Columbia Kinder College

The owner(s), specifically the owner's daughter is impossible to talk to. She is not a mother, so she is only focused on herself when issues arise. The owners purchase packaged Little Debbie sweets for the kid's snacks, so nutrition is definitely not valued, and is not being taught to the children. There are TV's mounted on the walls in almost every class room, meaning cartoons are teaching your kids, not the teachers. Most teachers are really great, but some have been recruited from Swap and Sell websites and Craig's List. The school has never asked for parental feedback on teachers or anything for that matter. The result of complaints are a "write-up" of the teacher and no real resolution. Cell phone usage is completely out of control. All teachers are on their phones and don't even try to hide it on camera or at pickup.

If I could I wouldn't even give this daycare one star. I decided to go back to work when my son was 2. My son attended the daycare for 6 months and had incidents on a monthly basis. He was be bitten by other kids and was biting back which had never been an issue at home. He fell a couple times and ran into a door which sounded suspicious. The incident that changed my life forever was when I got a call on saying he fell and I was walking out of work so I was there within 20 minutes. When I arrived one of the daycare employees was holding my son and he was screaming. You don't have to be licensed to know the way he was screaming something was seriously wrong. The employee went to move him and I said NO, we need an ambulance. I was shocked no one called 911 already. His leg also wouldn't straighten out. The daycare workers knew this because they are on camera in the playground area trying to stand him up which might have caused more injury. The daycare workers said my son and another kid were chasing a ball and he fell. The videotape shows everything but the fall bc it happened in a fire exit that was immediately blocked off after this incident which means it should have never been open to children. No one can see the kids in that area so the daycare workers can't say exactly what happened. Needless to say we get to the nearest emergency room and the X-rays show my 2 year old baby had a broken femur. We were transported to Cardinal Glennon in St. Louis. We met with surgeons and doctors and my baby was sedated and they straightened his leg and put him on morphine to help with the muscle spasms and extreme pain he was feeling because he had a weight connected to his leg to extend the femur that had bunched up after it broke. He had to spend the night that way and I sat by his side watching him twitch and moan all night. The next day my poor baby was put in a body cast from under his arms all the way to his ankle. He had to keep it on for 8 weeks and he was a high risk for a re-break for 6 months. After we were home I called the daycare to ask what their insurance company had said and the daycare never notified their insurance company. I was shocked. So after I informed them that should have been done then they reported the incident and I received a letter in the mail from the daycare insurance company saying they weren't taking any responsibility. I asked to meet with the owner and so she met me at the daycare and I asked if they would cover loss wages bc I was going to have to stay home to take care of my son. The owner said I could drop him off at the daycare and they would hire someone to take care of him. I was shocked that she even suggested that I drop my son off at a daycare in a body cast to a daycare where he wasn't being watched and broke his leg. I said no and she said if I wanted anything I would have to file suit. I am still in shock to this day that I trusted this daycare with my baby, my first born and they are so nonchalant about his broken leg. I did file suit and we had to wait a year to make sure the bone healed as close to normal as it could. It's not the same size as his other leg and it will never be the same. It's been almost 2 years and the daycare still isn't taking any responsibility. I am grateful that my son didn't have to have surgery and that for the most part healed nicely but in the recovery process I lost my job, sold everything I had until I finally lost my car and my place to live. I had to move in with my ex husband which is just awful. Please if you love your children and care about their safety, Columbia Kinder College is not the place to go and should be shut down for child negligence.