Community Development Institute Head Start Columbia

Oh how I miss this place! My daughter was in Early HeadStart here during the pandemic and the women at Columbia HeadStart/Easter Seals handled the constant changes seamlessly. My daughter then attended HeadStart when they reopened to in-person classes. I chose to keep her here even though other options had opened up, because they TRULY care about their children. Unfortunately, she aged out and we moved states. My daughter is currently in an expensive private school in Texas (life has been good to us..thanks to programs like HeadStart). And while she loves her new school, we STILL talk about how much we miss Columbia. Every school after this one will have huge shoes to fill. I’ve never had a group of women treat my child like their own the way this staff and admin did. It’s a cliche but it is true in this instance. They supported me as well as my daughter. Babies and toddlers need more than just lessons on the ABCs or 123s (they do a great job with that as well). They really need a community that can nuture them. They helped to instill her love of learning but most importantly they made her feel SAFE to be herself. The teachers are amazing (Ms. Stovall, Ms. Moon, Ms. Shay, Ms. Tiffany, so many others…Ami loves you), the Family Advocates really care about the child’s FAMILY (love Ms. Johnson), the chef who took special care of my highly allergic child (Ms. Chris), and of course the woman who keeps it all going..Mrs. Ebony Cray. What an educator! It’s amazing to watch someone living in their purpose and her purpose is clearly Early Childhood EDUCATION…in all its forms. I could go on but I don’t have the space. Thank you all for being a wonderful and pivotal part of our village at a crucial time in our lives. 👏🏾👏🏾 * you all deserve so much more! I see how other teachers are treated in more affluent communities and they don’t do half the work that you all do. I just wish you were supporting a population that could truly show you their appreciation but I know you all do it out of the love

Many of the staff and teachers are always complaining about my daughter being too quiet and not talking when they want. It has made her feel bad and not want to go to school. An incident happened where my daughter got a gash under her eye. We won't be able to know how it happened because the staff won't allow us to view the tape! The staff was protecting each other and didn't care about my daughter or how we felt. Her teacher, Ms. Randall is VERY rude and disrespectful to me and my husband. They all made light of the situation and wasn't empathetic at all. People don't need to be part of a school staff if they can't care about children and parent's concerns! God sees all and I pray he watches over and protects every child because many of these schools are wrong. They're fake and only want a paycheck. It's VERY sad and disappointing.

One word. G H E T T O! The director is RUDE ! She will only speak to you if other people are around if She does not like you she will NOT speak to you when no one else is around. When other people are around She will smile in your face and pretends she cares she definitely does not. She will tell you she will address something but she will never address anything in front of you (ex.have a parent /teacher meeting) when you ask the teachers how your child was doing all they say is good every SINGLE day they don't care to communicate with you they act as if your bothering them. I wonder how they are when your child is left alone. Let me rephrase because all the teachers may not be like this just the 2 /3 year old class. There's some schools where they love what they do and actually care for the children this is not one of them !

The teachers are great the school is terrible my 2 year old daughter go there they mistreating her I'm taking her out today the director is very disrespectful ! Rude ! and Ignorant ! Columbia headstart is not a good school at all I would never leave my child there again if u love your child do not put your child in Columbia headstart!

I love pca head start