(Update - This review is not meant to put fault on one person. The system is broken and it is management's fault that there are no checks and balances and processes to ensure the kids are safe. Yes, the driver is at fault, but the bigger fault is on the director, who has missed being on top of the issues raised in this review.)
This school is as bad as it gets. If you deeply care about your child's safety please do yourself a favor and find another school. We sent our son for about 3 months and we had already given a month's notice when an incident happened.
Our son gets picked from his school and would spend few hours in the after school program at Safari. Last week, his driver picked him from school and after reaching the center left him in the car for over an hour. Luckily the driver had car window slightly open, so that my son could breathe. Nobody in his school knew that he was left in the car, he honked at a pedestrian and asked for help and that's how he got out. He explained that kids had finished their playtime, snack time, homework and worksheets (at the least 1.5 hours) by the time he got our of the car. They return from school at 3, I received a call from the driver (and not the director) at 4.40 p.m. She said over phone that it was probably 5 mins that he was in the car and he wasn't crying. The way she explained it seemed really not a big deal. She said she would have called me sooner, but it was her time to take a break. When I met my son, he was all cried out, tired and dehydrated. Btw, the driver is responsible for picking 3 kids and one happens to be her own son. How hard is it to count 2 kids? They have a process to enter the kids names and check-in them, which director never setup for us. The driver knows about it and skips every single day for the last 3 months. There are no checks and balances in the place to ensure safety of the kids.
All this happens and I have no communication from the director at all. The driver is lying on my face, while my son can't stand there for a second. I left in utter shock. Only after talking to my son I realized how crazy lucky we got. I called director few times and left her a voicemail and email both. She didn't return my call until 8.30 in the morning next day. When I asked her why was I not called sooner, she said they wanted to ensure kid was alright and she was "thinking" of getting him juice. I can go on about the ridiculous excuses she gave me for not informing me and not being transparent about the incident, but it won't be important.
I had taught my son how to get out of the car, he couldn't open the door as the car was different, he probably panicked a lot but honked after he realized he needed to take some action. Please teach your kids how to escape from such situations (including the need to break the window)
Here is the list of other beautiful ways, this place is beyond horrible,
1. Teachers have 0 tact to deal with young kids, they scream at them and lack kindness. My son hated from the very first day. One of his teachers threatened to take his video to show me he didn't listen to her or something. My son is very sensitive, he felt so humiliated. He was obviously very upset that day.
2. They like to train your kids with small treats, the same way dogs are trained. If kids listen to them they offer your kids a small toy as a reward, else nothing. They behave differently in front of parents and kids.
3. Teacher publicly humiliate parents in front of everyone. There is a kid in the school who is always in the trouble for something, when his dad comes to school his teacher starts complaining to him in loud voice while other parents are all around. I feel for the dad and the kid. They both listen to this teacher bashing in front of all the kids and their parents. How hard is it to take a room and explain them? Why publicly humiliate and what about the kid?
4. My son got poked by a metal object coming out of a broken car in the after-school. I never received a word from the teachers/director. What happens if it gets infected or something. Isn't he supposed to get a vaccination if it is a metal object?
5. Girls restroom never seems to have toilet seat cover, so unhygienic!
Anyway, we immediately pulled my son out of the school. I couldn't have sent him one more day. Please find a school where teachers are kinder, have received some form of training and more respectful. This school is so bad, we consider ourselves truly blessed for our son came out of the incident unscathed. read more