I would give zero starts if I could. We enrolled our infant at Palm Academy, paid the registration fee and security deposit, and our child attended only one day. This is the only place where they charge security deposit along with registration fee before the child starts. Due to a change in personal circumstances, we notified the school immediately that we could not continue and asked for a one-time goodwill exception or partial refund after deducting the one day of care. Ruth refused and relied strictly on the agreement, including the non-refundable deposit and 30-day notice policy. I understand the agreement has those terms, but I was very disappointed by the lack of compassion or flexibility given that our baby attended only one day. Also, during my limited interaction with the teachers, I personally did not get the warm, reassuring feeling I would expect when leaving an infant in daycare. Since my child attended only one day, I cannot speak to long-term classroom care, but my first impression did not make me feel confident to continue my child there. Parents should read the contract very carefully before enrolling. Based on my experience, Palm Academy will keep the full deposit even if your child attends only one day. I would not recommend enrolling unless you are 100% certain you will continue. read more

Ruth definitely has ethical issues. She refuses to acknowledge her own words and insists that everything must be documented in writing; verbal agreements hold no weight. Fortunately, prior to my child's enrollment, I meticulously reviewed all parent reviews on Yelp, approaching my interactions with her cautiously. In addition to verbally notifying her, I informed the office staff and my child's class teacher. I even deliberately sent emails to her regarding changes concerning my child, providing a 30-day notice. Despite this, she consistently ignored and failed to respond to my emails, displaying a lack of professionalism. When I sought to have a face-to-face discussion with her, she pretended to be busy, abruptly cutting off the conversation and threatening that if I did not comply with her instructions, my child would no longer be welcome at the school the next day. Regardless of my attempts to communicate with her, she pretended not to hear, turning her back to me in a highly disrespectful manner. Individuals who lack integrity, do not understand the importance of respect, show no sense of responsibility, and lack effective communication skills should not be in educational positions. All parents in the Bay Area must be cautious! Ruth is the biggest pitfall in this school!! I will attach the email correspondence between us to provide evidence for all the incidents mentioned above. At the time, I opted for this school due to its lower tuition and proximity to home, despite encountering numerous negative reviews on Yelp. I reminded myself to be cautious when dealing with Ruth and tried to document our interactions through emails. However, even with such caution, she can still act arbitrarily and unreasonably. Within less than two months since my child started school on September 12th, such a terrible incident occurred, leaving me emotionally and physically distressed. Ruth絕對是人品有問題。她不承認自己說過的話，她說一切都要寫在紙上，口頭說的一切都不算。 幸好我在孩子入學之前已經瀏覽過一遍yelp上所有家長的留言，我特別小心跟她打交道。所以，除了口頭通知她，我還通知了辦公室的工作人員，孩子的班級老師。 還刻意發郵件通知她關於孩子的變動。 提前了30天。 她一直無視故意不回復我郵件，拖延時間。非常不專業。 當我找到她，要跟她面談時，她假裝很忙，話沒說完，就要開門走，並威脅我不按照她說的辦，我的孩子明天就不用來學校了。 不論我怎麼在後面喊她跟她說話，她假裝聽不見， 用後背對著我，極其不尊重人。 這種不講信用，不懂尊重人，沒有責任感，不懂溝通的人不應該在學校。所有在灣區的家長一定要避雷！Ruth這種人就是這所學校最大的雷！！ 我跟她的郵件往來會貼在附件里，所有事情的經過都有郵件為證。 當時，我貪圖學費便宜和離家近，儘管看到yelp上這麼多差評，還是決定讓孩子去了這裡。 提醒自己跟Ruth打交道一定要小心，盡量郵件為證。 儘管如此小心，她還是可以不講道理 任意妄為！ 9月12日入學不到兩個月，就發生如此糟糕的事情，讓我心情糟透了，精神上和身體上都受了很大的傷害。 read more

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I recommend that any family enroll their child at Palm Academy. As a first-time mother, I was very hesitant about enrolling my son in daycare. After much research, Palm Academy proved to be the best option. He was 17 months old at the time, and now, at almost 2 years old, he's still a Palm student. All the staff are very attentive and loving. The school isn't large; it's welcoming and organized by classes and ages, which is a huge advantage. The location and the building are also advantages because it's safe, almost hidden. And compared to other schools, the outdoor play area is much more inviting and beautiful. At Palm Academy, children interact with others their own age, which is a huge advantage because they are at the same learning level. A family-based daycare doesn't have this advantage because the children often have very large age gaps, and the learning is compromised. Another advantage is the teaching methodology. Palm Academy has greatly helped my son's development and learning. The professionals at Palm know what they're doing. All the children are always happy and feel safe and welcomed there. Another incredible advantage is the price. With Palm, students have the same structure as a school, and parents pay less than they would at a family daycare. It's a win-win for everyone. I really like the school's impartiality regarding culture. At Palm, your child will have contact with all types of people and cultures, but without being "sketch-ed" to any specific one. I also like the fact that they can provide lunch, which I understand is better for my baby's diet. Palm is a secret treasure, a blessed place for which I am grateful daily and recommend it to everyone. read more

