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Here We Grow Child Development Center

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Reviews Here We Grow Child Development Center

Here We Grow Child Development Center Reviews (1)

Review: My child was asked to leave the daycare for being disruptive during nap time. An issue we worked hard to resolve, hiring a psychologist on our own, who determined that children of her age are likely to outgrow nap time. She was disruptive at times when forced to sit quietly for long periods of time, but nothing that seemed unreasonable by other professionals, other schools and other parents. We were asked to leave without any reasonable accomodations to fulfill our contract requiring that we give 30 days notice to have our security deposit refunded. The only solution offered by the school was for us to hire an additional staffer at our own expense that would cost more than tuition itself, and we would still have been required to have our child picked up by 4pm, before the end of our work day daily, if we accepted those terms. As a result we were left without a day care option for our child and the school refuses to refund our security deposit which was paid in July of 2012 as a means to protect the school from us leaving without notice, not the other way around. We understand the contract said it would not be refunded without 30 days notice, but in this situation, we were not given the opportunity to give the notice- it was the school that made the decision to ask us to leave, so keeping our money while not offering us the services that we already paid for in the form of that deposit, is unreasonable. I'd like this resolved with a refund before taking legal action.Desired Settlement: Refund of our security deposit

Business

Response:

The complaint you received by a former registered family at Here We Grow is an incorrect account of what occurred over an extended period of time. Dating back to October of 2014 we have experienced multiple instances of aggression towards children and staff, extremely disruptive behavior, and a large amount of overall challenging inappropriate behaviors from the student that was formally enrolled here. Over the past year and a half we have met with the family in good faith to attempt to resolve and help the child get through this difficult phase, the teachers made many modifications to assist her, and we cooperated with the doctor the parents sent to the school to try to help their child. Despite these efforts, since July 1, 2015 there were 31 aggressive reports documenting the student hurting someone, or attempting to hurt someone, and 8 reports stating that the student was extremely disruptive running around, running out of the classroom, and jumping off of furniture during napping times in the school. Each of these reports have been signed by the director and the student’s parent. All reports are available for you to view upon request. Although we did try to resolve this with the family over a long length of time, it was mutually agreed upon in a meeting with the director, assistant director, and both parents that something else needs to be done to assist in the classroom. The parents were presented with a few options including a chance to continue enrollment, or leave at the end of the month. The parents decided that day they would be removing her from the school that same week. We respected their decision and to assist them in their time of need, the remaining tuition for December was reimbursed in the amount of $740.00(copy of the invoice is attached). In the registration package they received at sign up, they signed documentation stating that “I understand that the Registration Fee/Security Deposit and or Tuition are NOT refundable for any reason.” In addition to this, they received a copy of the Parent Handbook outlining the school termination policy stating,Here We Grow reserves the right to terminate services due to the following reasons: …excessive aggressive/disrupted behavior by the child… Here We Grow will give two weeks notice to you of termination of services. As a reminder tuition and/or security deposit will not be refunded for any reason. “ All of the email correspondence between Here We Grow management and the parents are attached as well as a copy of their signed registration form and our policies about security deposits and termination policy. Also included are notes from some of the meetings that took place to try to rectify the child’s extreme behaviors and assist the family. We also can provide further documentation about the severity of the safety concerns for our other students and staff as well with the detailed 39 reports from only this school year, or years prior as well if needed. At each turn we truly tried to assist in every way we could to help the child and her family, however, due to the severity and liability it was causing the school, once the parents could not provide assistance to help the child in the classroom, they decided to leave mid-month. As a kind gesture despite the policies in place, we refunded the remaining amount of December’s tuition, but as the parents were aware of previously, the security deposit is not refundable for any reason. If there is any further documentation you need to assist with this matter, please do not hesitate to call or email me at any time. Regards,Cheryl H[redacted]Owner [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: There was