Omg, how has this place not been rated yet?
Alright, well, I'll be the first. And I've had several months to think about this. I was biased when I enrolled my 11-month old here in early 2016.
Biased because I, myself, attended a KinderCare from 1st until about 5th grade (don't tell anybody that I was going there in 5th grade- the snacks were ALL THAT, though!) So, when we enrolled my then 11-month old in early 2016, I was pretty sure that we were doing a good thing.
Man, was I wrong. They allowed us to observe the teachers, watch them at snack time and lunchtime. Everyone was on their best behavior... the teachers, that is. I thought it looked great, so we enrolled baby!
Let's just say that after a month or so, I noticed a new teacher in my baby's class every few weeks or so. I asked about it and the director volunteered the information that she could not keep anyone in the toddler class for too long. She even made an exasperated face when she said it, eyeroll and all. This was the first sign that this place wasn't quite stable in that toddler room. The second sign would be that he cried every single day that we dropped him off... but I thought it was just him not wanting to separate.
I understand that babies play and they play hard, but my child came home with two DEEP wounds on his face. It happened on two different days, and I don't care about an incident report. What type of fall caused a wound so deep that he still has the scar to this day? After seeing the classroom in disarray on MANY occasions, I certainly have trouble believing that those very deep scratches only came from a fall.
The teachers seemed very overwhelmed in his classroom. The kids were always spread out all over the classroom. For example, one child would be near the exit door. Another child is in the "kitchen" area. Another child is behind the diaper changing area. And the teacher is on the opposite side near the door where the parents enter. It was always chaotic and I never saw the kids "learning" or sitting down or even in one space together. They were always everywhere.
At any point, if you stand outside of the toddler door, you can hear the teachers inside yelling. I couldn't believe it. Even after I opened the door and came in, the yelling continued. It was not at my child, but I still gave the teacher, who was a heavyset dark-skinned lady, the evil eye. Motherf... how are you yelling at someone's CHILD? A toddler, at that?? In order to work at most daycares, you need a CDA. What CDA class teaches that constant yelling is okay? That pissed me off.
I spoke with the director, who pretty much blew it off. She nodded and kept shuffling through paperwork before hurriedly saying she'd address it. The straw that broke the hump in the damn camel's back was when I walked in one day and saw one of the teachers going OFF about the heavyset, dark-skinned teacher not properly managing the toddler class. That teacher's child happened to be in the toddler classroom, as well.
I tried to open the door to baby's class, and a table was behind the door, preventing parents from entering or anyone from leaving. When I pushed the table aside and walked in, my child was standing on top of a table and the room was in disarray/chaos. The teacher's response to me looking at my son was, "See, mom? Haha. I told you he's rambunctious!" ... I wasn't smiling.
I walked my ass to the front desk and waited for the temporary director to stop laughing and jollying around before I asked her to step aside to tell her about what I'd just seen. She spoke over me as I spoke until I stopped, smiled, took a deep breath and asked, "May I speak?" That was baby's last day there- literally.
This KinderCare has a lot of young, unprofessional impatient women working here. It's extremely disorganized and not worth the headache. My son now goes to a smaller mom/pop daycare closer to home, and he LOVES IT. Not even kidding, the crying at drop-off stopped at this new daycare. I can walk in at any given moment and the older teachers are so much more loving, gentle and patient with the kids.
This KinderCare was AWFUL. I guess all KinderCares aren't like the one I remember. Hopefully, they've made changes. Sorry for the novel, but it's been a long time coming. read more