Childcare Network

Reviews 3

SE

Sean Mullins

I feel compelled to leave a review of Childcare Network. My son who is 12 now attended what used to be Children’s Lighthouse for about 5 years. My wife and I loved the staff and their program. About 6 months ago the daycare was purchased by Childcare Network. The new administration came in and made sweeping changes. One of the biggest changes we noticed was what appears to be their policy on sick children. From my experience they will allow any child to be present as long as they do not have a temperature. On a daily basis anyone can walk through the building and see visually sick children interacting and playing with other children. Children in multiple classes are experiencing in some cases server congestion, as well as sever nasal discharge but are allowed to attend without question. On a number of occasions my child fell ill while everyone in our home was well and there were no other places she could have contracted the illness she did other than Childcare Network. My child is developmentally challenged at this time in her life. And until yesterday there has been no problems. My wife and I were called in for a “conference”. Much to our surprise we were informed that due to our child’s needs and the “incidents” that have happened they essentially kicked my daughter out. No other meetings have been called, no discussions have been had about my daughter. This was all dropped on us with no warning. The director informed us yesterday that we needed to find another daycare as soon as possible. One that could handle our child’s “needs”. The director also gave us a printout of an email chain she had put together involving the Daycare contacting the Independent School district where we live asking about education evaluations. She passed this to us as “services” for our daughter. Needless to say it didn’t help as far as future childcare for our child. She went as far as to state that they had the State licensing board was in the building recently and they specifically pointed out my child and questioned them about her, and we were made to think that the state pushed them to dismiss my child. I called the state and asked if this type of interaction with the facilities were common. The person I spoke to said there was nothing on file about the agent speaking with the Daycare about my child or any other for that fact. I also spoke with my daughter’s teachers and inquired if she was as much a nuisance or uncontrollable as the Director was making out. She proceeded to claim that my daughter is a joy and that she posed no problems that the other kids don’t, she even went as far as to say that there was another child that was far worse in terms of behavior. Granted I don’t know if that child is going to be allowed to stay. The point of this review is to say that Childcare Network claims to have the best interest of the children put first and during our meeting they claimed to want what’s best for my daughter but couldn’t see the problem with taking my child out of an atmosphere that she already knows and is comfortable in and placing her in a new strange place with new teachers, and new kids… How is that what’s best for my daughter? For all intents and purposes I feel that Childcare Network wanted to wash their hands of a child that required a little more attention that the majority. I do not suggest this Childcare Network based on the fact that they do not strive to help children, they want children that fall within “the norm” so they don’t have to do anything more than the minimum.

CH

Child Care

My child attended here before my wife worked here, so think I know this place rather well. When we were looking for places to send our child, we ended up here because it seemed like the nicest place, and they seemed to have their stuff together. And everything was fine until our child became violently ill. He did get better, but we did eventually take him out, for reasons having nothing to do with the school itself. Shortly thereafter, my wife got a job there. She would soon find out things were not as they seemed. For one, the one thing that seems obligated the most to a parent, hand washing, was not commonplace. In fact, they had to have an employee meeting over the importance of hand washing. Hand washing was so uncommon that a coworker came up to my wife and expressed HOW IMPRESSED SHE WAS THAT SHE WAS WASHING HANDS!!! THAT SHE HADNT SEEN ANYONE DO THAT!! Youd expect such laziness and ignorance at gas station or an office setting, BUT AT A DAYCARE!! As you may guess, we immediately remembered our childs illness. That was just the tip of the iceberg. Not only do they not wash hands, many of the programs they promised were just for show. Not once, for example, did a PE teacher come into my wifes room and do exercises with the kids. In fact, my wife had to spend her own money and free time organizing the lessons, something the director, Kerry Marzahl, didnt bother to notice, for she rarely goes into the classrooms. The last straw, what provoked my wife to quit, was a confrontation with a coworker who was not following procedure regarding the washing of toys during nap. Procedure demands that you remove each toy from the shelf and wash it by hand. This coworker, Jasmine, was not doing her job for this or for much of anything, and Kerry was demonstrating that she was not going to correct this problem, so my wife quit. Much of the problems this school has stem from the poor manner in which the employees are treated. They are not given lunch breaks; they have to eat in the class while they are working. They are not given bathroom breaks, which means they may have to WEAR A DIAPER THEMSELVES. To summarize, THEY DO NOT WASH HANDS, THE ACTIVITIES ARE JUST FOR SHOW, TOY CLEANING IS NOT DOWN CORRECTLY, ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN PROCEDURES, AND THEY DO NOT ALLOW THEIR EMPLOYEES TO BREAK FOR LUNCH OR BATHROOM. Moreover, the caretakers are not trained. What they call training here is what you get if you work at a fast food place -- you watch videos without any actual experience, which is perfect if you are as lazy as Kerry seems to be. If you treat your employees poorly the children are the ones who suffer. I recommend that you DO NOT take you little ones here, and please share this review with as many people as possible.

KI

Kimberly Hurst

When my daughter first started at this school it was Childrens Lighthouse and we had a wonderful experience. I would have been the first to give the school a 5 star rating. Ms Bonnie was a dream of a teacher. When the location was bought out by Childrens Network I didnt think anything about it at first. Then sweeping changes began to happen. The Director and her assistant left. (They were both wonderful and very sorely missed). The new Director Kerri is apathetic at best. She will lie to you and then when busted send Ciara to smooth it over. Let me state in advance that I like Ciara and love Ms. Mikela, but that is not enough to out weigh the cons of the new norm at the school now that Kerri is running the show. They have had 3 major lice infestations in the last 2 months. The first time they were diligent about taking care of it. The second time they did not say anything to the parents or the teachers in the rooms that were infected, and today they had their 3rd breakout. The Director, Ms. Kerri was overheard telling one of the teachers that the reason why there is no curriculum at the school currently is because it is a low income daycare and they dont need it. WTH!!!! I paid full price for my child and whether they offer low income care or not, should not determine whether the kids get an education or not. Dont get me started on the turnover rate of the staff, the fact that the pre-k room smells like urine or that I had to complain about a teacher using inappropriate language towards the kids as well as yelling at them like a wild banshee. Honestly the only way this daycare can be saved is if they ditch the changes they made and bring back the previous director. Either way my child will no longer be attending and I discourage anyone else that is considering this location. There are 3 other daycares in the area that can provide the care, education and structure our children need

Other organizations