At first this school was amazing, all praises due to Mrs. Cynthia, Ms. Stacey and all of the…read moretoddler class staff.
On the 8th of November I was prompted to pay $325 on the payment website. When I spoke with Nicole (The director) on the 9th, she told me my daughter was not moving classes just yet, she would keep me posted on openings and to pay the difference. So on the 9th I paid the difference and never heard anything about her moving again until Monday 11/30, when I opened the Watch Me Grow app and seen that I had access to the "Two year old class" cameras.
After picking my baby up for the evening, my husband was told by a staff member that it was a permanent move, and assumed we were made aware. We were not. We did not even get the names of her new teachers until 12/3, when I had to ask for them via the Brightwheel app.
Being a parent I noticed a difference in my child's demeanor, she was not happy for drop off time in the morning and didn't seem happy in majority of the pictures/videos posted throughout the day via Brightwheel. We decided to watch the cameras closely and see how she was adjusting to her new class.
On 12/4, While looking at the cameras we noticed she was awake from her nap earlier than usual and sitting next to a teacher in a chair, the teacher was doing arts and craft. (It was posted in Brightwheel that she woke up at 2:57pm, she was not asleep.) The next time I checked the cameras (maybe 2:30pm-ish or slightly later) She was sitting at a table alone and unhappy with her shoes and socks off, Tyler put them back on for her but grabbed her hands and shook her up a little bit. Obviously the camera doesn't provide audio, but I'm assuming from body language she was frustrated with the babies crying and whining.
Shortly after that, all the kids were sitting on the rug by the book case flipping through books, my daughter stood up and might have climbed on the bookcase (can't tell exactly bc of the horrible camera angles), Tyler went over and grabbed her and kind of loosely tossed her to the ground.
Around 3:57pm Tyler was mopping the floor and Ashton grabbed a chair, Tyler grabbed her a little too aggressively for my liking and my baby hit the ground crying.
I understand my toddler is a busybody, but you don't continue to grab her and toss her around..you actually shouldn't be putting your hands on her at all. That is completely unacceptable, and we will be filing a complaint with the state.
She was randomly taken from her old class, which she loved, and placed into a new environment..without any kind of transitional period, with new teachers (Who's named were not shared until three days later..after I had to ask for them), so I'm sure the whining and crying was more frequent than usual. I can understand if that is frustrating, however that does not give a "teacher" the right to handle a child the way I watched Taylor handle my child.
Also note: November 12th I received this message from Nicole:
"Hey mom I wanted to let you know your child is visiting the two year old friends today! This is not a permanent change we are just down some teachers and has to make an adjustment for today!"
So again, she spent only one day in the 2s class, that is not a transition and wasn't even intended for that purpose, we also did not receive any updates that day at all or have access to the cameras. So we have no way of even knowing how her day was..if so, maybe we would have been able to prevent the events that took place this past week.
This incident took place on December 4th. I immediately picked my child up, got all of her things and told the staff it would be her last day enrolled. My husband sent a very detailed email to the director and assistant director. We never received a reply. I reached out to corporate and they put me in contact with the District Manager, Stephanie Carmichael, who has turned out to be a useless point of contact.
We requested the footage, with very clear time frames. Upon reviewing the footage we noticed the most important clips were missing..which means this is also the footage that was shown to the state rep who did a virtual inspection of the school, per our request.
So not only does the director provide piss poor communication, the District manager is either shady or clueless. I find it really convenient we were unable to view footage from an incident that occurred 12/4 until 12/22, and the video of a teacher slamming a child to the ground, causing the baby to cry, isn't included like we asked for in the very first email sent. The District manager also claims we are out of the timeframe to pull footage, but we will see about that..
Not to mention, the "teacher" in question is still employed and working with the children.
All in all, I had high hopes for this school but it has proven to be a disaster..from the "new" teachers, to the director, to the District manager.