Our experience at The Goddard School was deeply unsettling and ended with the school's disenrollment of my child, who has special needs, effective immediately. Before enrolling my child for a 3-day program at Goddard, my spouse and I met with Jamie (the owner) and staff members, along with my child's ABA therapy team to discuss expectations. (We and our therapy team met with facility staff again prior to enrollment.) Initially Jamie assured us they could accommodate a child with special needs. However, that was not the case.
Challenges soon surfaced. At a morning drop off, my child became upset I was leaving. Instead of the teacher redirecting her, the teacher told me my non-verbal child "didn't like it in here" and offered no assistance so I could leave the class. It was suggested instead that I could drop off my child at a later time (8:30am) so her homeroom teacher could take care of her, which conflicted with ADA guidelines. This issue continued and multiple times it was suggested to us that we drop off our child at 9am when a teacher would be available in my child's home classroom. When my wife told Jamie that a 9am drop off does not work for us, Jamie actually suggested my wife work with front office staff regarding scheduling. Then when I brought this issue to Jamie weeks later, Jamie said she didn't know staff had suggested we bring our child at a later time, yet she would not solve the issue.
The initial care in my child's home class was great with 3 dedicated teachers. But after staffing changes, the quality noticeably declined. This was confirmed by our child's BCBA (part of my child's therapy team) who came to Goddard multiple times to observe/train staff at our request. When the BCBA brought this to the attention of office staff, Courtney told the BCBA there had been no decline in service but that a "wall" had been built between myself and the staff, which she claimed affected their ability to work with my child. Our BCBA expressed concern over the focus on parental issues rather than addressing my child's needs directly.
Office staff member, Whitney, asked my wife about our child's sleep habits. According to the teacher, Whitney had a child in the class, was upset her child wasn't napping, and felt my child was the cause. The teacher told the Whitney our child does not nap, a topic that was discussed with staff prior to enrolling, but Whitney felt it necessary to ask my wife. I told Jamie and the other owner, Chevelle, this question wasn't appropriate for office staff to ask a parent as they are not in the classroom. They said they didn't know why she asked that and claimed that Whitney did not have a child in the class at that time.
Inappropriate questions about my child's potential placement in a General Education were raised by my child's new teacher Victoria during one of the BCBA observation/training sessions for the Goddard staff. The BCBA clarified that such decisions would be based on evaluations by the public school system, not by the daycare or parents' desires. Despite these challenges, the BCBA committed to aiding the training of this teacher and ensuring expectations for my child within the school setting were clearly communicated.
In my final interaction with Goddard, Jamie called me on a Tuesday night to say she was disenrolling my child, effective immediately--no discussion. She cited communication issues with the parents was the reason, however she also included a serious accusation that I "brushed" past front office worker Courtney, which I felt was implied as assaultive. This accusation, never previously mentioned, was raised right after the decision to disenroll my child, which I strongly contest as I do not recall making contact with anyone at the facility besides my child.
Ultimately, without discussion, the enrollment was terminated immediately. The lack of care and effective communication, coupled with the abrupt dismissal of a child with special needs, leads me to strongly advise parents to consider other more professional, accommodating, and communicative childcare options. read more
