My name is Danell Chijioke and I was recently hired as a Site Director at Sunrise Elementary. It is my main goal and passion to perform the job duties and responsibilities to the best of my ability as I am a hard, diligent worker as my previous supervisors and colleagues can attest to. I began training with Lisa and there were many communication issues as I would be told to do a certain task and then when I completed said task, I was told the task was done incorrectly when I followed instructions. Further along in the training process, Lisa mentioned to me that she was going out of town, therefore it was my understanding that I was going to be Site Director when she leaves for that week. I was concerned that I hadn't had a chance to speak to or meet any of the parents as Lisa didn't introduce me or speak about building rapport with parents when it was something I expressed was important to me in the interview. I spoke to Lisa and this is how the conversation went: Danell: "Hey Lisa, quick question, I wanted to introduce myself to all the parents before you head out of town, I was thinking of texting the parents to introduce myself, would that be okay?" Lisa: "Yes that would be so nice! You can log the parent's numbers into the phone because there are really old numbers in there." I follow her instructions and log into Procare and add the numbers into the phone. There are over 25 parents so I decided to group the parents together in a group chat to avoid having to send over 25 different and separate messages that said the exact same thing. I composed a group message introducing myself to the parents and telling a little bit about myself. I also saw a previous group text message on the phone from another Site Director who has been with the company longer than I have, so I was following in the footsteps and culture of the job. There is currently no written policy that says employees are not allowed to communicate with parents in a group text, I would have no way of knowing that if Lisa didn't tell me as I am brand new and still in training. In all my years (over 20 years experience) of working in the early childhood education field, I've worked in corporate companies, built and established my own licensed facilities, worked in public school and private school settings, worked with before and after school children and more... I have NEVER been mistreated this way before and it is truly a shame and disservice to everything I stand for as a professional and child advocate. Today, as I was in the office, waiting to be trained more thoroughly on billing, Barbara came in and pulled me and Lisa outside. Lisa proceeded to tell me that sending a group text was wrong and basically I'm being let go because of that. How is this grounds for termination when I was learning as a new employee in training? This makes no sense and is ethically and morally wrong as I did not violate any company policies and was doing the job I was hired to do. In the short time I was there, I worked hard, showed initiative, and was self motivated. I learned software and billing quickly, built rapport with the children quickly as many of them began to get used to me, hug me, greet and welcome me, want to hold my hand, and get excited when they saw me. I also became invested in helping the children with their homework in groups as many of the children were not completing their homework or going home with lots of homework left. Parents began to thank me for not only helping them complete their homework, but helping them understand as I don't believe in just giving children the answers. I was also told by Mel that the schedule was flexible and I could complete office hours at the back end of the week if I needed to as a military spouse as my husband is an active duty military chaplain. I was told there would be two staff members to open and as Director I can come in at 7-7:15 , after I drop my school age kids off at Grand Mountain before care. I was the only employee not allowed to work with my children which was the main reason I had to come in later. read more

We lived next door to Jr Academy for 30 years. The things we experienced and saw were horrible. We had a privacy fence in our back yard between us. When balls, toys, coats, shoes, trash was constantly thrown in our yard. The teachers sent the kids over to retrieve their items, in spite of the fact that once the kids left there property the teachers could no longer see them. They walked down the alley where anyone could have grabbed them. They trespassed, left our gate open so our dogs could get out. We have Rotties by the way. They parked their bus in locking. our driveway. When we stepped out our back door kids would start yelling to us to throw there junk back. It was impossible to enjoy our backyard. The kids threw rocks at our pets, broke several vehicle windows and once hit my 5 year old hard enough to knock him down. The teachers all stood around and ignored the kids. I heard one teacher tell a child what a horrible child he was. There maintenance people threw cigarettes in our yard, burning a hole in our new trampoline mat. They would always park in our private driveway. One parent, when asked to park elsewhere, flipped off my 11 year old son who happened to be out front helping me paint. The times I went over to complain I could see and smell awful odors. They parked their school bus in front of our house and any plants in our front yard was stomped on. We tried repeatedly to work with them, but they were unwilling to. I could go on, but you get the idea. I wouldn't send my worst enemy to that daycare. I would have loved to talk to the parents to tell them what was going on. My heart broke knowing that as a parent, I would want to know. ​ read more

Jr Academy Kids is over priced and not well put together. The Director (Melody) who runs the entire program is unprofessional and rude. They do not work with you on anything. My husband has been deployed for some time now and we have been on a waitlist for over 4 months just to get my son into the after school program. Luckily, they had let me know recently that they could allow me to utilize the before care program in the mornings as slots are usually not ever full (I needed it due to my work schedule for the month). When it came time to removing my son from the before care program, they let me know they were just going to remove me completely off the waitlist for the after care program. I had tried to explain the situation to Melody and let her know the packet was only set up for the after care program and not for the before care program, her response was " it is what it is". I had asked why they had different invoices for the before and after care (as they are different programs), and she again, stated that it just "Is what it is". She eventually ended up hanging up on me. Please save yourself the money and trouble of dealing with this company. I have never dealt with such a shady group such as them. read more

