The Learning Experience

I am a former employee of TLE and although the school is extraordinarily aesthetically pleasing, the harsh reality is that it is run by an incompetent "Director" and the children are the last priority. Catie M who calls herself the "Center Director" is actually an imposter. She has limited credentials and has not yet received her Florida Director's Credential which is evident by the shotty decisions she made on a day to day basis. Catie is constantly looking out for herself and doing anything she can to take the stress of being in a childcare center off of her. She accomplishes this daily by pushing the ratios in the classrooms, falsifying children's birthdates so she can move them up or down to a different room, placing 3 year olds in the VPK classrooms during VPK hours, taking lunch breaks away from the hourly staffed teachers, and dismissing any any all teacher/parent concerns. Catie is a very manipulative person and has no issue 'listening' to parents complaints and responding the way they want to be responded to then going behind their back and dismissing the situation or concern or improperly "fixing" it. Another interesting aspect of this school to note is that it is by no means an inexpensive preschool however, Catie and the business manager, Chris M (who wrote a review below as a parent), are 100% in the field for their bonuses. If the monthly budget starts looking tight, they will cut important costs from the children to ensure their bonuses. There were MANY times that the teachers would go weeks without supplies such as paper and markers/paint to adequately conduct art projects with the children and the response the teachers would get when informing Chris or Catie was "Budget". There were also MANY times that the children wouldn't be given milk for lunch or snacks which was supposed to be included in the monthly tuition. The final budget kicker was when the center would run out of disposable cups and spoons, they would buy the bare minimum from Walgreens next door, have the teachers write each child's name on a set and then expect the children to reuse them day after day until the budget had enough room for fresh cups and spoons. Upon drop off, TLE may come off as a well oiled machine however, by 10am the head has been cut off the chicken and it turns into utter chaos with the shuffling around of children and lack of credentialed and qualified staff. There were days when children were moved between three different rooms so at pick up, their personal belongings were no where to be found. TLE also advertises that they offer various extra curricular activities and enrichment programs. Although they do occasionally get the supplies in to do these activities, it is rare that they are actually conducted in the proper manner since the majority of the time, Catie only orders enough for some of the children or doesn't order the teacher manuals or they "just don't feel like doing the activity". Although I loved the parents and children who attend/attended TLE while I was there, I felt that it was absolutely necessary to my professional advancement to part ways with TLE. Morally, I could not stand by the way Catie chose to run the center although I frequently expressed my concerns, none of them were effectively addressed. It is sad that such a beautiful center with so much potential is being run like such a three ring circus.