Our daughter attended Common Ground for almost four years. She had great teachers all the way through. Nothing just positive things to say about them.
So why 1*? The leadership. Let's start with the so-called "parents boards". Last I checked, half weren't even parents of kids who were at the center anymore. There is no election, no terms, no organization. The board president apparently is in charge of appointing board members. She will ask for volunteers- don't fall for it. Even if you apply, you will probably get ghosted. They are supposed to be in charge of hiring and monitoring the administration.
So let's talk about that administration. The first executive director during our time here was let go for unclear reasons. Then they hired "Mr. G", who seemed to be quite close to the board president. And he ran this place to the ground. Tuition raises were common without explanation- but suddenly front office staff has brand new Macs, his friends are hired as admin, and he buys a brand new house. They randomly open a second location nearby the first one- seems it was owned by another buddy of his. They change food providers without reason to one that serves junk food- turns out it was because they were behind on paying the original one! Then finally he was let go/ quit- who knows, no one could get the story straight. From everything the board spun to the parents, he probably should have been charged with fraud and embezzlement, but the board declined to since they hired the grifter.
So besides the finances, how did this impact our family? My daughter's transitions between rooms were completely botched by a constant lack of communication. Then when the second location shut down, they moved all the students over, and the original location was completely overcrowded. They moved one classroom into a make-shift room in the main hall and had to share it with much older grade schoolers. By the time COVID hit, we were about ready to pull our daughter out any way, so the decision was easy.
If Common Ground reads this, don't bother trying to make excuses, you know all the above is true. I hope for the kids' and the amazing teachers' sake, they turn things around eventually. read more