Heard about TVN through the parents at Toddler Time, where I have been taking my son since he was…read more18 months. Looked into it further this year as my son is not quite ready for Kindergarten in the fall, but I wanted to find something a bit more than his current 3 day a week program.
On Feb 13, I reached out to inquire about the 4 & 5 day programs for 4 year olds. I received an email back from Nicole (President & Senior Parent Chair) advising that both classes were full BUT that I should pay the application fee to reserve a spot on the waitlist for the four day program list, as that waitlist was shorter, and they were expecting kids to drop after the UPK lottery was announced. Filled out all of the information, paid the application fee that day.
On Feb 17, I received an email from Hannah (Junior Parent Committee Chair) that she would be giving me a tour with Diana (Education Director) and we worked out a tour date of Friday, 2/27.
On Feb 20, I received an email from Hannah "We are writing to welcome you and your family to TVN for the 2026-2027 school year!" A spot had opened up and my son was accepted into the 4 day program. The email directed me to submit additional paperwork and pay a $200 non refundable tuition deposit. Which I did, the deposit cleared my account 2/23.
On Feb 21 I had an email exchange with Hannah to change the tour date, I was under the impression that it was just the parents touring the school, but Hannah informed me that the Committee required my son to be present for the tour as well. We rescheduled the tour for Feb 26.
Backstory - had a previously planned trip to go to Los Angeles during spring break. The trip was 2/18 - 2/24, we left our Air B&B at 2/24 on Tuesday at 9AM and did not pull into our driveway until 4AM Wednesday (2/25) morning.
Thursday 2/26 @ 11:15am we had the tour, we were all incredibly tired, didn't really think too much of the timing since we had already been accepted into the school. The tour itself was a little weird as they are given during school hours, so neither the parent nor the child are able to go in to the classroom and meet the teachers due to the school's liability concerns. My son is currently in preK, he knows school as familiar place where he belongs. The combination of the jet lag and the fact that he was being forced to act unnatural in a familiar environment, eventually led to a melt down. Towards the end of the 20 min tour, Diana kept mentioning that she had to expel several children early in the 25/26 school year because they were not fitting in. In retrospect, this was probably her subtle way of telling me that she didn't believe my son was a fit for TVN, but again, we had already been accepted, already paid our tuition deposit, I didn't think anything of it.
Friday, 3/6, a week after the tour, I received an email from Diana letting me know that my son was no longer accepted into the program. I emailed Diana back, explaining the 20 hours of travel the day before the tour, provided a progress report from his current teacher and asked if we could re-do the tour. Diana responded with a copy and paste of her prior email with the addition of, "The TVN Committee has reviewed your additional information but unfortunately...". A very corporate feeling template, which is weird considering we are talking about a PreK. Diana did tell me that I would get my application fee back ($100) which I did, but the school kept my $200 tuition deposit for the 26-27 school year.
After this situation, I spoke with other moms who said they were afraid of even applying to TVN because of the tour. That is literally insane. This is a preschool, in the basement of a church, in a town of less than 10K people. My daughter had an easier time getting accepted into college.
TL/DR:
1. Your child's spot in the TVN preK is not guaranteed. Doesn't matter if you paid the tuition deposit, or have received the "Welcome to our family" email.
2. The school tour is not really a tour for you view the school, it's a quiet way the TVN Committee can judge you and your child.
3. We had been accepted to the 4 day program by Hannah on 2/20, yet the rejection email on 3/6 from Diana implied that we were still in the application process. Either there is an extreme breakdown in communication within the TVN Committee or I'm being gaslit.
4. TVN Committee has no problem expelling students (3-5 year olds) that are deemed to be "not a good fit."
This review is no way a reflection on the teachers, as I didn't get to meet them, only on the current TVN Committee and their administrative practices.
