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A lack of supervision at Building Kidz of Dublin one year ago resulted in the death of a child, the California Department of Social Services concluded in a new investigative report.
The alleged violation of a licensing requirement occurred April 15, 2025, the same day 2-year-old Matthew Bonneau Jr. was found unresponsive at the facility after nap time. He was pronounced dead later that day, and the Dublin Police Services deemed the young boy’s death to be non-criminal in nature.
As a result of the CDSS investigation into the level of supervision that fateful day, Building Kidz of Dublin was cited last October with a Type A violation. At the time, consideration for an enhanced civil penalty was under review.
Given the CDSS facility evaluation report published April 14, the child care center at 6351 Dublin Blvd. faces a $10,000 fine. While the documents from the state’s investigation into the April 15, 2025 death do not name Bonneau, his family’s attorney J. Gary Gwilliam confirmed the connection to the Pleasanton Weekly.
“There’s no question it’s Matthew,” Gwilliam said Tuesday. “It’s that date.”
“It was more than negligent, it was gross negligence and pretty outrageous — the way that they didn’t pay any attention — then this little boy died,” Gwilliam told the Weekly. “He had a real chance of surviving had they been on the ball and watching for him.”
Independent of the April 14 report, the Bonneau family is suing the day care center over the toddler’s death, along with related entities including Building Kidz, Inc.; Building Kidz Worldwide, LLC; Building Kidz Properties, LLC; Brilliant Minds Academy and Brilliant Minds Investments LLC.
The child care center, which remains in operation, intends to challenge the penalty imposed last week.
“Building Kidz School of Dublin does not agree with the State’s findings of this report and plans to appeal,” Building Kidz School spokesperson said in an email interview.
As previously reported by the Weekly, the CDSS determined Oct. 14, 2025 through an investigation that Building Kidz of Dublin provided inadequate supervision April 15, 2025.
The state agency alleges a Building Kidz staff member was hanging art supplies and supervising active children in a classroom, so they were unable to supervise 12 other children, including one who was experiencing a medical emergency during nap time.
The conclusion was based on interviews, record reviews, physician’s interviews, video surveillance analysis and staff interviews, investigators said.
The probe was spurred by a complaint of inadequate supervision received by the department on April 16, 2025, the day after Bonneau’s death. Building Kidz appealed the state’s initial citation last fall, according to a statement provided last November by a Building Kidz School spokesperson.
CDSS received another complaint April 16, 2025 alleging the “questionable death of daycare child in care”, but the agency found it to be unsubstantiated. The allegation might be valid, but there is “no preponderance of evidence to prove the alleged violation”, according to a separate complaint investigation.
“Ultimately, these investigations determined that there was insufficient evidence to support the allegation that Building Kidz School of Dublin played a role in the student’s passing,” the company spokesperson said.
“Additionally, the Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau report determined the most likely cause of death was due to complications from the influenza B virus,” they said. “It’s important to note that the staff on that day did not provide any heightened supervision of the student, as the parents did not alert staff that the child was ill when he arrived at school that day.”
Since the October reports, CDSS officials called Angelina Bowers, Building Kidz’s senior director of franchise growth and success, and Building Kidz chief operating officer Sangeet Karamchandani for a meeting April 14 to discuss facility citations within the last year as well as to deliver the enhanced civil penalty related to the student death.
“An Enhanced Civil Penalty (ECP) in the amount of $10,000 is being assessed due to the issuance of a violation determined to have resulted in the death of a child,” the report states.
The value of the penalty was determined using the California Health and Safety Code.
While endorsing the citation of Building Kidz, Gwilliam said a $10,000 penalty was very little punishment.
“To say it’s a slap on the wrist is way too soft. This doesn’t cause them five minutes of effort for a big company like this,” Gwilliam said.
But it may be the only penalty available to the Social Services Department, he conceded.
Building Kidz is permitted to request a formal review by the licensing agency to amend or dismiss a notice of deficiency and or civil penalty. The request must be made in writing within 15 business days of receiving the deficiency notice or civil penalty assessment.
The CDSS did not provide comment further comment to the Weekly, as of Tuesday afternoon.
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