Caution, stay away! Our 2 kids were enrolled at Palm Academy on Washington blvd. We officially left the school on Tuesday January 18, 2022. A few days before we received a letter from the school (I will add picture below) the letter is the schools new Covid-19 protocol. It stated that if your child was the first confirmed case in the class room that were are liable to pay up to 2 weeks of collective tuition for the entire classroom. If anyone has kids in a childcare center in the Bay Area you know that is expensive. When I first read it I thought how ridiculous I already pay close to $2,500 a month for both kids to be enrolled full time. We also have had none stop issues with the women who owned the school, who the letter was from. I showed up Tuesday morning both kids extremely excited that they we back at school after being out due to a Covid closure of the infant room. I was then told that I could not drop my kids unless I signed the health questionnaire for each child. I read the document and noticed that it stated if I signed the document I was not lying about the above questions and that I agree to the schools Covid Policy. I refused to sign and loaded my kids in the car. I thanked the teacher for love and care and drove away. Late that day I emailed the school telling them that we will not be returning and their letter was inappropriate and asked for refund for January and our security deposit that was an entire months tuition. My kids had attended the school less than 10 days in January. They called and stated that in their policy I signed I agreed to give a 30 day notice and that I would not get any of my money back. I asked for compassion and to work something out. Ruth does not have the capacity to have compassion. She is very good at writing policies that benefit her and make her more money. She refused to work on any solution. The amount of times this school has been put on probation by licensing is absurd. I and many other parents have made numerous complaints on a regular basis. Ruth is not supposed to be in the classroom and interacting directly with parents in they way that she does. She also lives in her office on the campus and often looks like she has not showered or washed her clothes. Initially we were able to look pass this as the pandemic has been challenging for everyone. Every interaction with Ruth is extremely unpleasant. At the time we enrolled we were told that we could drop off at 7:30am, on the first day she was surprised and upset we showed up shortly after 7:30. Then told us we could not bring our kids that early unless we paid an additional fee. About 6 months after we started she had made a comment in front of other parents and kids that "He is having too many accidents and I feel he has a mental disability" Our son is smart and understood what she just said in front of his friends. He immediately started crying. When we had a meeting to discuss how inappropriate the comment was and how we would rather have those conversations in private, she dismissed it and said the comment again. When I said we were going to leave the school her demeanor completely changed and she was saying anything to make us stay. What this school is doing and all the things they are not doing in accordance to licensing is dangerous and needs to stop. read more

Palm Academy - Covid protocol - Preschools Near Me - Fremont, California

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We sent our son to Palm Academy for both the infant class (when he was 10 months old) and the toddler class (until he was 2 years and 3 months old) when we decided to move out of Fremont and to a different city. We had a great experience at Palm. The teachers that he had were loving and took great care of our son. The toddler class has a very interactive and fun curriculum (the teacher shared with us the weekly teaching plans); the meals are diverse with different kinds of food, and the school has a nice outdoor play area. Our son made great friends and ask to go to school even during the weekend. read more

Update: the director, Ruth also threatened me saying if I do not take this review out, she will file "child abuse" complaint against me and my husband. She terminated both my children without any notice, she said if you do not remove the review, both the children needs to picked up right now! She also did not refund the tuition fora by of children. - The director, Ruth is ABSOLUTELY IRRESPONSIBLE! she behaved nice before having both my children. After both my children got enrolled, she started behaving completely irresponsible! - She and her driver forgot to pick up my 5 year old kindergartener from the school. That was the first day at school and my daughter was so afraid. - Another child continuously bullied my daughter and one day cut her hair, the other day cut her skin with a scissor but she did nothing ever after I placed multiple written complaints. Rather she said it was an accident. - No good teacher stay in this place because of her behavior! There is a new teacher almost every month. She hanged up phone during the conversation multiple times. Today, I missed a call from palm academy, and called back to know did anything happen to any of my kid? She said very rudely, I didn't call you. I don't know. Just Check the app and hanged up while I was still talking. After that I called her multiple times from my phone and she didn't receive. When I called from my work phone/ unknown number, then she received right away! After she realized it's me she said I can't talk right now and hanged up again! Later I realized that my 1 year old has 102 F fever. WILL NEVER RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO EVEN MY ENEMY! read more

I wish we have zero star for this academy. They are worst. The owner or director Ruth is impossible to handle. Extremely rude and won't even approachable. I never seen someone this RUDE as being owner. On tour she will promise you best education and discount and many other things. But the moment you enroll price will increase and all promises will have no values. All times kids watch TV over thr. No teacher present. Class will be run by driver and accountant. They watch movie and stories all the time. Please save your child future and don't go with this school. We moved our boy recently. Please don't go with any positive reviews coz thr is nothing positive about this academy. read more

