Chesterbrook Academy Preschool

We’ve had our daughter at Chesterbrook since she was 14 weeks old (now 5.5 months) and we’ve had a great experience. The space is bigger and brighter than most of the day cares we toured. It’s such a warm and caring place that we’re actually happy to drop our daughter off every week day.
The teachers take great care of of our daughter and she comes home clean, happy and well loved.

This is a HORRIBLE daycare full of child neglect. I had a horrible experience putting my daughter there. She started there when she was 6 months old and I removed her within 8 weeks at 8 months old. The teachers in the infant rooms are beyond LAZY! They also make very offensive and judgmental comments to parents about their kids. My daughter was often left alone sobbing. Not crying but sobbing!!! My daughter is a happy baby. When she sobs there is something wrong with her. They told me it’s because she’s fussy and an only child so she wants more attention. How dare they? Who are they to ignore an infant who’s sobbing. There were a few times I walked in and this was occurring. I watched them completely ignore her as they themselves chatted away. They cared more about socializing than childcare. I had seen this multiple times with other infants too. It’s inexcusable. One day I walked in and my daughter was sobbing on the floor. One of the teachers had the music blasting completely ignoring my daughter and didn’t even acknowledge when I walked in. When I asked her why she’s crying her response was «She didn’t like it when I put her down. She’s fussy.» My daughter was not fussing. She was sobbing. And how can you hear anything with the blasting music.
Then one day I got a call that my daughter had fallen out of a high chair. How does an 8 month old fall out of a high chair if she’s secured in??? And if she’s being unbelted then an adult better be next to her. I was told the other children pushed h r out.
Then one day when I was dropping my daughter off I ended up giving her a bottle. I was holding the bottle for her and one of the teachers said «Oh no girlfriend. You need to learn to hold your own bottle. We have an influx of smaller babies and you need to do your own work.» This was being said to 7 month old right in front of her mother. How dare they? My daughter is an infant. They need to get their lazy butts up and feed her. She is too small to hold a bottle. Most days when I picked her up, her clothes were soaked with formula and they would write on her progress note that she drank the entire contents of her bottle. That was a blatant LIE. Most of the time her pant were soaking with formula. One day I walked in and she was sitting in a chair with her bottle upside down. I went to pick her up and her teacher ran and took the bottle from her. I asked her how much did she drink and she told me 4 ounces which again was a LIE because I saw the bottle contents before she dumped it out.
They also warmed up her solid foods which I told them they did not need to do. They should feed it to her at room temperature. They never listened.
The last thing that occurred that put me over the edge was a severe diaper rash that turned into a diaper burn. I walked in to pick her up and heard her crying from down the hall. I saw the teacher changing her and after she was done she told her «Why are you crying like that? I just changed your bootie?» I took her home and opened her diaper and she had a severe severe severe, raw, red, diaper rash. Her vagina, buttock, and inner thighs were so red with white patches on them it hurt me just to look at it. She would close her legs and cry hysterically every time I went to change her. My heart hurt. I took her to the pediatrician twice to make sure it was just a bad rash and nothing more. The pediatrician said this is the result of not being changed in time. That she sat in her diaper full of urine and feces prior to being changed. Not only was this horrible rash ignored but nothing was ever said to me about it and the morning when I dropped her off she did not have a rash. They always wrote in her progress note that they changed her every 2 hours which again is a LIE.
I spoke to the principal and assistant principal multiple multiple times about all of these issues. They reassured me that it was addressed. However nothing changed except the teachers had more of an attitude with me when I went to drop or pick up my daughter. It started to make me think what did they do to my daughter?
The teachers have minimal interpersonal skills but lots of attitude. The place smelled like urine on most days when I walked in.
This is a very neglectful and abusive daycare. I don’t know if other parents know what’s going on there.
Please do not enroll your child there. These people are not professionals. They have no clue what child care is.

I am not sure what the other reviewers are talking about. No daycare is perfect but Chesterbrook academy (cba) has worked very closely with me to ensure that my child was growing healthily from development to the foods he ate and to the medicines he took. They honestly are looking for my child’s well being. There is going to be struggles in any new environment. infant rooms are rough everywhere, toddler is where the real action. I highly recommend CBA. Miss Shakur has been nothing but wonderful, along with Miss Vera, Miss Chloe, and the entire toddler group of teachers.

It was very unfortunate (as another reviewer wrote) that a new principal was hired and made some poor decisions with the staff, especially in the younger children’s rooms. Many great teachers are no longer at the school. However, the good news is that principal is also gone. The newest principal is very receptive and is great with communicating information to parents. I can’t speak to all the classrooms, but my child is currently in a warm and stimulating environment. They have been wonderful about potty training and making sure they are consistent with what we do at home. I was also disappointed with the school and thinking about leaving toward the end of 2014, but I am glad we stayed.

They are not even worth the one star. Biggest mistake ever! The staff in the infant rooms are not teachers. They lack training in child care. They repeatedly warmed my breast milk after telling them room temperature. Then they wondered why my son never drank milk. They wrote on his daily report that he needed to learn how to hold a bottle and I should stop breastfeeding at home. As I dropped off and picked up I noticed the babies were always crying, screaming crying. The adults in the room talked over them. They love putting babies in a bouncy seat or swing and leaving them there. The music was blasting to the point that I have to yell to communicate with adults. During one of my «pop» visits as I walked down the hall, I heard the front desk calling the infant room to warn them parent coming in. During this time I sat to feed my son and watched the teacher with two crying little babies sitting on the table where they dangle their feet. The one little girl had her hands up as she screamed and the teacher asked what she wanted. At this point you can’t even fake it for me, or scarier this is your show and dance for a parent. Many times over my son had multiple diaper changes. Despite the fact that they wrote it, they are so dumb that they don’t realize that I can count the cloth diapers in his bag and I know what I bring.
There was no love or joy felt for babies in this room or from the care givers. They are not breastfeeding friendly, as I was told once I cant breastfeed my son in the room. There is no routines here everyone was always frantic.
We were gone in 8 weeks. I’m still considering a state call.

What a difference a year makes…
Unfortunately, I have to completely change my review of Chesterbrook. There were two fabulous principals that are no longer with the school (due to their own choice) and with the recent change in management nothing has gone well. There has been very little direction on when transitions for children will take place between rooms. There is re-​structuring of the rooms to cram (in my opinion) way too many kids/​teachers into a small space and they appear to be basing transitions solely on age and not developmental level of the child.
They have fired two of the most fabulous teachers they had for reasons they are unable to disclose. Talk about making parents uncomfortable — firing two of what appear to be the best instructors that have cared for your child for the past year without any indication of what the issue was.
I would rate this 1-​star, but that’s not fair to the wonderful teachers they still have. Some of the teachers make this place fabulous, but when management makes all the calls regardless of feedback it doesn’t work.