YMCA - PCC Child Development Center

Our child attended this daycare from 6 months to 2 ½ years of age. We eventually decided to withdraw our child from this center in fall of 2018 because it is being managed horribly by the relatively new director, Susan Ludwig (there have been four directors in the past two years) and the assistant manager, Kristin Russio.

Susan Ludwig is the type of person that talks at you instead of with you, so she never really listens to the parents’ perspective or concerns. She is also quick to pass blame and puts her reputation above providing genuine, quality care to the children. We simply didn’t feel that we could trust her, especially when disturbing events were swept under the rug. It was hushed up when one of the children almost electrocuted themselves by sticking coins into a power outlet. When confronted, Susan was quick to pass blame to Portland Community College because they built the facility, when in reality she should have taken responsibility for the dangerous situation. Parents were not notified when the center was on lockdown when a shooter was in the neighborhood. These are things that should simply be communicated and erodes trust when they are covered up to make things appear normal.

We had an even harder time with the assistant manager, Kristin Russio. She used to be the teacher in the infant classroom. When we would say good morning, she would never greet us in return. She wouldn’t even make eye contact. It’s incredibly unsettling to hand your infant child to someone who won’t even look you in the eye when they will be providing care for your infant for the entire day. She has a terrible attitude and is disrespectfully snarky to other staff and to parents. While other teachers were very open to talking about how things were going and willing to work with us in the best interest of our child, Kristin was dismissive and only seemed motivated by what was most convenient for her. For example, I caught her propping up babies by themselves to give them bottles, which should never happen.

The center does a horrible job communicating important information with parents. Sticky notes and white boards are left randomly around the center with important notices. These notes are often small and left in weird locations, such as at knee level making them easy to overlook.
The YMCA has a text message notification system, but text messages are always sent out too late to be useful. For example, if the center has a delayed start of 10am it would not be uncommon to receive a text message communicating this fact at 10am.

The center has a parent handbook, but it is a generic guide for all YMCAs and is so vague that it’s not at all useful. The center will make up rules on a whim that are communicated to parents via memos that are taped to children’s cubbies. New rules typically benefit the management of the center at the detriment of the families.

The center contacts parents while they are at work for incredibly trivial reasons. We’ve been called and told to leave work to come to the center to bring additional diapers or clothes, even though the need for these things were not anticipated or communicated to us on the previous day.

The food is not great. For example, the children are often fed saltine crackers for breakfast. Even though the USDA requires a whole grain to be fed at least once per day, the center usually fails to do so. Please also note that food menu that is posted in the lobby is not what is actually served. The food that is actually served is written on a white board in the hallway on the day it is prepared.

When it was time for our child to begin potty training, we started at home and had great success. Our progress quickly regressed when our child consistently urinated in their pants while at daycare. The center seemed incapable of taking children to the potty often enough to successfully potty train. Instead of taking responsibility for their shortcoming, the management simply demanded that parents bring more clothes that would inevitably be urinated in.

This daycare does have a lot of potential and under better management could be fantastic. The facility was built recently and the amenities are great. There’s lots of natural light and an excellent outdoor space with large trees where kids can play in the shade. There are also many thoughtful, compassionate teachers and aids that strive to provide a great experience for the children. These two factors are why I give this center any stars at all.