The Goddard School

Overall-Negative experience with the Administration, their policies and sensitivity to parental concerns.! Most teachers though were caring. We lost confidence and dis-enrolled our child when the Administration failed to adhere to health standards and demonstrate accountability for their actions. Our 2yo son attended this school for seven months. We were not happy with the diaper changing procedure, the growing number of kids in one classroom, the lack of notification to parents about child sicknesses in school and the lack of responsiveness from the administration to address the issues to prevent sicknesses from spreading in the classroom. They are currently under formal investigation into these issue which violate state regulations. 1. The diapers are changed on the floor of the classroom in the open-there is no privacy. I watched my child stand in the play area in the classroom and made to touch the floor with his hands while his teacher changed his diaper amongst the other children. I was shocked that this was the schools policy! 2. The number of children in son’s class was continuously growing and more than doubled while he attended this school. The classroom is overcrowded for the number of children. There was no place to fit your childs belonging since kids had to share cubbies with more kids and the refrigerator for the meals and cups was bursting with all the lunch box meals provided by the parents. 3. Kids who appeared to be sick were not separated from the rest of the classroom to prevent contamination to other kids. We found the school did not enforce the sickness policy to call parents to pick up the kid within the hour. Nor do they take temperature when children are noticeably sick. We picked up our son several times with fever. 4. Our son contracted from school a severe case of strep throat that required admittance to the ER and overnight hospitalization because his airway was dangerously constricted. We notified the school of the seriousness of the situation so that they would make other parents aware of the sickness and would look out for similar symptoms in their children. The Goddard School did not acknowledge our email nor did they sent out an email to notify other parents about a case of strep throat being reported at school. We don’t expect our son to not get sick at school but we did expect The Goddard School to do everything possible to prevent spreading sicknesses by enforcing their policies and maintaining a clean environment in the classroom. The school failed to do this and we lost confidence in sending our son back. Despite multiple attempts to communicate our concerns directly to the Director, she refused to acknowledge issues raised and demonstrated a total lack of empathy to our dissatisfaction. To protect other families and children we have brought these issues to the appropriate authorities. Please be wary of your choice-our children deserve it!

I would never recommend this daycare. They pride themselves in the use of technology, such as realtime email updates and a computer sign-in system, but in the limited encounters with this, I have found it to be an excuse for the teachers to substitute instruction with laziness. I once came into the classroom watching the children viewing Disney's Moana with the discussion of "Why is Moana sad?" When questioned about any aspects of the curriculum, the staff immediately become rude as though you insulted them to the core with simple questions like did my potty training child have any accidents today? They would simply attempt to brush aside any concerns by directing you to the daily reports they send, which do not contain any of the information you are requesting. I also doubt the accuracy of those reports as on a couple occasions I would get an email sent in the morning stating they already had a noontime nap and afternoon snack. The administration is less than caring about your child's learning and more caring about finding excuses in why your children do not live up to their expectations. They do not take responsibility in the fact that they are the ones providing instruction. When you are in disagreement about your child's participation in summer field trip activities, which they make mandatory and charge a hidden fee, the only recourse you have is to take time off of work for several hours to watch your child. The daycare refuses to assign the appropriate amount of staff to allow your child to stay at the daycare instead of the field trip. I would highly recommend you consider a daycare that cares about you and your children.

This is not a caring or friendly daycare and I would not recommend this daycare to anyone. Staff is very rude, the daycare owner is very unprofessional over phone and in person to the point that she yelled at me when I expressed some questions and concerns regarding the school curriculum and activities for my children. This daycare has mandatory summer field trip activities and if you opt out from having your kids attend some of trips, they refuse to watch your children at daycare during that time and make you find alternate care for that day. When I expressed some of my concerns about my child attending some trips, the daycare owner dismissed my concerns all while yelling at me and then she decided to discharge my children from their daycare and only gave us 1 day notice when we didn't even have another daycare lined up yet. They don't communicate well with new parents about these rules which were not even written in their enrollment agreement. Staff is not very accommodating in parents requests and choose to dismiss parents requests for their child care when they please. I am very disappointed at the low level of care and compassion from this daycare towards parents and children. Luckily, I was able to find a different, much better daycare for my kids that was more accommodating, professional, caring and respectful towards parents and children.

My son attended to that preschool in last summer for 3 months. I heard great about Goddard school, But unfortunately not the Mechanicsburg school. I never see they are responsible. I was not able to find permanent teacher for my son class room for 2 to 3 months. They are very good until you ask some questions about your kid. After that they became rude to you. They are expecting your kid should know everything, teachers will only stand one side of the class room and watch your children. On 3 months tenure of my son i never see they are following one routine. I felt very depressed about my son when he is attending to the school, now i feel much better after stop going to that school. Yes they are very good in complaining about your kid. I feel they care about only for money not about your kids. Sorry for the long review but its my experience about that school.

We are very pleased with our experience at The Goddard School! Our son's teachers are wonderful and we love their focus on learning and development.