Prairie Flower Children's Center is a wonderful, Waldorf-based preschool that emphasizes time in…read morenature and imaginative play. All four of my children have attended Prairie Flower, and I am so grateful they were able to have non-traditional preschool experiences that do not focus so heavily on learning letters and numbers but rather focus on educating the whole child and nurturing the magic and wonder of childhood. I can't imagine a better experience for little ones.

When my daughter went here, she was relatively happy with it (although frequently confused by the…read morerules). As a parent, though, I was not happy. It felt very judgmental and clique-y. We got in trouble for dressing our daughter in tshirts with cartoons on them, for bringing non-homemade snacks, because she watched a video while at her grandparent's house (gasp!), and we were admonished for not showing up to things like the Harvest Forest Walk (or whatever they called it) because we had to work. This place feels like it's for parents with more time on their hands than the rest of us can reasonably hope to have. We believed in the philosophies of Waldorf, but needed something that worked in real life. Real life... where sometimes you set your kids in front of the TV. Real life... where you don't have time to make organic homemade gluten-free sugar-free cupcakes because you have to WORK. Real life... where you have to make compromises. When compared to other childcare places, I really appreciate that they have a philosophy that gives the kids the chance to connect to the seasons and the outdoors. But, ick. They give the idea a bad name, and our time there felt like a visit to Guilt City.

Excellent daycare. My daughter Maahay has just started this bright horizon daycare. she was upset…read moreyesterday but today she waved me goodbye. I was quite nervous but Jess (maybe the manager here) kept telling me to comeback and check on my baby whenever I feel like. They are pretty transparent and open for that reason. thank you everyone

From the owner: Welcome to Iowa State Vet Med Child Care. I know that choosing a child care and early education…read morecenter for your family is one of the most important decisions you will make. At Vet Med, your child will be cared for in a safe, warm, and nurturing environment; a place of wonder that encourages learning and growth through engaging, developmentally appropriate activities. Our center was designed with families in mind. We seek to form a partnership with you to foster the learning and healthy development of your child. We are also an active community that promotes friendships and creates a supportive network. Schedule a tour with us at the bottom of the page to learn about the next steps you can take to join the Iowa State Vet Med family.

I toured the infant and older infant rooms of this center and the infant room was where I was…read morelooking to place my son who is 6 months old. There is no way that I would ever let him attend there after the tour. First off, when you enter the center, it is not secured at all. We waited by the front counter for a few minutes with no one to help us, and we could have went anywhere we wanted in the center without being questioned at that point. Finally the assistant director came up, a young girl with a bull type nose ring, different than what I would be expecting from a child care director, but we decided to go with the tour. The first impression of the center was unfortunately the horrible smell. It was a terrible smell that you could not miss. My 7 yr old accompanied us and decided to wait at the desk area while we looked at the infant room down the hall. The door of the infant room has a sign asking everyone to please remove your shoes, so I did, which left me barefoot. The assistant director however, just walked right on in with her tennis shoes on. I asked her if people coming in need to remove there shoes or do they use shoes covers, right at the door, she answered that everyone has to take their shoes off, and then walked right into the room with her shoes on! I was shocked, but not as much as I was with the state of that room. It was FILTHY!! The floors felt dirty and damp to my feet on the carpeted area. The tiny kitchen area was much, much worse! The floors were littered with crumbs and dirt. It was about 11am when we toured, and none of the four 6 month old babies in the room eat in the kitchen area I was told, so therefore those crumbs and mess were not from a busy day of baby feeding! The floors were gross and the walls were filthy with visible food and other things stuck to them. There were missing baseboards in the kitchen area and play area. The highchairs, which according to the director are not where the current babies are being fed, I guess they are lucky! The highchairs have had the padding from them completely removed, and not replaced, they were dirty and sticky. They didn't look as if they had even been wiped down in a very long time. There were four 6 month old babies there when I came. Three of them were in bouncers/swings, one was being held by the "teacher" with having a bottle. The teacher's bowl of food was sitting next to her on the floor as she was clearly eating her lunch while trying to take care of the four babies. The toys, which looked old and not very clean were all piled into a round thing in the middle of the carpet. No toys were out for the kids to play with, no boppy pillows out for them to sit with, they were all stacked up behind the rocking chair. The three kids in the bouncers/swing were just basically vegged out in their containment devices. It was very sad. They were all of age to be able to engage and play with toys, explore on the floor, practice sitting, etc. However, with the filthy floors, they were probably better off where they were. After viewing the infant room, my 7 year old came to join me, he said because he could not stand the smell that was by the front entrance anymore. I couldn't blame him. I asked the assistant director about the smell, and she said she couldn't smell anything. That was even worse, she didn't even realize the center smelled absolutely horrendous. It was time for us to go. There was no point in wasting anymore time on a tour of a place I would never, ever take my baby to. I am not a nitpicking person...I am a clean person, and expect a daycare center to be clean. You expect children to make messes throughout the day, but this place was just gross, this was not from a fun filled day of play. This was long time cleaning neglect!

Terri isn't a reliable caretaker and doesn't look out for the best interest of the parents. On…read more9/30/13 I received a letter dated 9/27/13 stating that she can no longer care for my baby who was scheduled to start care on 10/7/13. Instead of contacting me via email or phone she chose snail mail making me lose FOUR days of searching for a replacement caretaker. Not only that, but she lives one street over and could have easily walked the letter over. She and I were texting back and forth from 9/20/13 - 9/26/13 regarding setting up a time for her to meet my son before he started care. She canceled a meeting 2 times that week, the 2nd time stating, "I have had something come up that needs to be dealt with before we leave this weekend." To me, this is when she realized that she was going to take me off her services. She never left me the impression that she couldn't care for my child. But a professional caretaker would give you a heads up instead of letting the USPS send me a message over the weekend. Terri is extremely unprofessional and I advise you to seek childcare elsewhere. For supporting evidence of her character, I suggest you look her up on Iowa Court Records: https://www.iowacourts.state.ia.us/ESAWebApp/SelectFrame

This is Meeker Elementary School. A new 3 section school is being built and the original school…read morewill be torn down in June 2015. The new school will open to students in August 2015. Great neighborhood school!

I worked here through a temp agency after the factory I worked at closed. The first 6 months there…read morewas through the temp agency, the last year and a half was as a full fledged school district employee. I was actually a utility custodian, so I filled in at various schools in the district when a custodian was gone, then the last year there I was assigned at the high school. The pay is below industry standard, and at that time, you were only paid once a month, which is very hard to budget for. The only reason I left (other than the aforementioned reasons) was the last year I was there, was the year some kid was calling in bomb threats, and they were wanting us 2nd shift custodians to go around and look for anything suspicious. As a place of learning, I think they are one of the best in the state, an an employer, meh, I'd keep looking for better if you go to work here.