This is a terrible daycare! The issues I've had with this center are too numerous to list--it would…read morebe a whole novel--so I'll attempt to summarize. First of all, the teacher turnover is very high. Over the last two years, I've seen the entire staff turn over completely, at least a few times. I want to say there have been about 15-20 teachers in and out over the last two years, in all but the infant room where Martha remains a core teacher. They simply cannot hold on to good teachers for long. They also make questionable hiring decisions, maybe to save a buck? The director hired a random person who wanted experience in childcare, and that person ended up dragging a child--a child with additional needs--by the arm and scolding them to wash their hands. To be fair, the teacher was fired the next day, but why didn't the director did her due diligence and properly screen this candidate out? Second of all, all the director cares about is money. Something went wrong with the affordable childcare initiative funding--maybe they didn't apply on time?--and she just informed the parents that they won't be receiving a fee reduction for one of the months due to her error. Who does this?! The communication with the parents is also non-existent, and they don't bend their pointless rules for anything. My son has additional support needs and he gets overwhelmed when he's crowded. Our team suggested that they change his shoes in the classroom but they didn't want to "get the floor dirty." So, a clean floor is more important than a child's needs? My son was having a tough time at pick-up one day, and I was with my newborn baby. Instead of helping me, a struggling mother with clearly too much on her plate, the manager simply informed me that strollers aren't allowed in the classroom. I mean, read the room and lend a hand or get out of here! At one point, the children were only getting outside for 15 minutes a day because of the daycare's ridiculously complicated routine. Without enough fresh air and exercise--in a class of all boys, mind you!--the children suffer and act out, and the teachers and director are so surprised by these "behaviours." Of course they act out when they have a thousand indoor activities and not enough exercise and fresh air! I know this because my son had extra support in the center, and his therapists were often concerned about the many egregious behaviours of the teachers, particularly one teacher who has NO BUSINESS working with children. His therapists would often have to break up physical altercations while this teacher sat back and didn't absolutely nothing. They have such a limited ability to solve problems too because they are so bound by pointless rules that serve no one, like indoor vs outdoor shoes. Anytime there is a child who needs any one-on-one support, as many children do, they simply kick them out. Since my son has been there, a handful of children from his class were either pressured to leave or asked to leave. On top of all that, they do nothing to discourage violence, and there is plenty of violence! I witnessed my son being punched in the stomach and the teacher said and did absolutely nothing. They often don't file incident reports or inform the parents of incidents. My son had to tell us himself that he was bitten. The director will do or say almost anything to get new families to attend, but it's all BS. She is rarely at the center, and she does nothing to help the children unless it fits into her rigid idea of what she wants for her center. Just steer clear. It's not worth the stress.
