While we were excited to have our kids join the Phoenix School based on the online reviews and…read morestate funded pre-K, we had no choice but to pull them out after just a few weeks. While most of the teachers seemed caring and capable, there was a toxic dynamic fueled by one particular teacher that is clearly condoned by the school's management. Virtually every time we observed this teacher we witnessed him barking orders at the kids and losing his cool. Aggressive, condescending, and authoritative. It appeared as if he was trying to force obedience through intimidation. Zero manners or etiquette used. Certainly not the kind of behavior we use at home or want modeled for our kids 40 hours per week. We gave it a little time as we all have bad days, but after multiple instances of observing this behavior we met with the school's Director to discuss the situation. We presented our concerns in a constructive, example based fashion and were met with nothing but defensiveness. No notes taken, no next steps, no anything. We were essentially told that many parents are supportive of this "no nonsense" approach and that it was more of a shtick than truly authoritative behavior. Sadly I don't believe three year olds have the capacity to precisely delineate between a shtick and someone being intimidating. At this point we had lost all confidence in the school and pulled our kids. An enormous inconvenience, but necessary. Even though we had made up our minds about leaving we felt obligated to discuss our experience to the board of the school. I asked the head of the board to call me to discuss everything three times and was repeatedly told that I had two options, come in and speak in person during their monthly meeting or put everything in writing. The director of the board later attempted to implicate that I was only voicing concerns because I wanted money back. This interaction certainly validated our decision to leave. Other miscellaneous concerns included: regular cockroach sightings, run down facilities, noncompliance to the mobile app (Kinderlime), processed food served from single-use packaging, and that we continued to receive app activity entires after leaving the school. We have since learned that there is a contingency of parents that have had a similar experience at Phoenix School. I'll again note that the majority of the people at Phoenix School seemed fine, but when it comes childcare, one weak link breaks the chain.

Both of our children have attended Phoenix for the past couple years and we love this place. It…read moreseems like most of the teachers have been with Phoenix for at least 5-10 years which is pretty rare. That spoke volumes to us when we were originally looking around because there was a lot more turnover in the last 2 preschools our kids were in. The facilities aren't the most up-to-date but the quality of care @ Phoenix more than makes up for it. There is also strong parent involvement which leads to a strong sense of community in the school.