This is so sad. Please share. Special needs children all need extra love and attention. How sad, frustrating, and even down right infuriating this would be as a parent of a special needs child. I do know this lady, just a little. I met her one time, at my friend Chris McKinneys' house while on vacation in Colorado and even in that short time I had the absolute pleasure to speak with her, she spoke so very highly of her daughter and her autism. You could tell just by her words how much love, care, and compassion was there for her child. I wish for every not only special needs child, but child in general to have a Momma speak the proud way she does. Shame on this place for the damage and heartache they put this beautiful, special little girl and her family thru! I truly hope people take heed, and proceed with extreme caution before taking your children to this facility. PLEASE READ THIS MOMMAS' HEARTBREAKING PERSONAL EXPERIENCE BEFORE TAKING YOUR CHILDREN TO THIS UNIMAGINABLE PLACE!! Her story is too long to include in this review, but PLEASE visit their Facebook page where I included her story in my review or ANY of the local news outlets Facebook page to read her story that has been posted to their wall. LET'S GET THIS PLACE NOTICED FOR HOW UNIMAGINABLY AWFUL AND HEARTBREAKING THEY TREATED A BEAUTIFUL, BUT HELPLESS 7 YEAR OLD GIRL WITH AUTISM. read more

This is probably the worst place to send your children. They are stuck in last century and will surly mess up your payments. They will end up overcharging you and try and blame it on you. Both people in charge at the Widefield location have no idea what they are doing and are completely unprofessional. You'll have a much easier time at any other before and after school program and it will be so much cheaper. read more

I am on day two of summer camp and highly unimpressed! While picking out the right day camp for my five year old I have gone over the prices and daily activities that each camp would be doing. Well, let me tell ya false advertising -what?! Talk is cheap-where?! $230/week lunch included. My daughter was NOT fed both days. Also, there was no mention of a $90 application fee at all until the morning of!? Cooking class and science...Lol! I highly doubt she would ever get that experience, at least a memorable one. She is not saying much about the past two days and when it's good she behaves more excited and has stories about other kids and caregivers in charge. But she aside from being worn out is quiet and unexcited. read more

. "Billing" is done and you'll never Get the same amount twice- go to dispute it - you'll get unprofessional staff and hidden fees - The staff are young and inexperienced and "yells at everyone all the time" - from my kids. read more

My friends daughter Justice, she's 7 and has autism! This is what they expected! HER STORY~My husband and I have been searching high and low for about 7 months for the proper care for our child and we finally thought we found it. This place called Imagination in Education Fountain glorified their facility. My first email before visiting the center I asked them if they had experience with autism. They never answered me in that email but they did tell me they accept all children so I visit the center and I explained Justice to them told them EVERY THING they could possibly need to know about Justice and asked if they had experience with children on the spectrum. They told me yes and that the director has autistic children and worked with autistic children so she had a lot of experience. They even said that if it got too mosey they had a special room for children on the spectrum to help keep them calm. We were really impressed so we paid them for two weeks. She started on Monday... Today I get the weirdest phone call from a girl named Alley, she's the one who set us up, she explains to me that Justice had a really bad meltdown on the bus and she was crying in and out and if she didn't stop I would have to pick her up. So I said ok, called Jonathan Haynes immediately and told him I didn't feel comfortable I got this weird feeling and he should go pick her up because I'm at work. Jonathan was on his way to pick Jonny up so he couldn't so I rushed to get her. When I got there my baby was in the corner and all the kids were in one area with the director. The director walks over to me and she says, your daughter is special needs, she needs a one on one so she can't be here. I said to her well why didn't you tell me that when we asked if you accepted special needs children? They then told me that I... ME... JENNIFER never told them she was special needs. What? Are you kidding me? If you know me then you know I TELL anyone willing to listen that my baby has autism. After I tell them they're lying they then say well Alley asked if you needed a one on one and you told her no. I wanted to punch that lady in the face but I didn't. I just told her (borderline screaming) that they were lying I would have never told them no. They never asked but they didn't have to ask because I told them every thing about her so by her description they should have been able to tell since they have so much experience right? When I'm asking them why didn't they tell me this before they took my money that I CANT get back she said to me, as if I should have known they didn't accept special needs children, and I quote "well mam she rides a special needs bus! I said on what does her riding a special needs bus have to do with anything?" She then said well she eats paint. Now I'm fuming but calm. I said that's because she has Pica. Well you didn't tell us that. No your employee didn't tell YOU that because I told them every thing. As the lady kept talking I walked out upset because I didn't want to lose it in front of the kids. I sat in my car and cried all the way home. Before anyone says anything let me just say I totally understand that keeping special needs children is difficult, especially without the manpower, but they didn't tell me they couldn't keep her but happily took our non refundable money They told me they could and they even have other autistic children whom they pointed out, not sure if they were really even autistic. Had they told me in the beginning they couldn't keep her I would have understood. If you know me then you know I'm one of the most understanding parents who is very vocal about my child's autism. I am her biggest advocate and her voice. The fact that they lied saying we never told them that she was special needs leads me to believe that they are trying to form a story because they knew they were wrong. We were humiliated, mistreated and I felt helpless. read more