In response to Ms.Ruth The only problem with palm Academy is YOU. Funny how every single bad review regarding palm academy says the issue is YOU (Ms.Ruth) you should probably step down and let Ms.Sophie take the ropes because she actually knows how to respectfully handle situations regarding children and their "Rude" parents. Anytime someone comes to you with any problem you cut them short with a response and try to be little them. Again the underlying issue within that school is YOU. If you would like to speak further I'm sure you still have my phone number.(: read more

My boys are currently in 2nd & 5th grade. They have been at Palm for a year now. When we first enrolled, there weren't that many kids in the afterschool program for grades 1+, which helped with the transition & was nice after a year of remote learning. There are a lot more kids this year which is great for PALM & fun for the kids too. The enrichment program is customized for both math and english so if each kid gets work based on their individual needs which has been great. It helps reinforce areas they are struggling with and if your child is doing well in a subject, they can learn more advanced topics. The teachers are amazing. Ms Sophie was one of the first that we got to know. She is very kind & patient with the kids. Ms Anjum worked with my then 1st grader last year very closely. My younger one is a bit emotional and ambitious goal setter. Ms Anjum was able to understand him and work through his emotions to help him get his work done. I saw him blossom under her care. It was reassuring to see her patiently work through his emotions rather than giving up on him. Ms Suchitra is in charge of the afterschool enrichment from my understanding. She worked with my then 4th grader who had fallen a bit behind during remote learning in 3rd. She noticed he would not do well with one of the temporary helpers who was less patient and clashed a bit more with my older one. She helped him create a better routine doing enrichment without complaints. She also offered to have someone review spelling words with my son if I got a list of words to review in addition to the existing PALS program. The teacher there are great at giving real time feedback and partnering with parents and kids for their academic enrichment in a way that is not stressful. Mr George is their driver. He goes above and beyond to make sure the kids arrive safely back at Palm. Even other families who see him with our kids, will comment about how considerate he is. Trusting someone to drive your kids home from school is a huge deal :). My boys also enjoy playing outside with their friends at PALM. It has been a nice balance of low pressure enrichment along with a fun place to go to afterschool. read more

Zero stars. Unprofessional service and unpleasant communication. Things were good until some incidents came up and good luck to you for dealing with the director. DO NOT send your little ones here. There is a reason why they have so many negative reviews here. Palm issued a notice that contains a great amount of fine. Before we sign the notice, we asked Palm to provide details on how they plan to proceed the policy and decide the terms for the fine. They refused to provide any detail. They won't take my kid unless I sign the notice. But they also refuse to refund the tuition when my kid is absent due to this. BTW, funny that so many "technical issues" happened to me while I tried to share the details of my story. My account for communication with Palm was deleted "by the app". And my reviews with the details of this story are put down. I guess that's why only the good reviews are kept in the other review platforms. read more

We have loved our experience at Palm Academy! Miss Ruth has been very attentive and well coming to us during the past year and a half we have been going there. Our son started there at 8 months old and received excellent care in the Infant Room from Miss Nicole, Miss Liping, and other teachers. He learned so much in the infant room, including sign language and how to play with others. We also had an excellent experience in the Toddler Room with Miss Nicole, Miss Karen, and the other teachers. We were impressed with how much our son learned, including the ABCs, how to count to 10, colors, shapes, and days of the week. They also had fun arts and crafts activities and dance parties. We are thankful for the staff's care and attention to our son and are looking forward to sending our daughter there soon. read more

My son started at Palm in 2018 and could not have been happier, starting from their infant program to toddler, preschool, Pre-K, and afterschool enrichment. The school keeps our children safe, enriched, and genuinely happy. We continue to be encouraged by the staff and teachers' love, care, and dedication. Their balanced, holistic approach works out as I see my child grounded in foundational academics, empathy, and respect. Couldn't be any happier with the choice we made more than five years ago. read more

My daughter has been attending Palm Academy for the last three months. The staff there has been very flexible and caring during this time! They have strong cleaning protocols in place and I ALWAYS feel safe bringing my daughter there. They have been great with changing their structure a bit to accommodate for the distance learning. My daughter absolutely loves the fact that there are 2 cats and a bunny there!!! In addition, they work with her after distance learning through various workbooks to further her education. We love Palm Academy! read more

