The GAC Academy LLC

I was hesitant to even start after learning one of their teachers had COVID and the school hadn’t closed, quarantined or anything but against my better judgment I started working. A constant issue seemed to be that the classrooms where almost always out of ratio whether it was too many students in a classroom, or too many children per teacher. And I know for a fact that just in my first few days of working there, during an inspection Yolanda lied about the ages of the children in her classroom and it just so happened to be during nap so she ended up getting away with it. Now when I was hired there where 2 teachers in the 1 year old classroom, I was told 1 was being fired but that the other, Leilany needed some help. Her children where constantly getting hurt with no explanation, she didn’t know how to or wouldn’t do lessons/lesson plans for the kids and she talked inappropriately to parents. In fact one of her 1 year old students ended up moving into the 2 year old room due to the way she spoke to her parents. So basically my job was to help her learn how to do her job so that they could open up another 1’s classroom and she could be trusted to teach alone. During my first few weeks I was hired, 1 teacher had been fired, 2 where out for a week or more, and another girl was hired/ fired within 3 days so we only had about 4 consist teachers along with the owner Abby. It was very clear she hired just about anyone, some or no experience but more importantly no qualifications. At the time 1 or 2 of the teacher working had never worked in childcare before and she was willing to hire people who hadn’t even begun their 45 DCF hours, she would specifically tell me to have anyone I know who needs a job to come in for an interview. A lot of responsibility was just dropped onto me with little to no warning, no explanations but the expectations where so high! The teamwork was absolutely awful, the attitudes even worse, the amount of backstabbing and gossip among teachers about other staff, students and parents is enough to make you sick! Mya yelled at me, shushed me and put her hand in my face when I brought up some of my concerns that I wanted to discuss rather than having a conversation with me. A child with autism was introduced to me as the kid with “scrambled egg brains” by the owner/director .. she also shamed same sex parents openly in the lunchroom because she “doesn’t agree with that” ... That list could go on and on but the most upsetting thing was what led me to no longer have any desire to work here. I had a student eating lunch one day and all of a sudden another teacher had to inform me that she was allergic to strawberries. She just so happened to be eating strawberry yogurt, so I immediately brought her to the owner Abby and asked what I should do next. Instead of calling mom or dad, or even looking in her file she tells me just to bring her back to lunch while she figures it out. Now by this time it’s now nap, I have no idea what kind of reaction happens when this child eats strawberries and I can’t get an answer. I now have to call and text Abby because I’m stuck in my classroom and still no answer, the entire nap time I’m checking her for rashes, making sure she’s breathing okay and never got any kind of answer. I made sure to double check everywhere, my bulletin board, my clipboard, my folder and there was no sign of an allergy list anywhere so I would’ve had no way of even knowing! Of course the child was okay and I spoke with mom and dad at pick up but the absolute lack of concern that day was heartbreaking. During this same week a parent had learned they had COVID and the staff wasn’t even informed we had to hear it through the grapevine! The owner Abby was waiting to see if the child’s test also came back positive before saying anything to anyone which is NOT okay because that parent was inside the building and or classrooms every single day 1-2 times a day! They definitely put on a good front, and having the title “Christian” in their name definitely creates an illusion that helps support their image. I had friends who planned on enrolling their children because I originally recommended the school but with the more I was hearing/seeing I had to refer them elsewhere. I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of their children coming there and I’m beyond thrilled we made that decision.
I look at it very simply, would I want my child being talked about like that? Or me and my partner? Would I want my child with someone with no experience or qualifications? Would I send my child to this school? No, absolutely not!