I would not recommend this school to anyone who cares about the safety and well-being of their child. In the 11 months that my daughter attended this center there were about 8-10 staff changes within two classrooms. Now, I know that turnover in this industry is to be expected but geez em, to me that is high. They will sell you on them have a top notch curriculum and that their staff has on-going training but what good is the ongoing training if the staff is ever-changing?
They are continuously not in compliance with the teacher to child ratios which just leads to the children running a muck or worse getting injured and no one seeing it, which I have heard more times than I ever cared too. When my child was moved into the 3 yo classroom it was a bit of an adjustment (which was to be expected) but we were getting through it. However, not a month into it, I came to pick up my daughter and noticed she had a long scratch on her neck. When asked what happened she told me that a classmate had scratched her. I brought it to management and was told that no one had saw the incident (shocker). They further asked who did it and I named the classmate my daughter named. I got from management at that time, yes, we have been having difficulties with this child adjusting, thus this was not the first incident of him hitting others.
When speaking with the classroom teacher, I learned that this child had attacked several other children in the room. I stated that I wanted to minimize the interaction between my daughter and this child for her safety. Not two weeks later I am picking my daughter up and learn that the same child had come across the room and bit her in the face. I asked what they were doing to ensure the safety of the other children in the classroom seeing that this child was apparently a loose cannon. I actually had a member of management, Mrs. Bauers, tear up saying " I just feel so bad for his family and what they have to deal with." Umm, what!?! What about the children that this child is attacking and their feelings and families.
The final straw for me was perhaps a week or two after the second incident, while picking up my child management says they would like to speak with me in the office. Once there, I am told that this child had again attacked my daughter, this time picking up a toy train and hitting her in the eye. It took everything in me to remain calm or as calm as I could be I was visibly upset and rightfully so. I asked why someone wasn't with this child shadowing him throughout his day if he has that much of an issue. To add insult to injury, this child was still running around playing and interacting with the children in classroom??? By their own admission my child had never done anything to this little boy, not said anything to him or otherwise physically done something to him that would warrant his attacks on her.
I was told that the school would be willing to move my daughter into another classroom to separate them or I could just keep her in the same classroom and they would try to monitor him more, what, really? So punish my child and move her because they cannot control an unruly child and /or keep her in the classroom with him further placing her in harms way. Yea, I'll pass. I told them that that would be her last day as obviously they didn't know how or didn't care to protect my child and the other children in the classroom.
The owner, Karen Verlardi, could care less about the safety of the children or the people that work for her. She is a very much a businesswoman who only cares about making money. For what you pay in tuition for this school, of which is no small amount and for the service you receive they are totally out of balance. The environment at Primrose is one of no communication, unstable, unorganized chaos. No one ever knows what is going on which begs the question, what am I paying for? Parents beware just because the facility is nice and management seems friendly, its all superficial.
