Honey Tree Learning Center - Dover NH Center Based Program License

I've had my child in Honey Tree for quite a while now and have nothing but good things to say about the facility and the teachers. My child LOVES to come in each morning and often doesn't want to leave when it's time to go home. It's clean, well managed, and I feel good each morning dropping my child off.

Things I love:
-Dedicated teachers who actually care about the kids
-Large facility with a great outdoor fenced area for kids to play
-Cedar playground
-Lunch program
-Curriculum - Alphabet, counting, animals, sign language, dance, singing, the list goes on...
-Shed for outdoor toys and strollers
-Once again...GREAT TEACHERS!

I will not be stating if I am a previous or current employee. I have worked in child care for many years and HTC has been my worst working experience. Employees are not treated equal, if you do not suck up you are not treated fairly. Management is rarely around leaving classes over ratio...if you do ask for help because you are overwhelmed or worried of the safety for the children you are basically told to deal with it. There was an incident where a employee was left over ratio with babies while the director took the only float that could have helped this employee to run errands. I would definitely say that is not putting the children first as an adult should be capable to run errands alone. I would not send my children here. Not only is the ratio unsafe many employees do not have required education. As an employee it is an unstable job as payment is not guaranteed. Checks have bounced on numerous occasions. The owner has even asked people if they can wait to cash there checks. Very unprofessional. I will say it is a great space and could be a great facility if it had the proper management. I am unsure of the talk of contacting lawyers as everything being stated is credible information.

1. Checks bouncing is true
2. Being over ratio is true
3. Some staff not having education is true
4. Management being gone a lot is true

First off, I would like to say that I am a fairly recent past employee. Secondly, I'd like to say that my ex-boss/Director of Honey Tree openly accuses her employees of being disgruntled employees and this is extremely disappointing but in no way surprising. I am not offended because I know I have reasons behind being "disgruntled" and already took care of the problem when I left.
I am an employee who left on my own free will, gave my 2 weeks notice and everything(out of respect for parents, and love for the children). I left for a number of reasons that absolutely was aware of by administration but they did not care to fix.
1.) Constant shift in teachers. Ratios were often not met. Many times I would be alone with 10 one to two year olds while I waited for my co-teacher to arrive.
2.) Inconsistent schedules. Every staff member had a different shift, and every week. Despite my concern for consistency for the children in my care, or the consistency for myself and my family, my boss did not care. Any wise caregiver knows that children NEED consistency, and teachers do as well.
3.)Bounced checks. I will admit that we did receive a check every Friday but would have to race to the bank to try and make sure our checks cashed. There were several checks that would bounce due to insufficient funds on honey tree's end. So yes, we did get a check but it was a bad check, otherwise known as CHECK FRAUD.
4.) There was an incident where a child was sent to the bathroom alone and another child pushed them and the child fell and got severely hurt. Again, there was no teacher designated to watch this child,but yet the Assistant director Jamie portrayed it as there was a teacher there when the incident happened, and there absolutely was not.
5.) Constantly no supplies on site. Soap dispensers often were filled with water, there were often times no paper towels, gloves to change diapers with, or toilet paper for the children to wipe with. When approaching the directors about the lack of supply they would give attitude and ignore concerns as they sat in their office on their computers, phones, and eating.
6.) Honey Tree boasts about Enrichment programs that they offer, but they would charge parents for the individual class eventually leading to increasing tuition. The classes included; music and movement, art, yoga, and Ballet. As an educator I struggled with this concept- tuition is expensive enough to charge more for things that should already be included in the curriculum.
7.)Moldy food/not enough food. Yes, there was Moldy food. No, teachers did not feed it to the kids they gave them whatever else they could find. Comparing the food we had to feed a center of approximately 97 children, it was like the A Breadcrumb and Fish parable. There was little food to feed the children, and most of the time it was crackers, sugary cereal, canned fruit- not a nutritious snack that Honey tree advertises that they offer.
8.). The parent who commented above is one of Jesse's childhood friends, and she did drop offs and pickups super quick considering she has about 5 children(only 2 of which she dropped off for childcare), so I encourage you to take her input with a grain of salt.
9.)There were countless issues with honey tree that I brought to administration, I spoke up, I purchased things on my own and never saw a dime back (I never bothered asking), and yes I hoped so much for change. For improvements. For TEAM work. But, time and time again my concerns and my effort was ignored and/or looked negatively against.
Over 10 staff members left within 10 months of working there, and more continue to leave due to the lack of respect and care from administration. If you don't believe me, ask to see the files at the center. Ask to see the kitchen. Ask to see the supply closet. Ask to talk with a few of the teachers. Come back for more than one walk-thru. People can always put on a show in the beginning. Just really look into it before sending your child to this center.
10.) I am not posting this to deliberately complain, or put down this center. I am just trying to provide some insight to what this center really provides you with, and what ongoing issues you will most likely have to face. & once again, hopefully this open and honest review will lead to some changes. I have a lot more that I can say but I will leave that for another time. :-)

As a parent of five, I have used a number of public daycare centers throughout the years. My honest review is I would rate Honey Tree with 4.5 stars, and easily 5 stars, if their entrance policy featured a security system.

In addition to my biological children, I also foster parent. In one particular instance the director allowed two children in foster care to attend her facility free of charge when we ran into problems with state funding. She also took it upon herself to help me transport a sibling to daycare when another child needed an unexpected surgery. In my opinion, children are absolutely not just a number at Honeytree. Jesse genuinely cares about her families. I was thoroughly impressed with the pre-K graduation ceremony Honeytree offered its enrollees, and saw how hard Jesse and her staff worked to serve a fabulous meal to families.

-the building does not have a digital keypad at entry, but does feature doors that lock securely should staff elect to do this.
-I have never seen evidence of child/teacher ratios being outside of state guidelines.
-my children packed a lunch from home, but were always given healthy, fresh snacks at Honeytree. I cannot imagine any staff member preparing moldy food.
-I've personally seen plenty of sanitizing going on at Honeytree, including regular visits by a professional cleaning service.
-While Honeytree is not in an "old" building it is not a newly constructed facility. Therefore it is not unrealistic to expect that there will be ongoing maintenance projects, and the presence of tools required to complete them, visible. I have never seen any tools within reach of the children or posing a safety risk.
-Honeytree often hosts a friendly dog. For some of the children this has helped increase the sense of "home" and offers a therapeutic element. I have NEVER seen dog feces anywhere.
-The play structure at Honeytree is very impressive. My children vibrated with excitement to run and play on it. I have never observed any safety concerns relating to gates or play equipment at the facility. Actually the fencing is top notch and allows for fully visible supervision.

Honeytree is a clean, caring, professional daycare facility. I often feel it is the staff (and not just a director) that make up a quality facility. I would question the motives of a staff member (either former or current) who can criticize lack of paper towels or sanitizing spray, and not simply refill/replace.

I wouldn't hesitate to send a child to Honeytree. I will share that the pre-K staff even helped to developmentally "catch up" a child in my card who had suffered serious neglect. They are priced competitively, centrally located while being "off the beaten path", and offer quality care. Period.