I am posting this review with 4 stars when I actually want to grant 1. This is because yelp's ridiculous system either has been manipulated or it does not work because all negative reviews appear "not recommended". In fact, I could not agree more with the many reviews which were "not recommended" by yelp. Needless to say this last, extremely positive review (by AA), is posted by the owner. I am posting this review because I want parents to receive an opinion of a parent who actually had her child enrolled in this daycare. Unfortunately, there were no reviews posted when I enrolled my child. There are many many things wrong with this daycare. Other than the infants room which has some quite wonderful teachers, this daycare is an absolute disaster.
1. The owner and manager are indeed (as many have mentioned before) arrogant, overly business-oriented and very difficult to communicate with. You constantly get the sense that any complaint puts you in the "difficult parent" category. They are also very dishonest and virtually impossible to trust. They will lie without any remorse and invent all kinds of reasons to hide the actual situation ( for example they will not let you visit rooms your child will transition to in the near future and they always find a way of listening to your conversation with other teachers and parents).
2. Virtually nobody there has any idea of how to actually educate kids. Children are placed in a room in large groups (around 20 in each room) and left to run around, scream, throw toys, cry etc etc. without any kind of order, schedule, planned activities etc. The "circle time" is a joke. Teachers periodically shout (really loud) circle time for kids to gather around for the teachers to sing a song or read a book while they also talk to each other in an incredibly disorganized way. Some kids participate, others still shout and run around throwing toys. It is absolute craziness!!!!! Children are not split into smaller groups so it is virtually impossible for them to concentrate and participate in the already useless circle times. Other than circle time, there is nothing, no learning concept, no proper learning materials, nothing. The fact that they are opening a preschool makes me really sad for those kids who might be enrolled there.
3. Hygiene is a real issue. Several kids occasionally get seriously ill and are pulled out. The rooms are so messy and they smell like poop all the time. Kids are left so dirty (their faces, hands and clothes are almost constantly dirty, runny noses etc). Many of the parents complain about this but it does not seem to be a concern for anymore. Bags, toys, food etc are placed in the kids' cribs when they are not sleeping in them.
4. The daycare takes full advantage of any reasons to close the school ("yearly renovations", snow days, water problems, you name it).
5. Some of the teachers there are quite uneducated (regardless of what degree they may be enrolled in). They constantly talk all kind of slang with the kids, make tons of grammar mistakes etc. I honestly believe this daycare belongs to the ghettos of Jersey City, certainly not downtown. read more
