I-Team: At least 3 agencies investigating high meadow drowning death; day camp has previous violations

GRANBY, Conn. (WFSB) - The High Meadow Daycamp is closed Thursday, after 14 year old Emari Marshall-Woodard drowned on a school field trip.

A spokesperson for the Springfield School District, where Emari attended, says what happened is unimaginable, and they are all grieving.

As police investigate, the I-Team has learned the State Office of Early Childhood; the Child Advocate has launched investigations. The Town’s health district says they will be doing an inspection of the pool area and safety equipment.

High Meadow’s general manager did not answer our questions about how many lifeguards were on duty, or how many children were in the pool at the time. We’re told by the state, there is no minimum lifeguard to person ratio, and that pool capacity is determined by the facility.

The Office of Early Childhood is in charge of inspecting High Meadow when they are in summer camp mode, from late June to mid-August.

The I-Team found their inspection history.

Last August, the camp reported to the state “an incident in their changing room,” although they didn’t give further details.

Camp staff told the state they immediately corrected the issue, requiring supervisors to now do verbal and physical checks in the changing rooms every two minutes.

The camp did get violations from the state in July 2025 and June 2024 for not having completed background checks for all staff.

In August 2022, a counselor got in trouble for smoking weed with a counselor and counselor in training.

The Office of Early Childhood typically only does investigations during the summer when High Meadow is operating as a summer camp, but in this case, they are investigating to see how this may affect the summer camps’ operation. It’s set to begin on Monday, June 22nd.

The director of the Farmington Valley Health District, which oversees North Granby, tells us they are inspecting the pool area Friday. They are not in charge of pool capacity limits; that is up to the facility. But they will be checking on the condition of the pool and safety equipment.

Granby Police did previously respond to a drowning incident in 2024, but the child was okay.