Review provided by mom of 2 children that have attended Holy Family:…read more
Overall my experience with the lead teachers at Holy Family has been positive, with one exception I mention below. Most of the lead teachers put good effort into educating and providing care to the children. Assistant teachers are hit or miss. Either they care because they are obtaining their degree in early childhood education, or they are only their for a temporary job and act like teenage baby sitters.
The facility is dated, but it does have multiple outside play areas depending on the children's ages. It does not have an inside play area for the children (besides the hallways) which is a huge let down during the winter and poor weather days.
Holy Family does serve hot meals, which is a rare feature for full-time day care in the area. They serve breakfast (cereal or toast/bagels/muffins), a morning snack, hot lunch (rotates every 2 weeks), and an afternoon snack. On half days they provide breakfast, morning snack and a cold sandwich lunch.
They provide both full-time and part-time day care services. However, their rates don't make much sense. The part-time rates are not that different from the full-time rates, so part-time care isn't really worth it. Furthermore, when you breakdown the rates per day per age group there is no consistent price, meaning they have no idea how much it actually cost them to provide care for a child, depending on that child's age. Basically, someone made up some rates ages ago and they just went with it, and every so often they raise rates. Also, when they have "half-days" (open from 6am to 1pm) classes are considerable consolidated due to significantly less staff and children do not take a nap, however you families still have to pay a full-time tuition rate. It's scam really. Why am I paying for a full-time rate if I'm not receiving full-time service?
As for management, well that's a whole other story. The current assistant director is great. She is kind, welcoming and open to feedback. The current director though is...well I have no kind words. She should NOT be in the position she is in. I have been told by many of the staff how she sits in her office all day, does not know the children's names or anything about them, and has her preferences for families. I have witnessed her treatment towards her staff and it's rarely positive. She berates her staff in front of other staff, and in front of parents/guardians. The turnover rate at Holy Family is utterly absurd, specifically when it comes to staff members of color. Those who stay, stay in fear- I also know this to be true by my interactions with them. You know how when you speak to someone and they give you all the "canned" answers? Yep, those are the ones. They are still good full-time teachers, just scared for their jobs. Better yet, The director doesn't refer to the teachers as teachers. She calls them "front line staff." Really? Since when are children being taught by "front line staff?"
Lastly, I will point out to the lack of cameras in the classrooms. I was told by a former staff member how her job would have been saved had there been a security camera in the classroom. As there wasn't it was her word against another staff member's, and the director choose the narrative of the other staff member. However, as bad as I feel for that individual, one of my nightmares as a parent came true- my child was hurt by another: My own child may have avoided being assaulted by a full-time teacher had there been a security camera in the classroom. Instead, he was wounded and we were left to heal him. To this day (6+ months later) we still have not heard anything from Holy Family regarding the incident, let along an apology.
You may want to consider another daycare for your children.
