A Child’s Space

My son has been at A Child’s Space for almost a year. He absolutely loves it and has learned SO much. They even taught him sign language and Spanish! The teachers are very attentive and adore my son. The video camera system is great to be able to check on him when I miss him while at work. The daily updates with pictures of their activities throughout the day is great! We also get a daily summary after we pick him up of how long he napped for and what he ate throughout the day. We really like this place!

My don’t I know … And even after all these years. The director harrasses and employer bullies the employees. The turn over rate is so high that in a 7 month period I watched 7 employees just disappear. I experienced unnecessary harassment which caused me a lot of mental distress. She even lied in her notes to put in my employee file. I have never met a lady that is so evil.

Talk to me first before enrolling. Kimberlee is very fake (the director). I wish I would have listened to the person who told me that to begin with (a former employee). Run from this place

My how quickly things change… after a large number of teachers leaving ACS in a matter of a couple weeks and concerns over my child not transition to the next classroom as quickly as we would have liked, we reached out to the director to try improve our experience there. She became defensive, condescending and increasingly rude. We found another daycare and followed ACS’ policy to withdraw (a 60 day notice is required) and still receive our deposit back. While this is a long time to give notice, it actually worked out fine as another daycare wasn’t ready to take my child until the summer. I was fine leaving her at ACS in the meantime because it was familiar and I didn’t want to take my daughter away from her friends and daily routine. Her basic needs were being met despite not being challenged — but I could deal with that until the summer.
The morning after I submitted our withdrawal letter and dropped off my daughter the director asked me into her office and proceeded to question me about the details of why we were leaving. She continued to argue with me and antagonize me over my grievances. I tried to keep my cool and tell the director this was not personal, that we just wanted a different experience for my daughter but that another daycare wasn’t ready to take her on yet and the director rudely said that she thought I needed to take my daughter out of ACS that day. Baffled and completely shocked I tried to reason with the director… that she couldn’t do that to us or take out her anger with me on my daughter. There was no reasoning with her — she forced us out on the spot. Shaking from shock and anger practically in tears, the director followed me into my daughters classroom. As I tried to explain to her teachers what was happening the director barked at the teacher not to listen to a word I was saying and escorted us out like we were criminals.
What the director did to us was not only unethical but cruel. She couldn’t handle my criticisms and so she took it out on my daughter by refusing to have her at the center without any regard of how it would affect her and the livelihood of our family. I followed her own policy and she completely flipped out.
I’ve never been treated so horribly in my life and it’s heartbreaking because my daughters experience there as an infant was good. I trusted this director and not only did she break this trust she purposefully tried to make our situation difficult by kicking us out of the daycare without any notice.
RUN FROM THIS PLACE. I would never wish what happened to us on any other child or parent.

Just to add an update — we’ve moved our kids to another daycare, and initially it was a tough transition, but myself, my husband, and our 2 children are much happier at the new place. I used to worry that even if i moved the kids, there would always be issues at any daycare we went to — but I will say the new location is more organized, open to feedback (they even call periodically to make sure everything is okay), and have great communication between parents, teachers and directors. The teachers have stayed in the facility for many years, and typically stay in their classroom, so the kids aren’t constantly having new teachers and transitions. The process of transitioning is smooth and has been consistent. And, since the children have moved to this daycare, they have yet to cry when I leave, instead they go to school happily and start their routine with their class. After changing daycares, I have realized that our A child’s space was in fact, not as a good a daycare as others in the area, and it was not due to general daycare issues that would arise anywhere.

I enrolled my 2 yr old daughter here and pulled her out after just two days. Teachers were not paying attention at all as kids are hurting each other. Did not comfort crying children. Director was impossible to reach and unapologetic regarding the problems that I brought to her attention. Your child doesn’t deserve this.

We loved the location of this daycare, as it’s 3 blocks from our place and only 1 block from the Roosevelt el stop. We had our 6 month old daughter in the infant room for only 4 months, as the teachers kept turning over. One day we’d walk in, a new teacher. I understand people come and go in all jobs, including daycare, but the number of times in only 4 months made us concerned. Ms. Chiquita in the infant room was wonderful, but we moved our daughter to another school that was more expensive, had more space for the toddlers, and was farther away. Hopefully they have their hiring process improved now and the teacher retention is longer.