Irene Wortham Early Learning Center

Truly, I don't believe this center deserves even 1 star any longer. My special needs twins have attended this center for a year and half. This center appealed to me because it has a developmental day program and a favorable teacher to student ratio and was a place that would carry out their IEP plans. Since new administration came on board over the summer months, the atmosphere and behavior of my children have changed noticeably. The first thing we noticed was a decrease in teacher's assistants in the classrooms. I am not sure if this was the result of an administrative decision, but I lean towards that being the case. As months went by, more and more teachers and TAs were no longer there. The new director began making changes to what the teachers were and were not allowed to do...not just with my children, but with all children. I have no reason to believe that the teachers and TAs were doing anything inappropriate in managing our special needs twins before she came, but it became clear that they were being labeled as kids that could not be managed once she came on board. It is my belief that this was happening because of the new director's mandates that teachers and TAs "can't do this" or "can't do that" mindset and hanging her hat on "licensing regulations". She makes the changes and then blames the teachers for the problems that come about because of it. She actually said to me, "The teachers are playing games with me." Myself and my husband noticed the difference in teachers and TAs and how they would not even put a finger on our children to help redirect them. A reliable source has informed me that the teachers are terrified to even touch a child. You cannot deal with children without touching them, especially those with special needs. Even more concerning, the director took no action to implement specific tools for the twins that were discussed in their IEP update meeting mid-October, which she was a part of. On December 15th, 2 months later, after failing to implement these tools, she unilaterally said our twins could not stay beyond noon each day because they were unable to quietly rest during nap time. If the IEP tools were implemented, it may have helped them with their ability to rest calmly as sensory tools can help a child engage or calm their nervous systems. She gave us FIVE DAYS to figure out what to do as they would no longer be allowed past noon beyond December 19th. That rendered it impossible for us to continue having them attend IWC for only 3 hours each day as I work full-time 40 minutes away and dad travels 90% of the time for work. Additionally, she was aware that the twins have evaluations for disability diagnosis in January and early February, which could have brought about more resources and a maybe even a one-on-one person to be with the twins at school to help them, but she did not desire a resolution. When I brought up the fact that she had not uttered a single word or sent a single message to us about our twins in nearly three months, not even during the IEP meeting, she once again pointed blame on the teachers claiming that they do not communicate with her. When I confronted her about her unprofessionalism, she said, "it can be hard for parents to see the big picture", as if parents are unintelligent and do not know what is best for their children. I would never recommend this center while the current director is there, and I know many others who feel the same way.

This center has lost its charm since the new Director took over this year. My child has exhibited concerning new behaviors, and I’m puzzled about them. I’ve noticed a “Mental Health Check In” in the bathrooms, which I find intriguing yet inappropriate for an Early Learning Center. It inadvertently gives the impression that staff members are struggling with mental health issues. Teachers also don’t seem happy anymore. I have absolutely no complaints about the teachers; they are loving, caring, and I hope they can continue to love the children they serve. Needless to say, we’re actively searching for a new Early Learning Center and eagerly anticipate leaving this one behind. I also agree with Rachel’s review below; there’s no communication, and I’m not sure why either. "How ever the teachers do get a 5 star rating!"

My Lorelei loves going here for pre-k! She loves all her teachers- especially Ms Megan and Ms Jill. They've been very sweet to us both inside and outside the class. I would put 5 stars, but we've had some communication problems with the administration. I'm not sure if it's because they recently switched directors or what. At orientation we were told that the latest we could pick her up was 3:15 before getting charged a late fee, so we've been picking her up at exactly 3. Now all the sudden I'm notified that 3 is the cut off time, and we've been picking her up late for all these months. Nothing was said to us before. We were also told at orientation that the cut off time for drop off is 10am, but today we arrived at 9am (we had breakfast at home), and we were told we couldn't drop her off. The drop off time for pre-k starts at 8:30, so that literally only leaves a 30 minute window for parents to get there. I just dont see how that makes any sense, because what if they get caught in traffic? Other than those issues we've had a wonderful experience with this place and will continue to recommend it.

All of my children went to the Early Learning Center when they were younger and it was such a great program. My grandson started going there about 8-10 months ago and the new director is horrible. She speaks to parents so disrespectful and has no sympathy at all. She has not once had a interaction with my grandson or even acknowledged him in passing at the center. She doesn’t allow you to take them to doctors or dentist appointments and then bring them in which is a burden on my daughter who is a single mother who has to work, so they just have to miss appointments. I can see bringing them in in the middle of the day but 15 minutes past cut off time with a doctors note is ridiculous. I hope they do something soon or they see she is not kid friendly and should be on a different line of work.

The director and her staff are horrible! We’ve had issues with this school since my daughter first started here. Her first year attending this school (age 1), she’d never been in child care before so obviously it was going to take some adjusting for her to get used to being around other children on a daily basis (she’s an only child), and getting used to a classroom routine. You would think working with kids that the teacher would know that but I was sadly mistaken. Her first teacher called a parent- teacher meeting and suggested that my daughter may need a 1 on 1 specialist because she wasn’t interacting with the other children and chose to play by herself and then proceeded to complain that my daughter wasn’t up to speed with the other children as far as her knowledge. I understand this facility works closely with disabled people but my daughter is far from disabled. Honestly it just confirms the stigma of white schools pushing behavioral issues on black children. Instead of taking the time to understand why the child is acting the way they are they’d rather convince the parent something is wrong with their child and throw a specialist in the mix so they don’t have to deal with the child directly or maybe they’re just looking for extra money to drag out of the parents? That was the first red flag but I decided to continue giving them a chance since this was my daughters first year of school and I knew it was a process she would have to become familiar with. They were always nit picking with us and picking and choosing when to enforce “Covid rules”. My daughter has asthma and they would make us get her Covid tested any time she’d have a cough. Keeping her out of school for multiple days at a time. We spent countless amount of times at the doctor for them to tell us NO SHE DOES NOT HAVE COVID, her cough is due to her asthma or a typical cold/allergies. They would close down classes/school for multiple days giving parents a day in advance notice because of “multiple Covid cases” throughout the school, leaving parents blindsided and unable to find last minute child care plans because of this. We’ve missed numerous days of work due to this inconvenience. This school has even made our families feel unwelcome and uncomfortable at pick ups and drop offs. At times not even allowing them to enter the building without any explanation as of why when they were following the schools policy of wearing a mask and having their temperature checked at the front of the building. They were so rude and unfriendly to us but I didn’t want to remove my daughter because she made so many friends at school and genuinely enjoyed being there. But this staff is lacking on the personable side and doesn’t take the time to understand and make the parents or the families of the students feel welcomed at all! I would never recommend this school to anyone. Yes they do a good job as far as providing the child with a great learning experience (the few times my daughter was actually in class) but they are lacking in sympathy and compassion for the parents. We were always in constant debate and battle with this staff. It’s draining and very unprofessional on their part. Think twice before you enroll your child here because you’ll be paying for them to spend majority of their time at home instead of actually at school.