I went to AsheBridge in June 2018 to enroll my son. The costs, as a private school, are higher than…read moreaverage but I was willing to pay this. Our tour was very brief and I was not introduced to the teachers or told much about the daily schedules. Still, I was in a rush to find childcare for my son, so I asked them about his egg allergy. He is allergic to eggs, it's a medical condition and I can provide proof of this. Well, here's where things went awry. The woman got squeamish and was like "ohhh, I don't know what we would do then, I'm not sure how we could help him". I examined the menu and only 2 or 3 things in their entire breakfast/lunch/snack list had egg products to begin with, I asked if he could get something from another day on those days. She said sometimes they don't actually serve what is on that list "because they might not send that." Ok, I then suggested I send him with labeled foods from home like yogurt pouches... something so benign nobody is allergic. "Oh no we don't allow outside foods."
So my only option is my child starves those days? Is he really the only child you've ever come across with an allergy? You don't have a procedure for this?
She told me the outside food policy, ironically, was to protect allergic children. I proposed that I would submit a list of his potential foods to them in advance, and never stray from that. She was hearing none of it. Just kept repeating "no outside foods" like a robot. We left it at she would investigate and call me.
She did not. I called her though. I called several times over the next 3 weeks and no callback or response. When I finally caught her on the line, she told me they could not accommodate my son's egg allergy.
I said "so you are declining to offer him enrollment on the basis of his medical condition?"
"Uh no umm.. no no no". She backtracked and after some back and forth, said she "misunderstood" and asked me to send her the foods I proposed I bring in, so she could show the director.
My son is a sweet little toddler who loves everybodyHe just can't eat eggs. If AsheBridge won't just NOT feed him eggs, that's obviously not the place for him anyway.
For what it's worth, he's now at another nearby private school and the convo was as simple as "he's allergic to eggs" "oh no problem! We will feed him something else when there's eggs on the menu!".
UPDATE: The response from the owner to my review is a blatant lie. I was never afforded the opportunity to bring my son labeled, store bought foods for lunch, and NEVER suggested that I bring him homemade foods. I was told "due to the fact that we are a private school, we can make choices like no outside foods to protect our community of children". No outside foods, and no alternatives from their own menu meant my son would not be able to be accommodated, I asked repeatedly for clarification and ultimately was told yes, that is true. Only after I threatened to write this review, was this recanted. It was truly sad because my son deserved the opportunity to be treated equally.
