We have been attending school at this location since my son was 2 years old; back then it was ran…read moreby Creative Inspiration Journey School then AEA bought the location in fall of 2018. The transition was painful since the school decided to undergo remodel without closing, it was basically a construction site for a few weeks. We took vacation time and was promised everything will be done by the time we get back so we did not pull him out. The director Ms. Vanessa and Ms. Lindsey that remained from the CIJS management team were also a big reason in our decision of staying. My son has speech and language delay and can get really upset with changes, therefore we stuck through hoping this way he wouldn't need to adjust to a new school and leave the people that he had become close to. We did like the curriculum of AEA but started to notice a big turn over rate of the teachers when he was in the 3 year old classroom, there is a few times we were not even able to learn the teacher's name before she is no longer with AEA. During that time Ms. Vanessa also left but the transitional director Ms Domi was amazingly organized, attentive and reliable, whenever we encountered an issue she was able to communicate and actively providing a solution to resolve the problem. We also started attending both AEA and Longwood Elementary's speech and language program and Ms. Domi was able to work with us through some potty training issue we had due to transitioning between the classrooms. She stepped down to be assistant director after AEA found a new director Ms. Jennifer in spring of 2019. Later on of the year while he is in the 4 year old VPK classroom the amount of students become so large that they have to split it into two but everyone still share the same classroom just with a divider in the middle which doesn't stop the noises from affecting each side. I understand they want to maximize the space but shouldn't the quality of the learning environment for their students and teachers be prioritized? As a parent I believe keeping an open communication with my son's school is the key to assist him in his education journey so I had numerous conversations with his teachers from both AEA and Longwood Elementary school. Unfortunately even though both schools are willing to inform me of my son's area of improvement, only Longwood Elementary was able to provide constructive feedbacks with helpful suggestions so that I can also be on the same page with him at home. ======= I have written the above review back in March of 2020 shortly before we pulled him out of AEA, I sit on my thoughts for almost half a year now to give myself time to process and view the situation objectively. I finally decided to post my review as of today, September 13 2020. In the end we had parent teacher conference almost weekly but were told the same thing each time; basically just that the school/teacher doesn't know how to work with my child's need so instead of redirecting and guiding him to be on task they just let him do what he wants to avoid tantrums. I know he still had some great time and made some good friends at AEA, but unfortunately even without the outbreak of COVID-19 we would have pulled him out or probably be suggested to leave the school anyway which we felt was suggested during the conferences with the director. I understand each child/family's experience with a school is unique to themself, so I can only share what my family had experienced. AEA's teachers and staff are all very caring and loving although some might lack the experience or training in working with students with special needs. I hope by sharing my experience AEA can become an amazing school for every student that walks through their door.

My wife and I went to visit this school and were quite impressed with the STEAM based curriculum…read moreand activities for kids of our sons age. We were very clear that our son has not attended nor been in a daycare/school environment ever and wanted assurances that they have experience and were able to deal with this type of scenario to which their response was - absolutely! The school had cameras that were accessible whenever your child is there which was a deal breaker for us. We both felt like this would be stimulating mentally and physically for our 2.5 year old son. He is very sociable and doesn't hesitate to interact with other kids and we felt like he needed more social interaction. We elected to enroll him daily but half days just to see how he would cope as this was the first time he would be in a school environment without his parents. My wife and I were glued to the camera out of apprehension and were dismayed to see that they just left him to his own devices. He started crying when he realized we weren't around and the teacher, Ms Aaliyah was consoling him at first. He was then left alone without any interaction from other kids or teachers. Another staff member joined the class around 9-Ish but was playing with her phone the majority of the time. They started circle time around 9am. All the other kids (who have been attending the school for a while) sat down with the teacher while my son was standing a few feet away watching them. I understand that this maybe a tactic used and rather than force the child to interact, leave him to join when he is comfortable but I feel like a little persuasion and attention would have led to him being more involved. The next few hours was much the same. My child was not being engaged by the staff and was literally outside the group by himself whilst the class continued their curriculum. Our son is a picky eater and despite food/snacks being provided, we packed him some snacks and food along with a water bottle - just in case. We were told that the schedule calls for nap time between 12-1:30pm so we didn't feel the need to send a blanket and bedding for him since we would be picking him up by noon. Around 11ish, we noticed the little kiddy cots come out for the children to nap on. My wife arrived at Amazing Explorers at around 11.30 to find the class of kids all asleep and our son, sitting in the dark at a table, hunched over a slice of cold pizza we had packed for him, with tears in his eyes. He saw his mother and ran to her, holding her tightly and bawling his eyes out. We cancelled our enrollment that afternoon. I believe Ms Aaliyah is a Sophomore and, in my opinion, completely out of her depth when dealing with new additions to the school. To leave my son alone in the dark without the common sense to heat up a slice of pizza is insulting and offensive! My poor boy is so traumatized by this experience, if you mention the word school, you can see fear in his expression. He has been having nightmares for the first time in his life. I wish I could turn back time and remove the memory of this traumatic experience. This is not what a 2 year old should have to experience.