The sad story of impressionable years daycare can be compared to the story of a beloved bakery…read morethat, at one time, baked every cake from scratch and with care, only to compromise the quality of their product because they scaled the business to an extent that the quality that was once associated with the business was impossible to maintain. It's a common story, one that could be avoided by tempering growth until the business has a chance to scale with the increase in business. This maintains product quality while also adapting the methodology to serve more customers. It's a difficult process that many businesses fail to account for, which is why we see once-great businesses close their doors when better options become available.
A once-great daycare that has grown to the point where the quality of the education and supervision the kids receive has become substandard. My family has had a long history with Impressionable Years. Once owned by parents, now passed down to their daughter. The parents built this company from the ground up. The population cap was low in those days, and the parent owners were on top of their game. The employees were of high quality, the owners were always there, and the collaboration between the parent and the center was easy, streamlined, and productive.
That is no longer the case. My three children went through Impressionable Years, and I lament that my third child did not receive the same standard as my older two did. When dropping my child off, teachers are commonly too busy talking amongst themselves or doomscrolling on their phones. Most teachers won't even look up from their phones when acknowledging your presence. This can only communicate that this practice is tolerated.
The feedback you receive from the school will commonly be short-handed and unhelpful. I can forgive this for most things because when you have a class of 20 children, I don't expect a fully articulated essay on my kids' day. This becomes an issue, however, when your child doesn't meet the center's expectations. They will berate you with short-handed comments (that are pre-written) that say your child made terrible choices that day. But here is the main issue with the center: when you push for specifics, you will commonly get the cold shoulder.
The owner of the establishment (Courtney) makes high-level decisions and then blames her mother when she knows the outcome will be controversial or is not justifiable given the student handbook. Her Mother handed over the business to her almost 2 years ago. A director who deflects responsibility is a giant red flag. When my child was dismissed from the daycare for "bad behavior," I asked for the video footage so I could see what happened (this was denied). I asked for specifics on what happened, but when Courtney kept deflecting, and I kept pressing her, she hung up on me and then refused to pick up the phone again. If you take nothing else away from this, then highlight this part. If you ask basic questions about your child, they will crash out because you don't buy the narrative that they are giving to you.
The reason they can't give you specifics is that your child will not be adequately supervised. The teachers are too busy on their phones, talking on their phones (please count how many ear buds are actively in the ears of the teachers when dropping your kids off), and the center is removed from any responsibility because they can kick your kids at anytime with no notice.
There are other problems as well:
They commonly send employees home when the student population doesn't justify their presence. Yet, you have to pay full tuition whether your kids show up or not. This is a predatory practice that seeks to maximize profits while causing inconvenience to parents. This little flaw will show itself when they put your kids in a room that is developmentally inappropriate for your child due to "staffing problems," because the room's population didn't meet the standard for them to pay someone to be there all day.
Impressionable Years was a great daycare. It is no longer. This is what happens when something is given to someone who doesn't have to earn it. The quality of this place has been run into the ground. And even though the cake you get isn't quite what it used to be, you should, as a parent, ask yourself what you are paying for, and whether the management is competent and coherent in their ability to communicate to parents. All of which this place lacks.
