Note: this review was edited after the school owner contacted me to discuss the review. It's unfortunate that it took a public review for this action rather than addressing concerns early on.
Our daughter attended this school for a little over 1.5 years. The overall experience was good. The curriculum is rich; the teachers were kind and attentive to our daughter's needs.
After almost 6 months, our child's behavior started changing. We started receiving incident reports regarding our child being attacked by another (bit, scratched etc.). Although we were reassured that this was a normal behavior as the children in this age are learning to set boundaries and learn the concepts of sharing and using words and gentle touch, the number of reports was alarming. We were receiving an average of a report every other week.
Some incidents were very mild; others were serious ranging from a bite on the arm that bruised for a week or a scratch very close to the eye. As parents, we felt concerned that the school wasn't doing enough to prevent this behavior from occurring as frequently as it did. Despite numerous requests to the management to intervene, not much was done to at least reduce this frequency.
After few months, we started receiving incidents about our daughter attacking other children when they tried to take a toy from her or invading her own space. This was also concerning, noticing how she started to change. We also started noticing this at home. She was threatened by anyone who was trying to get close to her even for a hug. The incidents at the school continued until she was unenrolled.
As concerned parents, and to ensure our daughter was truly in a safe environment and the behavior we've been experiencing wasn't because of negligence or lack of supervision, we filed a case with the State of Colorado. The State followed up with the school and after weeks, the case came back unfounded.
Another issue we experienced was the class ratio. The standard ratio was 1 to 6, but it was very normal to see one teacher attending to 10 children sometimes more in the morning. Our regular drop off time was between 8:30-9. On numerous occasions, when I saw the class being such a mess and out of control, I had to stay with my child until the other teacher gets in; which meant being late to work and important meetings. I addressed my concern to the management multiple times. What we noticed then, was that every time the director or one of her staff members sees me walking through the door, she'd go running to my kid's classroom to balance the ratio and watch the classroom until the teacher arrives. This was also addressed by the licensing office and this issue was later resolved later.
I thought about transferring my child to another daycare, but this school had advantages being minutes away from work. We liked the school and the environment. We also didn't want our child to switch between schools and have to readjust to the school system, the teachers and the children. I chose the path of not giving up and trying to work this out with the management together as a team.
We wish the school all the best and we thank everyone who cared for our little one and taught her something good. read more