Before you read the review, the most important thing to note is that this school is not accredited…read moreby Apple designation. They have the seal on the website, but they are not in fact accredited. After my experience here I reached out to the accreditation organization to file a formal complaint, and it turns out, smart starts has simply copy and pasted the seal to their page. Apple destination confirmed that this school does not hold accreditation. Starting with that fact, please read and consider another school.
Unfortunately over the past few weeks, we have observed concerning behavior from both the teachers and the students in the prek 2 room, deeming the space unsafe for our child. In our opinion, the physical nature in which the teachers address the children is not up to the standards that we hold for our family.
On multiple occasions we have witnessed the prek 2 teacher and teachers assistant engaging in tactics to physically manipulate, move or reposition children throughout the classroom space in a way that appears aggressive. There is a very apparent lack of warmth, patience and care that is expected and necessary to deal with children.
Additionally, observing the interactions between students with hitting, kicking and pushing also makes us concerned for the safety of our child (and the others in the classroom). We have worked very hard to teach our children what is and is not acceptable when it comes disagreements and violence. While I understand that some of these behaviors can be "normal", they are not being dealt with in a way that we see as adequate from the teacher. We feared for her safety, and worried that she would pick up negative behaviors in this environment.
In terms of the classroom environment, we have not seen structured lessons, co-learning facilitated by an instructor or any type of curriculum applied. As a person who has worked in education administration for over a decade, it makes me very concerned for the students academic development. I am all for open play, and I agree that play is a large part of active learning, but there needs to be some kind of facilitation. For us, this type of classroom does not lend success for our child.
In regards to usage of screen time, though we had a brief conversation about the use of the phone in the classroom, I felt that if there is a policy in place for use of screens, it should be abided by. We as parents are also required to follow the schools policies, and we expect the same rule book to be followed by staff. If the children were engaged in structured learning throughout the day, the screen use would not bother us as much - I understand it can also be a teaching tool- but in this case, it very much is applied as a distraction and a bandaid. It's quite sad to me that you have a room full of curious, wonderful and excited children with little intent to keep them engaged in other, hands on ways.
I wish what I experienced was a joke. I wish what I saw wasn't actually what's going on here. Let me say this- we are a daycare family. My kid has been in school since she was 3 months old. I was horrified by the way this teacher handled her students and I do not think it was appropriate. Further, in discussing with the director, it was very clear that nothing would change. In fact, she was present in the classroom for some of the behaviors.
Take your child elsewhere. There are plenty of options. This specific classroom is not safe.
