To say I'm disappointed with this organization would be an understatement as I'm deeply outraged by…read morethe horrendous and racist experience that my child endured. Over the summer, I sent my son to this Dancer's workshop camp to have a fun and wonderful experience, however, I soon realized that things weren't right as my son began to tell me about the disturbing way that his instructors treated him. At home and even at school, I strongly push my children to learn and speak Spanish alongside English, but after I sent my child for a few days to this camp, I noticed that my son didn't feel comfortable speaking Spanish anymore. At first, when I tried asking my son what happened, he wouldn't tell me, so I decided to wait until he felt more comfortable. Finally, when my son told me what was bothering him at camp, I found out that he was continuously being punished and shamed in front of his class for speaking Spanish. It is difficult for me to even begin to describe how outraged I felt when I realized what my son was enduring daily and the negative effect that it was having on him. According to my son, his instructor, whose name is Karen , at one point dared to tell him, "you're not Mexican, you're American". This is beyond unprofessional and borderline discriminatory, and I'm appalled by the fact that an establishment such as the center for the arts could allow for such behavior to occur without any reprimand. While I wish that I could say that this was the only terrible experience during this camp, unfortunately, it isn't. During pickup time on a particular day, I saw first-hand how little care the director and instructors have for children's safety. On one occasion, when I went to pick up my son, I was informed that my son's instructors carelessly allowed him to walk home by himself without even giving us a phone call. As a parent leaving my child's safety in the hands of the instructors at this camp, I expect that they make sure that children properly go to the correct people, yet this is an area that they don't give much attention to, which is deeply concerning. I almost had to threaten to get the police involved for the staff to take their job seriously and find my child, who was walking on the busy streets by himself, and worse of all, the instructor who found him then tried to shift the blame onto my child, instead of taking responsibility for their negligence. Ultimately, I speak out from a place of frustration, disappointment, and, most importantly, as a parent while writing about the atrocious experience that my child went through during their time at this camp, and I hope that by sharing this information I can help other parents from making the mistake of sending their children to an establishment that has unprofessional staff who are incompetent, negligent, and discriminatory. As I finish writing this review I think that it is a disgrace how one of the only establishments dedicated to the arts in the town of Jackson Hole could have such serious flaws in the way that staff care for and treat children, and I can confidently say that I'll never send my child here again.
