Description: My name is Kathy Anderson and I am the Director of Newell Baptist Child Development Center. I am originally from Fair Bluff, NC and I relocated to Charlotte with my two children in the year 2006. I have been with the daycare since October 2006 where I began working as a Toddler Room teacher. A year and a half later I was promoted to the position of Assistant Director. In the year 2013, I began my now position as Director.
I realized my love for children at the age of 18 when I got a job working in a church daycare in Greenville, N.C. To work with kids is such a special and rewarding job. Isaiah 54:13 says “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.” I feel that the Lord has placed me in this position to do His will and be a Blessing to others.
My child started at this daycare when she was 6 weeks old. Before she started I met with the Assistant Director, Miss Kathy and loved her. She told me that the baby room teacher was Miss Toya and she has been working with babies for the past 7 years. I loved it. It was a reasonable tuition and the hours were good.
However, when my child got to the one year old room problems started. The first being that my child bumped their lip. Not a big deal right? A one year old will fall. Miss Kathy pointed out the bump when I picked her up at 5:20pm and said she called her primary teacher, Miss Marie and Miss Marie told Miss Kathy that she did not notice it (SN: Miss Marie works from 8am-5pm). I was fine and told Miss Kathy to just write up the incident report when things slowed down and myself or my husband would sign it in the morning. When my husband showed up the next morning my childs Assistant Teacher, Miss Tameca, told him that my child didn't bump their lip, and that it was a fever blister. My husband called me and I got mad because that is not the story I was told the previous evening. When I called the daycare center for clarification the director, Miss Debbie, told me that Miss Tameca noticed it in the late morning and pointed it out to her and Miss Debbie confirmed that it was a fever blister. That's when I pointed out that Miss Marie said that she didn't notice it (But she was there until 5?!). Miss Tameca also wears long acrylic nails which I think is unsanitary, but I digress. I consulted with a lady who used to work for DSS and she told me to look under my child's lip to see if there was a cut, there in fact was one and my initial story was confirmed, she bumped her lip on something. But that raises the question, why didn't someone at the daycare know to look under her lip and if it happened late morning why didn't her primary teacher see it?
I also noticed one day that the daily sheets were photocopied, I also brought this to Miss Marie and Miss Debbie's attention and Miss Marie assured me from that point on they would have individual daily sheets and they would be filled out in its entirety. I had a lengthy conversation with Miss Marie apologizing if our earlier issue seemed like I was mad and that my issue was not with her that it was the miscommunication between the assistant teacher, director and myself. The next day I got a note saying, "Please help {my child's name} to work on following directions! Thank You" Okay, I'm not one of those parents who thinks their child is perfect, but honestly, how much direction is a 1 year old going to follow consistently????? I asked a few of the other teachers and they all looked at me and said that it was rude and unreasonable for such a request to be made. I never mentioned my issue with the teacher because I thought maybe she was just blowing off steam at me from the earlier incident. However, in my child's defense during the Christmas Program my child was one of the only few who didn't cry or run off during their class's performance (and have a youtube video to prove it) so my child definitely doesn't have a problem following directions
The last issue came today. The daycare policy states "For closing information watch WSOC-TV Channel 9. If Mecklenburg County schools close, the daycare center will also close" well today CMS operated on a 2 hour delay. So if the daycare opens at 7 a 2 hour delay means they'll open up at 9, right? WRONG! They opened up at 11. For me this was the last straw. I now had to miss work (and we don't have an inclement weather policy at my job, we have to use vacation time for snow days) and once again there's a lack of communication. I asked the director to please give me a copy of the Daycare policy book and she gruffly stated, "Sure, you can and be sure to look at the notice on the door on your way out" I said to her that i was under the assumption they were under a 2 hour delay and that's when she specified that yes, a two hour delay from what the elementary in front of the daycare's hours are. Newell elementary opened up at 10:45 this morning (Still 15 minutes earlier that Newell Baptist CDC) But who would know that?! CMS schools open and close at different times and I asked her this. She then rudely flung the book at me. I grabbed it, told Miss Kathy who witnessed the whole ordeal to have a nice day and walked out.
I later found out that the director is not educated in Childcare Development. She has a credential but not a degree. The only experience she has is the time spent at this daycare facility. Several staff members have tried to bring the problems with the director to the board of directors but in turn, have all been fired. I plan on going to the church's next board of directors meeting to address my issue. I am in the process of moving my child to another facility that charges a little bit more but makes me feel more at peace. I am sad to take my child out of Newell because they are very happy there and most of the teachers are WONDERFUL but under the leadership of Debbie Varner, the daycare is not a great place for children.