Oh how I wish I could give this place NEGATIVE stars!…read more
My daughter started attending this place when she was less than a year old (August 2022). I had a friend whose daughter was in the Kindergarten class and had nice things to say about it.
My husband and I toured it and I didn't get warm fuzzies right away from the director, Connie, but we moved forward with the enrollment process because we needed child care asap. Right away we did tell the director that our daughter has multiple severe food allergies and we filled out all the appropriate paperwork and provided her benadryl and epi-pen right away.
FIRST INCIDENT: Not even two months after enrollment, we picked up my daughter on a Friday and after an hour being home she started breaking out in hives everywhere. She didn't have anything to eat at home. My husband had to give her the epi-pen. Right away, I sent an email to the director and let her know what happened. Connie let us know that her normal teachers weren't in the class that day, it could have been possible that someone gave her something she wasn't supposed to have. Of course by Monday the people we talked to couldn't remember if she ate something. The learning moment from that was that a teacher would sit by her at every meal/snack.
My daughter was in the older infant class and we liked her teachers in there, never had problems. It wasn't until the summer of this year problems started happening. She moved into the younger toddler class, her teachers in there were also nice and loving to the students. This summer the owner decided to sell their Castle Montessori to Cadence Education.
The director, Connie, left and the admin left not long after her. The new director, Ms. Nilima, was not approachable and very cold in those first weeks, maybe up to a month. She never made eye contact when my daughter and I entered the building. How could you not acknowledge who enters the building, especially at a child care facility?!
During the summer we enrolled my Kindergartener here for their summer program. WORST program ever! We paid weekly tuition that was supposed to include weekly field trips, which some were cancelled due to the weather but nothing was every rescheduled. It was a waste of money.
The final straw was when my daughter had ANOTHER allergic reaction!!! They claimed that she woke up in hives, ok, the director called us multiple times (I work in an area where I can't have my phone with me), she didn't leave my husband and I voicemails. My husband called back and the person on the phone just asked if they can give my daughter benadryl and of course he said yes. He decided to go to the school and they did NOTHING. She was covered in hives, she should have been given her epi-pen based on the emergency plan we provided.
Ms. Nilima wasn't around, and my daughter was in her classroom, with her teachers putting her eczema lotion on her. She should have at least been at the front office being monitored for anaphylaxis.
Multiple emails were exchanged after this incident. The director's responses were just appalling, with no empathy, and thinking she knows better than what a doctor says to do in an emergency.
We pulled her out immediately, there was NO WAY we could trust this place every again. We had a meeting with the director a few days after the incident, she finally apologized and took full responsibility. She mentioned her staff will go through more training, but the damage was done. We demanded our full deposit back and never looked back. What really got me fired up was when I asked the director if they were going to self report themself to the state regarding this incident. Her response was no because an ambulance or ER visit didn't occur....WTF?!?!? Herself and the staff was clearly not capable of handling the situation.....or reading an emergency plan and FOLLOWING it.
Honestly, I hope every parent reads this and stays far, far, away! This incident happened end of August this year and still makes my blood boil.
