The Young School @ Meadow Creek

My son started with The Young School in June 2013, and within our first 4 months there, the Head of School, Assistant Head of School, and Cottage Director left. It was never the same after that.

There was much confusion and little communication. The last correspondence from the owner of the school was in October 2013, and we heard nothing after that to the point when we left in January 2014. The interim Head of School never sent out any communications either. We didn't even know if they were still looking for a Head of School, and you would think this would be something parents have a right to know. The Assistant Head of School never sent out communications either. She was usually in the office at her desk not making eye contact with anyone as they walked in or visiting her daughter in the infants' room.

My son's teachers were not very welcoming. I was usually the one who had to greet them and start the conversation. As a result, I gave up even trying to 'make nice' anymore. They did not even acknowledge that we were there some mornings. I had drop-offs where I would make sure that my son found his way to a 'center' and checked with the teacher to make sure there was room, only to find when I was all the way down the hallway that my son left the cottage and was following me. He also indicated that he was being bullied by a child that previously punched him in the face and, oddly enough, I was never told by anyone at the school, nor was a report ever completed for this incident (maybe because the child was the son of one of the teachers there?). It was only through my son telling me about it and my confronting a teacher that it was brought to my attention. This and the fact that he was now acting out so much at home indicated to me that he was not getting the attention he needed during the day.

I tried via a parent/teacher meeting several months before we left to make sure that my son was getting the education he needed to be ready for kindergarten the following fall, however, I did not see any significant progress and the school year was halfway over. I was told at the beginning of the school year that he was in the Letter Group and would be assessed shortly thereafter to determine if he should be moved up to the Sound Group, but never heard another word about that. His progress report indicated he was "Proficient" in everything, but he remained in the Letter Group. He also had no new letters added to his letter ring on his lunchbox, but I noticed that other children's lunchboxes had twice as many letters. If my son was having problems learning, this should have been communicated to me. I was also told when we initially enrolled that the education fee covered a Spanish teacher coming in on a monthly basis, only to find out at the parent/teacher meeting that the Spanish teacher resigned before we even enrolled, and The Young School was looking for a new one. Were any parents notified about this? I know I wasn't. I was under the assumption that my son was getting Spanish lessons. I think The Young School should have refunded that part of the education fee that went towards the Spanish lessons that our children were not receiving.

The Young School should also have refunded part of the annual supply fee as well. I understood this fee was to help support art projects. The only crafts my son brought home were scrap pieces of paper with crayon scribbles on them, and I saw absolutely no improvement in his artwork.

This was a tough decision, only because I did not like the idea of transitioning my son to another preschool seven months before he transitioned to kindergarten. I debated changing him to The Young School's part-time schedule, but based on the disappointment that The Young School had become, I decided to make the move. My son was miserable every weekday and put up a struggle because he said he didn't want to go to school. Every day my heart broke because of this. I want my son to have a love for school and learning. I tried to be patient and see if change would come, but it didn't and I felt I couldn't wait any longer.

After moving him to a new preschool, it was like night and day! He couldn't wait to get to school each day and would get upset if I picked him up early. He learned more in the 4 months at the new preschool than he did in 8 months at The Young School. He was recognizing sight words and was even starting to read when he became a preschool graduate in June 2014! I'm so glad I made the difficult decision to transition him, because it made all the difference!