My wife and I have sent our children - currently ages 4-and-a-half and 6 months - to School Bell…read moretwo days/week since they've been alive. About six child care centers exist within a 5-mile radius of my home, so the initial choice of School Bell was made after a fair amount of research and visits. I'll talk about the positives in a moment, but it's first worth noting why we're leaving.
Due to various staff changes/leadership morale, the PreK program has, to my eyes, become little more than a glorified babysitting service over the last year. My older child, to me, is smart and articulate and can do puzzles like a champ, so I like to believe the two days/week he spent here in his very formidable years were good for him, but now that he's at the point where reading, writing, and the things you need to have at least a passive understanding of to succeed in kindergarten are important to me, I'm not seeing any of these things happening in School Bell's programs. There's no curriculum to speak of, there's no communication from the staff about what my child is learning, and there are no goals/expectations/milestones for him. In fairness, lots of education could be happening, but if it is, I'm not being told of it; what I do see is my child, when he arrives in the room in the morning, scurrying to the child allowed to have a tablet in school to wait his turn to play Angry Birds. This is not what I pay for.
That's the big reason...the apparent lack of learning that has taken over the PreK room...but there are other small things:
- On the occasions when signs are posted, it's not uncommon for them to have spelling or grammatical errors. Not that the kids can read them, but it doesn't inspire confidence in me when a center's leader cannot correctly spell "mismatch."
- This is a first-world problem, but you can't pay by credit card. I get that the center doesn't want to pay processing fees, but as someone who really enjoys the benefits of credit card points, I'd really like to pay for the biggest expense in my life with a credit card.
- My child absolutely loves Water Day, but it's only on Fridays this summer. He doesn't go on Fridays; would it be tough to switch up Water Day once in awhile so he can enjoy it as well?
Now, all of that said, there are a lot of good things about this place; in no particular order:
1. It's clean. It's bright.
2. Nearly every teacher in the Infant, Toddler, and Preschool rooms I met there truly cared about the kids (or if they didn't, they weren't there long). Gone are luminaries such as Danielle and Georgia and Anne and a litany of others (as you likely know, the turnover rate in this industry is very high), but as of this writing, Denise and Allyson and Stephanie and Carly are there, among others, and they will take excellent care of your children. My kids have never been hurt, sunburnt, underfed, or suffered any neglect or pain (with the of-course exception of a fall of two on the playground) at this center, and for that, I am very grateful to the staff.
3. The price. The price fluctuates depending on how many days you enroll you child(ren), but in an industry with razor-thin margins, School Bell was reasonably priced, and the inclusion of snacks and lunch often made it seem like a bargain. For the older child, the price came out to about $5.90/hour, which, when you consider the work the women here do, is an excellent value.
4. Lunch is provided. Snacks, too. Not making lunches is a benefit I have learned to appreciate.
In sum, if you're looking for a solid childcare center, this one is indeed solid. I wish we weren't taking the kids out, but the lack of a good PreK curriculum has forced our hand.
Hope this helps anyone looking for a place to give care to your kids.
