There's a lot to like on the surface, but after 2 years of sending my kids here, I cannot in good faith recommend this daycare or the corporation that runs it.
Pros:
-Beautiful space with natural light, all new facilities and materials.
-Kind and loving, dedicated staff (the local on-site staff, not the corporate staff)
-Extremely convenient scheduling for working parents.
-Good low level daily reporting - e.g., your kid used the bathroom or ate all their morning snack.
Cons:
-Dangerously incompetent administration and poor communication.
Here's an example: the school closed out of the blue one day "until further notice" that ended up lasting 3 months because the administration failed to process and clear employee background checks with the Dept of Health. They kept families totally in the dark about what happened and what to expect. Here's a link to see all of their inspection violations: https://a816-healthpsi.nyc.gov/ChildCare/WDetail.do?linkPK=DC37654. This closure was completely unrelated to Covid. Not only did school close indefinitely throwing every family into a tailspin, but it was because the daycare staff had not been properly vetted.
-Crazy high staff turnover = no accountability.
No consistency with staff means zero stability for your little kids and no accountability at the end of the day. Staff retention at any daycare is notoriously challenging, but this rate is high even for daycare. Even for corporate daycare. This is staff coming and going weekly with no notice or explanation. My take is that it's because they pay and treat staff poorly, even though tuition is the absolute highest a family could possibly pay in NY. The current "head of school" role is filled by 2 people flying in every now and then from Virginia. How can anyone ultimately be responsible if the people running the school don't even work on the campus?
-"Montessori" certifications.
The very same company that provides teacher certifications to Guidepost staff (that is those that do have Montessori training, most do not) is also owned by the corporation that runs this chain of schools. This is self-dealing, in my opinion. The parent company, Higher Ground Education, owns the teacher certification service called the Prepared Montessorian and therefore provides certification for their own teachers. Meanwhile, we discovered our child's "lead guide" though certified through the Prepared Montessorian was actually still an undergrad and her prior work experience had been 6 months as a Guidepost student teacher. She was in charge of a class of 15 x 2-3 year olds.
-Discrimination as corporate policy.
While enrolled we discovered one of our kids has special needs at age 3. Our family was told we could pay more money out of pocket to hire a "shadow teacher" to be with him all day every day and they couldn't tell us how much that would cost or in what time frame that person could be hired. After the fact, I came across reviews online from other families that eerily echo my experience. It seems to be corporate policy to deny accommodation to children who also happen to have disabilities: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/guidepostmontessori.com
One final note here. This school was brand new when we first enrolled and we didn't have the benefit of reading any reviews. I would encourage you to do your own research and determine if this is really the best environment for your child. read more