Long review alert, but if you are trusting your kid's care with this school, or planning to enroll your kid(s) here, it's worth the read. Infant room: my kid joined Palm Academy when she was 6.5 months old and she was in infant room until she turned 2. There were some minor issues, but I learnt to make peace with all those issues, Once I found that my vegetarian kid's daily progress report showed she was fed "chicken", and I asked and I was told it was written by mistake and that she was not actually given chicken. it might not sound as serious to many parents because one could say what if she was indeed fed chicken and nothing is going to happen!? I am sensitive to this issue because she has severe egg allergy and if they had accidentally given eggs, it could have been dangerous. Don't get me wrong, the teachers in infant room were kind, but I often had questions on her feeding, like if she finished her bottle, because the bottles were rinsed before giving back to parents, while I liked the idea of a rinsed bottle, it doesn't give me an idea of how much was left over. They always tell she finished, and I would like to believe it. There were other issues that I don't want to dive into, my kid was happy and that's what it mattered to me then at such young age. Room 2: Fast forward to room #2 after she turned 2, the transition was NOT smooth, we were NOT told what to expect, it took us at least a week or two to learn how class 2 worked, unlike infant room, where we don't access the fridge, in class 2, parents should help ourselves to put the bottles, diapers, cream and what not. Again, I tried to overlook trivial issues (since no school can care for children like parents do) and we kept insisting some must-dos to the teachers. There were many times, where they missed to give their second bottle etc. Acts of negligence: There were many acts of negligence, to name a few: 1. Once a parent got really upset that his kid was not wearing a jacket and was let out to play in cold weather for couple hours before he picked up and the kid was pale and cold, but it did not occur to any teachers who were watching him, who were wearing a jacket themselves. 2. I had this incident once, where I picked my daughter from school, went to store and came home an hour later, little did I know my kid's feet was soaking wet and wrinkled inside, yes, they let my kid play in the wet sand box during the day and they didn't care what was it like for the kid, my kid spiked a fever that evening and I couldn't feel worse for her. I immediately reached out to the school director and she made the teacher call me later and apologize, what's the point in reacting after the damage is already done? These are health and safety issues that every parent is concerned about. I still let it go, again, I didn't want to change my kid's school for the fear of making her adjust to the new school environment (I regret that decision even today and feel I should have moved her to a new school right away because kids do catch up and get along better in the new environment better than we think). Potty training: They started potty training and I hated the potty rooms, it was never hygienic, and teachers didn't care to clean up or advised the kids to clean up before using potty, I have seen kids going to potty back-to-back in the non-flushable potty seats, girls after boys (imagine the mess) and nobody just cared, some of the worried parents bring it up and they give justification and just lie straight to your face that it's never done that way. They don't supervise when they use the potty, they just stay outside. There was a citation that the school got for having an unattended child in potty with no teachers around, licensing witnessed this firsth and. We parents were given a copy of the citation (since the law states that). Spring break and other holidays care fees: It came as a shock when the school announced that the school will be closed for spring break for a week in April and that we must pay extra fees for care for getting care for that week. They informed this exactly one week before the actual spring break. They had no holiday calendar that was published. They had a sign-up sheet put up near the roster for the "extra care" and the fees was $50 per day which would make $250 for the entire week. Keep in mind this is in addition to the monthly fees we paid for April. No schools I know of charges extra fees on top of the Tuition. I brought this up with the director and she said (rudely of course, she is famous for her snapping behavior) that the teachers need their break too and they are aligning this with the Fremont unified school district's spring break schedule. I fully support that teachers should feel rested, but don't understand why she would charge us extra money. I ended up paying $250 since it was a critical week at work which I couldn't miss. We finally changed my kid's school, They did not return my security deposit (one month fees) either! read more

Our experience with this school has been very good so far. Our toddler started going to school about a year ago. Right before going to Palm Academy, my toddler was in a well known montessori school in Fremont and they are so full of drama about everything that we decided to look for another place few months after. So I went to Palm Academy and met Miss Chantel whom helped us right way with all the onboard process and also was the toddler class teacher. She is so knowledgeable, we were lucky and happy to have her and Ms. Kathy (assistant) taking care of our little one, whom a couple of months later was ready to move to the next class. Then we were lucky again! Miss Sheila, the pre-school teacher is vibrant, passionate, loving and understanding, we love her - I got from both teachers all that I missed in the previous schools and I felt so relieved. Kudos to Ms. Nichole too that assists Ms. Sheila in the pre-school classroom. Not to mention the bunnies in the school that receives a "good morning bunny" every day from my LO. Also, I absolutely looove the Brightwheel app which I can see pictures throughout the day, information on nap time, food (which they provide all the snacks and lunch - a huge time saver not to have to get lunch ready every morning). I love that I can go inside the classroom and see how everything works, besides having an easy and direct contact with the teacher is a big plus. See how things are inside gives me peace of mind - the other schools would not allow us to enter at all. Regarding Covid safety procedures - per my experience, all schools (and parents) are struggling with this, everyone is learning about it, and everything changed so much in a short period of time that they are all trying to sort this all out and to implement /adjust safety procedures which sometimes may not be the best - but you see that this is a common complaint among parents with kids in different schools in the Bay Area, it is not easy for anyone. But what I can say is that as a toddler with an immune system that is still being strengthened, we did not have any major issue there other than regular cold. And yes, if your kid is sick and clearly passing the virus out to other kids, stay at home, because one sick kid (and selfish parent) can make all the other kids and their parents sick too. Yes, I do recommend Palm Academy. read more

The teachers at Palm Academy are lovely. The first three years of my son's developmental stage are crucial, and I can tell he gets a lot of love and attention from all his teachers. He learns something new daily and is trying to talk way more now. He amazes me with new things he comes up with or does. A lot of his developmental stage comes from these teachers since Monday to Friday, I am busy at work. I can trust he is in good hands and safe and well cared for when I am gone. Thank you, teachers! © read more

