Ashley N.
1/5
After enrolling my daughter, I noticed the classrooms also did not have much for books and toys for the kids. This was sad for me to see, so I voluntarily from time to time donated jumbo crayons, construction paper, air clay, and Melissa and Doug toys as well as books so the children could have more to play with. The kids are usually there for long periods of time, I can't even imagine how bored I would be to have next to nothing for arts and crafts let alone books.
Teachers - My daughter went through 4 teachers in a year and a half. This school has a high turn over rate of teachers and families enrolling and then leaving. I had gone through several issues with the teachers either being dismissive, passive, or extremely unprofessional sharing personal detail about other families and their child being "a menace".
I won't mention names but the one that has stuck with me from the beginning was when my daughters first pre primary teacher cautioned us which kids were autistic and not to have play dates with them in the case the child's parents would reach out to us. The drama between staff is also very apparent, and was openly shared amongst myself and other parents whom I have met during our time at PPA.
My 3 year old daughter was also accused of "telling stories" by her teacher when she had come home to tell us that her teacher told her to be quiet when she got accidentally hurt at this preschool facility. I had asked the teacher about the incident and the teacher, in front of me, asked my daughter why she was lying. I could not believe this teacher has been one of the few longest standing teachers yet she shamed and blamed my daughter out in the open the way she did. How humiliating and discouraging for a toddler!
Another two incidents that was extremely alarming was when I picked up my daughter early during lunch and I overheard a floater tell a child not to spill his water or he wouldn't be given anymore and another time was when I watched another floater let a child scream and cry during nap time and not tend to the child. I brought this up to the director because:
Why are children not allowed to have water after accidentally spilling. Why is this type of communication towards these children normalized? I am still mind blown. They are here to learn about the world we live in.
Why is a "trained" employee who works at a preschool, watching children nap, able to sit back in a chair and let a child wail for her mom and not seem to have any sign of empathy towards the child? (I brought this up and the director said she was still new and training). Trained or not, this was extremely unacceptable and grounds for neglect. How this floater was hired is beyond me.
Overall care - My daughter was neglected here, on all fronts and I find myself to be responsible to have waited this long to take her out of PPA. I take responsibility for choosing this school for her because I was desperate to go back to work and help give her some form of socialization and education after her first two years of life cooped up at home from the pandemic. Because of the high turn over rate and how she was poorly treated, she now displays behavioral issues. This is after being bit many times, scratched, and verbally bullied by other children and it not being corrected in the very beginning even after I emailed multiple times, have had many meetings, and changed teachers. What's strange is that many of the times she was injured, her teachers did not see how it happened. But when she retaliated, it was documented in full detail.
After she started retaliating after growing tired of being constantly picked on, (she is very small, the smallest in her age group). I picked up on their lack of wanting to help us as the year has gone by whenever we would drop her off and pick her up. They branded my child as the child no one wanted to be around, and that they couldn't help us. Side eyed glances, annoyed smiles are all details I pick up on as an extremely intuitive individual.
TRUST your gut when touring this preschool. I wish I did.