nothing untrue in my email. As you can see from the email Cheryl attached we were told we could not keep her at the school without hiring an aide at $15/hour from 9am-3pm and STILL have to pick her up by 4pm - not making it a reasonable way for my husband and I to work our full time jobs which is why I would like my security deposit back. The clause saying no refunds is clearly meant to protect the school from families leaving without giving notice, not the other way around. In this case, while they would have let us stay 2 weeks, and ultimately we couldn't because she was being isolated from her friends and told to sit alone in older class rooms, it was the 30 days after, the month of January, that we would have needed to give notice for, and that was not given to us as a viable option. It is for that reason we insist on our deposit being returned immediately.In addition, while I signed the behavior reports each day in order to take her home from school on quite a few occassions I did disagree with the content included and the final week I confronted the school on reports being made that were flat out not happening per what I was watching on the monitors at the time of the incidents. One specific example, on the day she was asked to leave the school permanently, it was reported that she crawled off her mat, stood and kicked a student repeatedly until she awoke and cried. This absolutely did not happen as I watched it all on the monitor- she rolled over possibly brushing a leg against the child before she was removed from the class and my phone rang. A similar situation occurred on the day we decided she'd not be finishing out the month - they claimed she was throwing things at nap but it is 100% untrue. Most importantly, and something I was not going to bring up because it happened over a year ago, but if you are going back to the meeting from October of 2014, when [redacted] was 2 3/4 years old, please don't forget what precipitated the acting out over a 3 week period. A teacher in the class room lost patience with [redacted] desire not to sit quietly for 2 hours one day (again something multiple specialists have said is completely normal), threw her forcefully on a mat and threw a blanket literally on top of her head and stormed off. A video was shared with your assistant director and the teacher fully took responsibility for this incident. I let it go as the teacher felt terrible about it and admitted she was entirely out of line. We worked with the teachers and the assistant director (who I very much enjoyed working with for many years) to quietly resolve the issues, but if you want to understand why she had some acting around that time - it was pretty clearly not entirely her fault. Of course I didn't get an incident report about that!So in regards to the various reports, they are relying only on the teacher's word in each case and in at least some of those instances I knew them not to be entirely true. Most I just couldn't observe. I admit many probably involved her being disruptive, but not out of line for a 3 year old as I've come to realize after being out of the environment and talking to various specialists. She said she very rarely hit her friends, and always by accident. Sometimes the teachers, but mostly on days when they'd force her to sit still for 2 hours and that combativeness I've been told is not abnormal. Frustrating, yes, but also normal for 3 year olds. She's been behaving much as she always has in her new school - napping sometimes, but wandering the classroom when she doesn't want to rest, and given interactive toys and a quiet but lit up place to play when she just can't sit still, all the while expressing surprise at not being reprimanded or 'punished' as her new teacher has reported to us in shock. There are major concerns that it was the school's constant reinforcement of bad behavior (that they insist they never did) that has created an issue we are now trying to unravel, but I have been reassured countless times over the last month that there is nothing wrong with her behavior that a good school should not be able to manage and foster in a productive way. While I really don't want to get into who did what, and how my 2 1/2- 3 1/2 year old was treated, the fact is that she wasn't living up to the schools standards and it was the school that asked her to leave, not us.Either way you look at it, and regardless of fault in any incidents, the contract itself was clearly meant to protect the school from families not walking out without notice, not to protect you from leaving parents without school options for their children. It was a lot of money I paid to ensure my spot at the school for a last month whenever I needed it and that was taken away from me. In addition, to refund something generally means to give money back in exchange for replacing the service - one person asks for their part back and gives back what they purchased. But in this case, you took both the money and they service at your own decision - I do not believe that is the intent of the contract, and if I'd understood it that way, or thought this was a possible outcome, I'd have never signed it. I insist on that deposit being returned to us before we bring legal action against the school.

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Description: Child Care Centers

Address: 422 Central Avenue, Westfield, New Jersey, United States, 07090


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