Smartkids Child Care And Learning Cente

We have used Smart Kids for 4 years. The staff has been wonderful and professional the entire time. I always know that my children are in a loving and safe environment. My daughter gets a great education as well as important socialization. As great as the new facility looks, the staff is what makes it such a special place.

My (4) children attended Smart Kids for a total of 5 years. The facility itself is beautiful, large, clean and organized. The program for the preschoolers was amazing, they have a large gym for the kids to play in when the weather is not permitting to be outside and they also offered a nice summer program for the school age kids (field trips and such). The first few years we were there, we had little to no complaints & I was proud to be a member of their "family". The director always worked with my changing schedule and was understanding of our family's busy life and obstacles. However, through the years, I had noticed the cliqueness of the staff and the gossiping. Towards the end of our time there, I realized how much of a problem that had really become. At some point the business/personal relationship blurred between us and I foolishly thought of some of these teachers as friends or even confidants. I discussed openly - and what I thought to be appropriately - what was going on in our lives in order to obtain understanding and assistance from our extended Smart Kids "family" as things got rough for our family. Little did I know how it was all being used as a gossip topic for many staff. This all became clear when I walked into the staff belittling me in front of my four children one night at pick up. The two teachers did not know I was outside of the room checking out on the computer when I walked in. I listened to them talk about me in front of my children in a non professional way & one teacher even reprimanded my oldest son several times to take care of my youngest as they stood towards the front of the room gossiping. When I took this up with the new director, it somehow turned into how I was doing everything wrong. Picking my kids up late (most the times, minutes, if that - I had even asked to be billed for any "extra" time as I was certain the claim was bogus) & also that I had used inappropriate language in front of the kids (I admitted to saying"what the hell is going on?!" when I walked in on staff talking about me in front of my children -- and apparently "this one time, last summer" I said something they believed to be inappropriate that was only brought up to me after I complained to the director about what I walked in on). Funny how that transpired looking back...grasping at straws. Unfortunately this incident wasn't the only shortcoming in the last 12 months we were there. When making the decision to breastfeed my son, I came to the grips that I was struggling to provide enough milk for him. There were days where I had to stop in to nurse him in order to stay on schedule with his feedings. I was coerced into using formula many times by staff. "It's included in the tuition, just use it! No shame in it!" (luckily, I stuck to my guns on not using formula as the formula being included with tuition stopped soon after). Daily at drop off/pick up, I was met with frequent attitudes when walking into the infant room (this is something the new director also claimed to deal with with her own son who was in that room during the same time frame). While my son was in that room (3 months to 12+ months) I walked into more personal conversations than I could count and was greeted with a cold shoulder every time I dropped in on one. However, I must say the care itself was sufficient. The girls seemed to adore my son no matter how they treated me in passing. To make this an honest review, I have to include that. I put my own pride aside and dealt with it for months simply because of that, and in fear of change. Other things that made the decision to leave a no brainer: constant staff turn over in the school age room, the staff talking about each other constantly, my youngest - at about a year old - walking out a supervised room unattended and not noticed until I found him walking down the hallway, the new director & owner's unprofessional way of handling what had transpired at the center several times (via a letter to me pointing fingers versus taking ownership of anything that had went wrong by staff).

It's a good pre-school but not exceptional. SmartKids loves their ratings, that's for sure! They frequently remind you it's 5 star. Teachers 4-5 stars. Admin 2 stars. Our oldest loved it there. Our next two love their other pre-school.

I love that my kids get to go on the best field trips at Smart Kids Child Care! They went to the zoo and loved every minute of it. They keep the children entertained and constantly learning.

My daughter is always bring home papers and crafts she worked on at school. It's pretty funny, but there are plenty of times where she doesn't want to leave school at the end of the day!