The teachers are excellent! Very supportive. Very compassionate and I love all the updates on the app. Ruth will do her best to accommodate parents when work hours change. Very confident in the care my 5 month old baby is getting. All the staff is great! They all give me good feedback about my daughter. read more

Review for palm Academy: AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM After touring 6-7 after school, we decided "Palm academy" is the right school for my Son And we are very happy that we choose this after school as it's been a wonderful experience for my son as well as us. Palm academy has a great curriculum and I like it's contents and pace. It has a playground unlike many other after schools. The school is clean. classroom , play area, toilet, pretty much every corner is clean and well kept Ms. Ruth, the director of palm academy is Very approachable and caring. She just loves kids. My son is in their TK (transitional kindergarten) program with Ms. Madhu since September 2019. He is not an easy one as he has some speech delay and takes time to adjust, talk or make friends. It's difficult to make him sit in one place for more than 1/2 hour and not having focus is another problem. I sincerely like to thank Ms. Madhu being very patient and caring with my son. She is wonderful, kind, very knowledgeable, caring and patient. She talked and give ideas as to how to make him focus so that we can enforce her techniques at home as well. She even sent us messages about his progress. Thank you so much Ms. Madhu. Because of her many years of experience in teaching, extra effort, her right mix of of enforcing discipline along with teaching, my son has made great progress here in just 3/4 months. Now, he's reading complete sentences, talking nicely, making friends, does his home work, he's more focused and enjoys all the activities. It's an amazing transformation. The teachers and staff are very friendly and caring. I like to thank Ms. Priya, Sophie at the front desk So far, I have referred my neighbor's son and my friends son, all are very happy with Palm academy. When I go to pickup my son I see Kids happily playing, reading, writing and doing many different activities read more

My hustband and I want to extend our deep appreciation to the staffs and teachers at Palm Academy. We are so glad to have found you all! Before enrolling our son, we looked at many other preschools as he has never been to any daycare. We knew from the beginning that he would have separation anxiety and probably cry for a while. We were amazed at how patient the teachers were in transitioning him to school. Now he is excited every morning about going to school. I understood from Ms. Ruth how important all children need love, but the structure is another equally essential need often overlooked in homes. Structure means having a consistent routine, which helps children feel safe and secure. At Palm, I see that routine works wonders for my son, who knows what to expect and when to expect it. They also continue to challenge him and push him towards being successful not only as a person but also academically. He has learned so much from preschool; I highly recommend this school! read more

Palm Academy is a wonderful place for your child to experience their first years. My son has had a great time learning and developing social skills to put him ahead. A phenomenal value for Bay Area childcare, and the staff is very responsive and forward-thinking when it comes to restrictions due to the pandemic. Unfortunately we've had to move our son due to changes in our jobs and schedules, but we'd return in a heartbeat if the opportunity arises. read more

Our older son has attended Palm since he was three months old, and his teachers are super loving, caring, and passionate about what they do. When he turned 18 months old and moved to the toddler room, we were relieved that we didn't have to bring him snacks and lunches daily like when he was in the infant room as my husband and I worked full-time. My son can be a picky eater, but surprisingly, he loves the variety of nutritious foods they offer, especially the fresh fruits and vegetables, which is terrific. My son is now a good eater, finishing his lunch and snacks daily and asking for more. I am so happy. It is a lot of work and effort that Palm puts into offering snacks and lunches for their students. Before Palm, we visited many schools; most would need you to bring your lunches, and for those who provided lunches, it cost a lot more, and there were fewer child-friendly options than we see here. We are grateful and will be sending our second child to Palm soon. read more

This review is long overdue and certainly well deserved. My girls have been going to Palm Academy for about 4 years. My experience with the staff and Ms Ruth has been great. More importantly they have been great at nurturing and instructing them. My oldest is in Pre K and during this year, she has gone from reading 3 letter words to reading full chapter books. Her math skills are above her grade level. All this is due to the hard work and amazing teaching by Ms. Neetu. Her phonics and math teaching, her method of making the kids responsible for their work teaches not only academics but life skills that can't be measured by scores alone. My younger one in preschool is also doing great thanks to the hard work of Mr. Christopher, Ms. Susmita, Ms. Adoreann, Ms. Naimo and all the staff. Oh and before I forget their infant care room was great also. Both my kids went there as well. Ms. Eileen and Ms. Yan take such good care of the infants that we never once felt reluctant about leaving our little ones with them. There are not many places that offer so many services and do them so well. Trusting your kids to someone, while both parents work is a hard decision to make, but the staff here makes that easier because it feels like they are with family. Thank you guys for everything that you do. read more

Palm Academy - Breakfast with Dad at Palm Academy! - Preschools Near Me - Fremont, California

This is a great school in Fremont. My child went to pre-K there with English being a second language. The team at Palm Academy has greeted my child with love and care, made her feel at home mid-year and made sure she caught up with the program. Each teacher is special and you can see that they truly love their profession and love working with kids. Ms. Neetu is great. She has so much to offer to a child. She is patient, caring, kind and direct at the same time. She adds to the education of each child some fun, yet keeping the structure. Highly recommend!! read more

