park District Pool this summer. We want to thank all of our Wesley families and community who continue to support the Cardenas family, our Wesley staff, and families through this painful and sorrowful time. All of us at Wesley extend our deepest sympathies to the Cardenas family and want them to know that our thoughts and …

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Letters to the Editor

Cardenas Family, Investigators Still Looking for Answers

Following the drowning of 4-year-old Vicente Cardenas earlier this summer, one Wesley Child Care Center parent urges others to share information about the day care center and their experiences with the Department of Child and Family Services.

Dear Fellow Wesley Parents, Many of us have been sitting on the sidelines, grieving for the Cardenas family, frustrated with the silence, and wondering what we can do to help. As of July 26, officially, the Cardenas Family still knows absolutely NOTHING. I mean not a word from police, from Wesley center or from DCFS.   More: Read Patch's coverage of the tragic Roosevelt Pool drowning. Also, as many of you are aware, the investigation continues surrounding the events of June 15. This investigation is centered on the drowning and investigators are directing their attention to only those involved (employees, witnesses, etc). Many Wesley parents have had their own experiences with the center and those interactions will never be made part of …

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Joanna Schneider

12:38 pm on Friday, August 31, 2012

And two additional updates: 1. Cardenas Family: Wesley Child Care Was ‘Grossly Negligent http://patch.com/A-xyMs 2. Wesley Responds to Glenview Police Drowning Report http://patch.com/A-xzyg I've heard from several Wesley parents wanting to share their stories and how this has affected children at Wesley. If there there are additional families who would like to speak with Patch, feel free to …   more ›

Letters to the Editor

Vicente Cardenas' Family Shares Plea with Patch Readers

The Cardenas family continues to look for answers following the June 15 drowning of Vicente. 'In the dark' about how and why the 4 year old was left unattended by a Glenview child care center at Roosevelt Pool, the family asks witnesses for information.

To the Editor of Glenview Patch: I am Vicente Cardenas's uncle and write once again on behalf of the family of Vicente Cardenas. First, we would like to thank your readers for the outpouring of support, words of comfort and sympathy as we try to cope with this tragedy. We are very touched by the support of the community. We continue to be frustrated by the lack of information from Wesley School and from the authorities. We understand from news reports that Wesley School has indicated that its refusal to provide a detailed explanation of this tragedy is somehow related to the fact that the police are still investigating it.   That explanation seems disingenuous. What is their point? Are they exercising their Constitutional right against …

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Wesley Child Care Issues Letter Addressing Cardenas Drowning

Center responds to the tragic death of a 4-year-old at Roosevelt Pool and specifies programming changes planned for the rest of summer.

One week after 4-year-old Vicente Cardenas drowned while on a field trip with Wesley Child Care Center, the executive director of the Glenview-based center expressed her sympathy and outlined program changes in a letter to families. More: Read Patch's in-depth coverage of the recent tragedy.  “Words cannot express the heartache, sympathy and concern we have for the family of Vicente Cardenas,” Ellen Fagerburg wrote in a letter to Wesley families Thursday evening. Pioneer Press shared the letter on its website Friday. (Read the entire letter to the right). The center canceled its preschool swimming lessons for the rest of the summer, and will refund parents who have already paid for them, according to the letter. Fagerburg also added that …

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Vicente Cardenas Buried Tuesday, Glenview Community Lends Support Following Pool Fatality

The four-year-old camper died Friday—just five days shy of his birthday—following an accidental drowning at the Park District’s Roosevelt Pool. Cardenas was on a trip with Glenview-based Wesley Child Care.

Vicente Cardenas’ parents had already purchased a birthday cake as they sent their son to camp last Friday with the excitement of a celebration ahead. But in the most tragic of circumstances, Vicente died following an accidental drowning at Roosevelt Pool in Glenview that afternoon. Tuesday, he was buried with his favorite stuffed animal. He was five days short of his fifth birthday. More: Patch’s complete coverage of Vicente Cardenas' drowning The Cardenas family is still in shock over the events of last week and how an energetic boy could lose his life, said Val Gurvits, Vicente’s uncle and the Cardenas family spokesman. “It’s very difficult,” Gurvits told Patch. “Each conversation I have with any of them, it is hard for any of them not …

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Park District: Roosevelt Pool Reopens

Following Friday’s tragic drowning death of 4-year-old Vicente Cardenas in Glenview, Roosevelt Pool reopened Monday at noon. Park District officials have announced that until further notice, all camps are suspended from pool use.

More: Patch’s complete coverage of Vicente Cardenas' drowning Updated June 19, 3:35 p.m. Following the tragic drowning of Vicente Cardenas, 4, at Glenview's Roosevelt pool Friday, Park District officials have announced that until further notice, all camps are suspended from using either Roosevelt or Flick Pools during public swim hours. Cardenas was on a camp trip with Glenview-based Wesley Child Care.  Stay tuned to Patch Wednesday to learn what policy and operational changes the Glenview Park District has in store following Vicente's death. Original story As public safety officials continue to investigate the death of 4-year-old Vicente Cardenas, the Glenview Park District will reopen the pool where the drowning incident occurred Friday…

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4-Year-Old Drowning Victim Was at Pool With Child Care Center

Public safety officials continue to investigate the death of 4-year-old Vicente Cardenas. The victim was one of 19 children on a trip to Roosevelt Pool with Glenview-based Wesley Child Care Center.

The 4-year-old boy who drowned at a Glenview pool Friday was part of a group of children from a local child care center visiting the Park District facility. Vicente Cardenas was one of 19 children visiting Roosevelt Pool, 2239 Fir St., from Glenview-based Wesley Child Care Center, said Ellen Fagerburg, Wesley’s executive director. More: Patch’s complete coverage of Vicente Cardenas' drowning When Patch spoke with Fagerburg Saturday night, she would not discuss the circumstances surrounding Cardenas’ death. “Everything is under review,” she told Patch. According to Fagerburg, eight counselors were on hand to accompany the children at Roosevelt Pool, where the childcare agency has been taking campers for more than 20 years. Lifeguards …

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