I absolutely agree that this needs to be looked into. When I was little(about 3), my mom was sending me to a private daycare. I went for a bit but then started screaming hysterically every time she'd drop me off. This is straight from my mom, because I don't remember any of it, but my mom talked to them and they claimed all was fine, just drop me off and go. She'd also popped in once with no notice and was chastised and told she needed to call first (Hello warning bells!!!).
Almost immediately after that she pulled me out of there. Later there were reports that the people running the daycare had been locking kids in closets as well as other abusive behaviors. I found out later that my brother's girlfriend(ex-gf now) had been to the same daycare when she was little. She got silly one day and poured her koolaid into her chicken noodle soup they had for lunch. The adults there MADE her sit there and eat every bit of it.If anything happened to me while I was there, I don't remember, but I am quite claustrophobic and have been since I was very little. Not sure if it may stem from something there or not.
Granted, that was a long time ago and before many regulations they have now. I honestly don't mean to scare you in any way, but I would definitely dig into this with both feet and see what's going on. Good luck. :)