First of all let me say that the retaliation from the director herself is in plain sight of what I had originally commented on. Denial and her lack of accountability. In response to her comment to non-payment is an attempt at libel. I had 2 boys attending this daycare, at one point I found it fiscally challenging to have my younger son (a special needs child) go to daycare, since I am a stay at home mom. When I brought this to Ruth's attention, she offered and insisted I leave my younger child to attend through a "scholarship" of sorts. I was current in payments up until I had no choice, but to withdraw them. Regarding licensure, at the time I had called C.C.D.L ( Ca Community Care Department. They had told me that they were ONLY in the application process. C.C.D.L also told me that "Fast Track Kids", the school I enrolled them in was not the name on the application, rather "Palm Academy." Yelper's you make the call on that one. As for the other yelper's comment on why bad reviews on this school, I have already yelped about it. I only stated my own experience, and unfortunately experiencing threats to this day is just ridiculous. Fellow yelper's YOU make the educated decision on this one & continue on with your due diligence. read more

SHORT STORY I'm surprised to see this place have such bad reviews. We had a very positive experience with the school and the director, Ruth. She was very understanding of my situation and really went out of her way to help me out. I needed a daycare that took children under 2 (son was 20 months at the time), but only for 4 months until he was old enough to go to my daughter's preschool. She was genuinely sympathetic to our situation and agreed to take him for this short time. While there he did well without significant incident and they helped transition him to the preschool setting. FULL STORY We had our 20 mo old son in a home daycare that, very unexpectedly, lost it's license. We received a call from a CA official at 2 pm to come get our son because our original daycare was cited for multiple violations and was essentially being shut down. Our son LOVED the lady running the place, so it was a tough pill to swallow. I spent the next day, Wednesday, calling dozens of daycares and drove, with my son accompanying me, to about 8 of them. I wanted him with me because his reaction would let me know if we had a good match. My poor little guy was so upset. He had been really scared when his daycare was shut down and every time I took him to see a new daycare he'd start bawling his little eyes out. In all the places we went to, he only liked two. One was a home-based daycare and the other was Palm. Ruth greeted me and showed me the property. She was pleasant and welcoming. None of this rudeness I see written into some of the other reviews. We tried the home-based daycare first since it was similar to his first place and the lady spoke Chinese (son is half Chinese). She called us after two days saying she couldn't take him after all. We had already know she was planning to retire in 6 months and only had 2 kids left in her program anyway. She figured our 4-month timeline would be alright. But she changed her mind and completely bailed on us, telling us we needed to pick him up and that she would not take him back on Monday. This was a Friday, at 4 pm, giving us ZERO options for what we were supposed to do Monday when we both needed to go back to work. My wife and I were SOOO dejected, just felt completely defeated. It had been an extremely trying week with the first daycare getting shut down and the second bailing on us. We were moping around for about an hour when I said "Let's go check out that other one I liked" (since my wife hadn't seen it). It was 6 pm at night, so we didn't expect anyone to be there. But I figured I'd just show her the campus and get her reaction. Well it turns out Ruth was still there, the only person left, as she was shutting down for the night. She remembered me from a couple days earlier and was just as friendly, even though it was late on a Friday and she looked tired. Without hesitation she gave us a tour of the place, including what room he would be in. My wife's main hesitation about this place was the lack of Chinese, but it turned out 3 of the ladies working in that room spoke Chinese (and Ruth does, in addition). So we asked if they could speak it to him whenever possible and she said it wouldn't be a problem. We asked if it would be possible for him to start Monday and it turned out they had room and they'd take him. PHEW!!! The last thing was I needed to be up-front and completely honest about our situation. That we really only wanted him to be there for 4 months as we intended to later transfer him to his sister's school. Ruth was completely understanding and sympathetic to our situation and agreed to our terms. We paid for the first month and security deposit (standard to any daycare) and agreed at that time to use our deposit as the last month's tuition. DOUBLE PHEW!!! Over the next four months my son did very well there. The first couple of weeks were rough. My little guy had been through a lot and was acting out, pushing kids and even biting a couple. They were very understanding and worked with us/him to get his behavior under control and within a couple of weeks he went back to normal. He grew very fond of a couple of his teachers in particular and always had a BLAST showing me all the different toys/books/things they would play with when I would pick him up. After two months of him ruling the roost of the infant room (he's a big boy and was getting pretty old for that room), they started transitioning him to the preschool and his entire last month was spent in the preschool setting. When his time at the school ended we thanked everyone and said our goodbyes. I was and still am very appreciative of the way Palm helped us through a difficult transition. Ruth, in particular, was very helpful. I'm saddened to hear all these negative comments. Yes, she has a business to run and as the director I'm sure she has to handle the ugly as well as the good. But I found her to be caring and genuine. read more

