My daughter went to Little Playhouse for almost 2 years. We started there when she was about 20 weeks old. Let me start off by saying the teachers there are wonderful. There have been numerous turn overs throughout the classrooms during those 2 years as there are with any job. There have been several occasions where the owner does not inform the parents until right before the teacher is leaving or has left. The only reason we stayed with Little Playhouse for as long as we did was because of the teachers not Janice. We always knew that she was safe and she was well cared for by her teachers. If Janice was in the room more often, we would have searched for other day cares.
The building is great, however, when we enrolled her there, Janice advertised (and continues to advertise) that there would be a spray park. To this day, there is no spray park and we keep hearing that "it is at the town". Just make sure not your child doesn't leave any crumbs around the building because you'll get an email stating they are sick and tired of having to vacuum the carpet.
Janice somewhat goes by a school schedule. When schools have days off, she is closed but has optional day care for an additional cost. Neither of us are parents therefore we needed those days, the additional cost adds up fast. She also does not alter the price for the month when there are days/weeks off, Like February, December, April and August (all had weeks off). There are other day cares that are not closed during those times that are just as good or better that LP. You are paying more for a school type setting ( as Janice pretty much told me I would not find anything less or equal to than her that would be as good).
So let's discuss Janice. At first, I thought the Janice was great, however over time I noticed the lack of professionalism and how she struggles with socializing with parents. I felt more like a child a times when speaking to her rather than a parent. Janice has to be in control at all times. When she is called out on something, she tries to talk down to you or argues with you. There were times there were things that weren't worth the stress of talking to her about. I know I have caught Janice in little lies throughout our time, like what room my daughter was in for the day. My daughter seemed to get moved around from different rooms so she would stay under compliance. Even though I knew where she was, she still lied to me. Other small issues, I did keep to myself since I didn't need the added stress.
When Coronavirus began, the lack of professionalism really showed. Throughout this trying time, there was lack of communication or guidance from her on how to continue to work with our child. I od know that other day cares had daily or weekly Zoom meetings, emails and educational pamphlets for their children. She had one Zoom meeting in May with her that lasted maybe 10 minutes. As a none teacher, additional things to do with our child would have been helpful.
Janice sent out an email that she was "ordered" to close down in March because of the virus even though all day cares were listed as essential. Both myself and husband had to still work, and not from our home. When questioned about her email about being ordered to close, she diverted the question and attempted to tell me what I should or should not want for my child. Unfortunately, we still had to work and had no choice therefore we needed child care. Needless to say that conversation was one of the last ones I had with Janice because of how unprofessional she was when being called out.
When she closed for those 2 weeks in March, did not render any services during those times and she kept our money. She has refused to reimburse parents even though several parents have requested the money back since no services were received and parents still had to pay for child care. At this time, we are working with our credit card company to receive the money back because services were not received from her. Why should she keep our money when she didn't do anything for us? She did not charge for April and May, however for June, she kept 20%, (without us agreeing) of our deposit, which was meant for Junes tuition. We received 80% because according to her, she was keeping it for sanitizing, bills etc, which has nothing to do with us. Because we as a family are not returning (she knew this since December) and she is not opening until June 29, 2020, we are being penalized that 20%. Those families that are returning are not losing the 20%. They are able to use the deposit for another month's tuition or for her camp during the summer.
Janice has a tendency to send out emails and texts that are not professional as a business owner. She at times treats us as parents like we are a child, not an adult or even a client.
Needless to say the next time we are in need of a day care facility, we will not be returning to Little Playhouse as there are several others that I know have better communication, m read more
