Complaint Review: KinderCare

I have only worked here for a few months and I have so many bad things to say!  First and most importantly is the children.  This is a company that charges ridiculous prices because they are 4-star centers and claim to be educational, but I rarely see any learning going on in any classroom.  The preschoolers never practice holding a pencil properly and cannot recognize their own names.  Yes I understand that at this age, of course they don't yet know how to read and write BUT they are capable of attempting to learn their names.  These kids can't even recognize the letters when using flashcards.  As teachers, we are supposed to observe what interests the child and then alter our curriculum from there but no one here does.  There is a preschooler who enjoys writing her name and it's to the point where she has to wait for me to enter the room and then she will ask me to help her write her name because she knows her actual teacher won't take the time to practice with her.

There also is no learning center being utilized. Kids are left to roam the room freely all day which creates complete chaos and then instead of the teachers realizing its their fault for not keeping them occupied, they instead yell at and scold the children.

This particular center is now understaffed because management keeps enrolling children and not hiring more teachers. Since theirs more kids than staff ratios, kids are constantly being shuffled around from room to room.  They end up sending 4 and 5 yr olds to the infant room.  How degrading is that? And it's against the law!

We currently do not have a kitchen staff person because the company won't let us hire one. So, one staff that we already have ends up Struggling in the kitchen to make meals for all the kids and then we are down yet another person in the classrooms.

There is hardly any communication between staff.  I have been left in a classroom, been told that the other person will "be right back" and they never do come back, theN I find out they were gossiping in the office for a few hours while I was doing the actual work.  I have been left with as many as 18 kids by myself in the mornings and I've been told "oh well" by management.  Because she would rather sit in the office texting her boyfriend all say than help me with 18 kids.

When parents pick up, they are frustrated because they don't know which room their child will be in and then to make it worse their child's stuff is usually in a different room than the child.  So the parents, who have just completed a full days work, now has to run around the daycare collecting their child and their belongings.

The classroom curriculum is a joke.  We have to follow the books given to us, but they are horrible.  I myself have mass much better curriculum and projects but I was told not to use my stuff.  It was a big slap in the face because I went to collage for early childhood and I studied how to create proper curriculum and now I feel like it was a waste of time because even though they want people with degrees, they still tell them what to do.  Also, we have these boards in our room that is to display children's artwork.  According to keystone stars, they need to be at child's level and the sole purpose is to tell the children look at and admire their work. But with KinderCare, they only care about making it look nice for tours. So the boards are adult level, not child level, and they have to be presentable at all times. I find this to be a challenge seeing as how childrens work is often sloppy and unorganized.  So teachers end up having to fix children's worK to make it slightly more attractive on the wall.

The average cost for one child per week is $200, varying on which classroom they are in.  That is significantly more expensive than surrounding daycares.  A family with one child (who does not have CCIs) is paying roughly $800 a month for care!  Surrounding daycares charge about $400 a month.  With all this extra money, where is it going? Staff never get bonuses are rarely get raises.  Staff with degrees are being paid the same as staff without degrees. Staff do not get sick or vacation pay until after a YEAR of employment.  And since we are always understaffed anyway, it's very hard to call off at all.

They hire people at full time hours but then try to cut them.  Instead of 80 hour paychecks every 2 weeks, I've been getting about 60-65.  Most staff are made to take hour  long breaks and then sent home way early as children start to go home.  It is a nice break to leave early from work sometimes, but when it's everyday and it's costing you money then it's not such a good thing. I was already warned that in the summer they tend to really really cut full time peoples hours, usually evendropping them a whole day.

Overall I think this company has a lot to offer IFthey cared more about the quality rather than the money.  I'm writing them up as a "rip off" because I really think for the price parents pay, more should be done with their children. And they rip off staff by promising them certain hours and to be in specific classrooms but they end up messing it up!