THIS IS NOT A VENT REVIEW, instead it is to WARN everyone. This school has too many serious RED flags. The most unfortunate part about this school is that kids are treated as business entities who generate money for them. The teachers do not look qualified at all. Most of these teachers know mandarin only and can hardly speak English. They do not put any effort in teaching kids. They put television all the time. They do not discipline kids. They let them play wild. My kid has now developed hitting , screaming habits. They let the kids of all age to play wild in an open cement area (unmonitored). My biggest fear is that one day some kid can get seriously injured. My kid got injured twice. My kid was not even given a ice pack or first aid. When we confronted the teacher, the teacher responded that" we have just 2 ice packs in school". We were in shock to hear such responses. Basic medical aid is the most humane thing to do. My kid now wants to just sit in a corner and has stopped interacting with other kids. We had to take our kid out of this school. Stay away from this school if you prefer your kid to learn the right things in life and more importantly to be "safe". read more

Zero stars!! The director Mrs. RUTH, is one of the most ignorant people I have ever encountered. She will try to make you seem like you know nothing and she is an expert on childcare. However, she allows the children, especially toddlers to engage in aggressive behavior and fighting, she will then decide who gets in trouble based off of favoritism. My son attended the school for about a year, she labeled him as a "thug" simply because he is biracial. She also allowed another student who fought kids, to the point of where they made another student bleed, to remain enrolled. My daughter witnessed the student do this and was very upset. My husband and I tried to speak with her about very concerning issues including safety, my child was attacked at least 3x while attending but she did not care. Besides all of that, she has a lack of acceptable hygiene often wearing the same clothes everyday with visible dirt and looks like she just rolled out of bed. If you love your children and value their safety, I would beware of this daycare. read more

They have rats and rat hole inside of infant class building and I found rat feces 4 times already. All staffs knew it already but Mrs. Ruth (owner) told them to just swap it (yes, this is true) I didn't know it was rat feces until I see it on end of Oct. and I googled. I found more than 10 feces on kitchen, playroom, napping room, even on the baby swing where babies sleep on everyday. I pulled my baby out and Mrs. Ruth told me she can't refund my tuition because I didn't give 30 day notice as policy. I tried my best on explaining what they did wrong and this is not the case that 30 day notice could be applied but their response was the same, no refund. Mrs. Ruth said she just got to know about rat but it is lie. Mrs. Ruth knew about rat and didn't take any action on the rat hole until I found feces and pretended that she didn't know. What a lair! Please check: https://secure.dss.ca.gov/CareFacilitySearch/FacDetail/013420570 this is the CA childcare licensee gov. website and their license is "on probation" with so many complaints already. You can see all the complaints for past 3 years. * I just checked the yelp's review guidelines saying the business owner should not ask customer to write the review which Mrs. Ruth asked all parents to write a review. read more

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My daughter Tiana Ghosh has been going to Palm Academy for some time now. I am pleasantly surprised to see her teacher, Ms. Neetu's care for her and other students. Ms. Neetu is quite enthusiastic as well methodical in her teaching style. I am also quite happy with other office staff. Overall it has been a positive experience so far. Nirmalya Fremont, CA read more

I can't believe Palm Academy only have 2 stars! That certainly does not reflect the experience we had! My son has been attending Palm Academy Infant program for the past 9 months, and I can't think of 1 time/day the interaction/experience is sub-par! (Except for tuition due date! HAHA, jk =) Ruth (Executive Director) was pleasant and easy to talk to when we first requested to visit the school. She was pretty open on the time to accommodate our busy work schedule. Ms. Jennifer (lead infant teacher at the time) was extremely experienced in child care showed us around and answered any questions and concern we had especially on my son's separation anxiety issue. Ms. Aileen, Ms. Yen, Ms. Sofie (and really all the teachers/staff on campus) were all super caring and nurturing since day 1. These ladies are so accommodating and we really felt we can trust them with our child because feels like they want to be there and they truly care about your kid's well been! Thanks Palm Academy read more

My son started attending palm Academy when he was only 10 months old and he has been there for almost 4 years now. The staff is amazing, the hours are great because it allows me to drop him off early and pick him up after work. He is on a very well-adjusted nap schedule and they even taught him how to potty train. He loves it there and I feel comfortable at work knowing he's with them. read more

Palm Academy - Preschools Near Me - Fremont, California

We enrolled our son (2.5) and daughter (1) here 3 months ago, and we are pleased with the progress. Our son took a couple of weeks to adjust and after that he has been really excited to go to school. Both Jennifer and Amanda (the teachers) pay a lot of individual attention and know the children pretty well. Our daughter took longer to adjust but thats because she was an infant. Laura and Linda are affectionate towards the children. cheers read more

For every damn small issue the owner of this day care center threatens the parents that she will charge them 50$. Very rude behaviour of the owner. First they marketed this place saying critical thinking and analytical maths is offered as part of the curriculum and as the year started they demanded extra fees for those. Disappointing :( read more

