I've been waiting a while before posting my review and experience with KLA. I wanted to be as thorough and comprehensive and didn't want to write about my experience on impulse.
My son attended KLA for 6 weeks and he really enjoyed his time there. Ultimately, I moved him to another school that he was on a waiting list for due to it's curriculum and more convenient location. Ultimately, I feel KLA is a better school overall between my experiences with the two schools.
KLA Pros:
New building, nicely furnished and painted. Great attention to detail in it's presentation and set-up for little learners. Part of the playground area is covered with ceiling fans to keep children cool.
They offer a very hands-on learning approach that facilitates children's learning through a curriculum that's heavily based on cognitive development. Being an education and psychology junkie (I'm a counseling and education professional who's worked in the field for over 10 years), I was thoroughly impressed by this.
They offer a variety of experiences and activities for children of all ages including infants. I greatly enjoyed the fact that they don't place children in "time out" but rather use a more meaningful and behavioral approach in line with the child's understanding and age.
At the end of every week parents receive an email with pictures of each day and the various activities your child and his/her classmates participated in. A brief description of the activity is included alongside a breakdown of the learning stages and developmental milestones the curriculum addressed.
My son loved the miniature steps and slide in his classroom, it made him eager to walk in. I enjoy that most teachers are young and very energetic and patient with the children. Also, they're all fluent in English. An environment of love and care is evident with the teaching staff.
Cons:
The parking lot is a little narrow and floods easily when it rains. There were several times where there was debris and very disturbingly dirty standing water in the parking lot. This can make it difficult to maneuver into a usable spot and unload children. Also, I don't like that some parents take the liberty of illegally parking in the one handicap spot just to drop their child off, that's just a pet peeve of mine- and its illegal.
In addition, I don't believe that the level of professionalism when interacting with parents is on par with other schools: typos and the improper use of grammar in almost all email communication to parents is a constant. Also, the office staff at times doesn't portray a very knowledgeable and professional attitude. I remember calling once to ask a question and was told in a strange tone, "who is this?" as opposed to a polite "who am I talking to?" That may be minimal to some but if you highly value professionalism, then you'll understand my point. Lastly, they don't offer remote camera access to parents as some other preschool facilities do.
Ultimately, I believe that if KLA were to address their very few imperfections and come up with viable and lasting solutions, they would then become a much safer, more efficient, and excellent preschool. read more