Impersonal. Cold. Uncommunicative. Rigid. Frustrating.
Imagine this: A two year old gets daily written reports during the summer and everything is going smoothly without incident. In Autumn when they are moved to a new room, the reports stop, and the staff never tell the parents that the child is not napping, or is ignoring the class activities, even when the parents are asking "how is it going?" everyday at pickup.
Attempts by the parents to join the daycare-provided app go unfulfilled despite multiple registration attempts and questioning of the staff. The parents are routinely left wanting more daily information.
So one Monday (just two weeks into the new Autumn semester and new room) you get a note in your child's bag to call and make an office conference appointment. Though you just saw the owner face to face 15 minutes earlier when you picked up your child, they made no mention of this note, or of any reason to write the note.
On the phone when you ask what the meeting might be about, they say you will discuss it on Thursday, three days later, when the meeting is scheduled.
Knowing your child is very active and independent, but without having received a single verbal or written warning about any problems in the daycare, you expect there is some concern with the child's behavior, but you never expected the school to tell you right then and there the child cannot come back.
"They don't fit into our structured system," we are told.
"The child is two years old and you've never told us there were any concerns that we could have helped work through," we tell them.
No negotiation, the child has to leave. Extra effort to help the child fit in is beyond their means.
So there is no warning, despite seeing the staff and owner at every drop off and pickup. There was no warning when called on the phone. So three days are wasted that could have been spent looking for a new school when the staff could have told us, either in person or via the call placed to them, that they already pre-determined the child had to leave. A real disregard for our child's and family's needs (child care remains hard to access, as any parent will know).... but it is "Out of sight, Out of mind" with these folks.
Learning later from other parents in town that the owner is just a businessperson that purchased the business for a means of living, instead of someone with a mission to care for children and guide them, sheds a lot of light on the situation.
Cornwall and the surrounding towns are full of parents in need of child care. Even before Covid, resources were strained, and ever since, not as many institutions are available as before as some closed and never reopened. Choices are limited and it's a market in favor of the daycares. If you want a creative and constructive environment for your child, or if you want your child that is independently-minded to have a healthy place to spend the day, Butterhill is absolutely not it. read more