Please check out http://childcarecenter.us/provider_detail/palm_academy_palm_day_care_center_fremont_ca for some details on citation for a violation. This place is managed poorly. Center director Ruth Kyong is rude and extremely money minded. She keeps coming up with new fees and rules that result in more fee for the center. Incident#1 Their vehicle bringing kids from school met with an accident. They didn't inform the parents. Kids who were in this vehicle told their parents about the accident. Incident#2 They have failed surprise inspections. They are being sued for these violations. These violations are posted on the walls in every classroom. Incident#3 They have a contract for fee. But they routinely change parents handbook and add new fees. Parents are surprised with new fee in invoice. Incident#4 They are poor with book-keeping. Ruth has been sending threatening emails. I am worried about safety of my kids. But I am hostage to the contract and one month's deposit by this daycare. #Incident#5 This daycare has a paid vacation for three weeks in one year. They expect full fee but they have a shutdown for over two weeks in December. They also take paid timeoff for one week of Spring break in April. They have a Spring camp but parents are expected to pay a full day fee in addition to the regular afterschool fee that they are paying. #Incident#6 They have started forcing parents to pay for JEI. They don't teach much. But now, they don't have a program without JEI. There are many good options in Fremont. Please explore those. read more

Our kids have been with Palm Academy for a year now and we have been very happy with our experience. Staff is very helpful. Teachers are very knowledgable and caring. Academy is very accommodative of special needs/schedule of kids and parents. Director Ms. Ruth and Ms. Sophie are very easy to work with and very helpful. Our kids have learned a lot from Ms Neetu , Ms. Aemi and all wonderful teachers. read more

We had our kids go to this school for pre-school and KG after-school. Math and english curriculum is excellent. However, the staff don't know how to control kids. Teachers are non-credentialed ad-hoc temps. It's more like a day care than a school. Very chaotic, uncontrollable. Kids picked up some bad habits from this school - like bad words and surfing the websites. That's because older kids and younger ones are mixed together and nobody monitors them in the recess what they are doing. And the principal seems to be getting more arrogant month after month as more and more kids join. She actually told me "for the kind of money you pay, this is what you get". If you want a better service, you have to pay a lot. Hello, you should have told us that before signing up. I couldn't wait to take them out of that school. read more

My son has been going to Palm for 2+ years since 2 years old and he loves it. The teachers are nice and willing to communicate with parents on how the child did in school, whether he napped or not, ate well or not, all the little details, whatever you ask. They are very friendly and will share all the cute stories and dramas, even with photos sometimes. My son is happy here and he says he will be sad when he goes to K. read more

My son has been going to this school since he was an infant. He graduated to early pre-school 6 months ago. Our experience has been wonderful on every aspect: 1. Teachers are extremely attentive 2. Not only that but they are genuinely interested in the development of each child 3. Lessons are age appropriate and my son surprises me everyday with all the stuff he learns at school 4. Safe environment for my precious 5. Ms Naema (his early preschool teacher) is wonderful and is a positive influence on his development read more

PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD HERE! Palm Academy is only a daycare based preschool/afterschool. Academics for the preschoolers lack so much! Instead I had my child come home and call my other child names like stupid, nasty, and gross. Their classrooms lack in organizational skills and everything is just thrown on the ground. And then there are incidents that I've seen or happened with the school/staff itself. Incident #1: Another parent and I were dropping of our children and one child comes from the kindergarten age area and crosses the street by himself. Being disgruntled that parent and I go to Ruth (the very rude director) and then ask her why this happened. Instead she tells me to take care of my other child because he runs around the area as well. FIRST OF ALL, my other child does not attend Palm Academy and anything that happens to my child will solely be my responsibility. SECOND, I know how to take care of my child and there has never been a time that he'd leave my side in a parking lot. Instead Ruth starts commenting on my child (who doesn't even attend her school) completely disregarding the incident that just took place with one of the kids that attend her school. Incident #2: One time I had come to hand something to the office and decided to check on my child because it was lunch time. I walk in and all the kids were sitting for lunch and the lady who serves lunch accidentally drop the slice of pizza and then puts it back in the childs plate! GROSS! I wouldn't even do that with a child who desperately is in need of food, and that lunch lady does that with a child whose parents are paying close to a $1000 for him to go there? wow VERY UNPROFESSIONAL! Then Ruth the director seriously needs some counseling. She does not know how to talk to parents and insults them. Her staff as well is very unprofessional as well. She has insulted me a numerous number of times and I am so glad that I have removed my child from there. Ruth promised me that every month the school would make videos of my childs progress, and have fieldtrips, and have all the children do homework but that was all just fake promises. ONCE AGAIN PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD HERE I HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND IT! read more

One place you DONT want your kids to go. Two experiences of mine: I went there during lunch time to submit some form and I saw a teacher pick food from the table and feed it into the kid's plate. I mean, reallyy !!! Apparently, they dont feed the kids in classroom because kids throw food all over the place. What are the teachers for?? They DONT have a proper play area. All there is, is a concrete floor on which kids run like crazy. A kid got hurt and his knee was bleeding right in front of me. And the teacher was like walking calmly to get to the kid. As if she sees kids fall allll the time. Fortunately my kid was safe, but I got him out of there in 3 weeks, I didnt even care for the deposit. The management staff is so RUDE, they dont even care if you would want to take the kid out. I think they know why and I think they realize we wont even re consider!!! read more