KLASCHOOLS of Walnut Creek

We have had our 1 ½ year old boy for over 6 months now and we are very satisfied with everything. The facility is excellent and the teachers are warm and our kid loves them. The only thing I would love for them to improve on is communication. That being said, you can excuse a missed email or two if you feel safe with leaving your kid here. I was referred to this location from another parent and I am very happy I was.

Since writing this, I have had several ex-​KLA parents write to me privately telling me about their own terrible experiences — 2 of which also experienced their children being left in the school yard… Always the same response from owner/​management, defensive excuses.
Thanks to everyone for reaching out, I wish more people would publicly share vs keeping this important information private, it may save a child from having to experience any of the things that were shared with me.
The response from the school below is typical of their responses to everything, all the right words, lack of real commitment and truth behind the words. Again, beware!

My daughter attended KLA for two years, starting off in the 1s and then moving up to the 2s. We were fairly happy our first year. Two of the three teachers left, but we absolutely loved the one who stayed and grew to love the two replacements. Overall, it was play-​oriented with some structure. The 4:1 student teacher ratio worked well. The head teacher in the class knew our child, had a good understanding of child development and gave us new parents guidance when we had questions, mostly re: behavior and development. Plus, the facilities and materials are beautiful. There were administrative issues which improved with the new director.
Our second year came and our head teacher had moved We started in a class with two new teachers, one completely new to the school. KLA does still keep a good ratio of 6:1 for the twos. My daughter’s original class was divided into three classes according to age (older 1s, younger 2s and middle 2s). The new class was chaotic and the teachers were fairly disorganized. For instance, the class had children eating, napping, changing diapers and leaving for home all at the same time. My daughter was unable to sleep in this environment and quit napping. There were a lot of behavioral problems in the classroom with the kids hitting, kicking and scratching and the teachers not intervening. When I asked one of the teachers about the behaviors I observed, she said, «we try not to let anyone get seriously hurt». For Halloween, they attempted a pumpkin painting, but didn’t communicate well with the parents that each child needed to bring a pumpkin to school. I went out to Trader Joe’s that day and bought pumpkins for the kids who didn’t have one. When the children went outside to paint the pumpkins, there was no organization to the activity. It wasn’t clear if the kids should paint independently or together, there weren’t enough smocks, not all of the paint brushes fit into the containers, and even one paint color that was «non-​washable» somehow got thrown into the mix. There was another class outside doing another Halloween activity and some of the kids had drifted off to that activity and vice versa. It was just too chaotic for our two-​year-​old daughter who needed structure.
After two months, we switched to a younger classroom with one of the teachers from the previous year. It was so much better. Teachers Vivian and Elda were lovely. They had good control of the classroom with a nice structure, a calm, loving vibe and would help the kids work out problems using their words. My daughter resumed napping and even slept 2.5 hours the first day. My only problem with the new classroom was that it wasn’t as engaging as I thought it should have been. I’ve seen my daughter in many environments and I know when she’s truly interested in an activity, how hard she can laugh and how she expresses herself when she’s having fun. She was happy, but I believed she could be happier. My daughter is highly verbal and many of the kids in the younger classroom were not as verbal, and this may be one of the reasons she wasn’t as engaged. Also, with switching to a class with better teachers, we had to give up the Spanish. Well, one of the teachers went on maternity leave and a Spanish-​speaking teacher, Maria, took her place. Maria was lovely with this fantastic energy. Around that time, there would be two different art activities set-​up every morning. And Maria would lead the kids in dance and song, many of the songs in Spanish. The entire class was very engaged, while still keeping structure and good behavior. I feel like this classroom ended where it should have begun. The right mix of play and structure, engagement, art, Spanish. Truly a lovely classroom! We just had no confidence that this perfect mix would continue into the next year. We also had conflict about the teachers beginning to teach numbers and letters in what was supposed to be a play-​based school. When I talked to the teachers about it, they said the kids showed interest and that they were following their lead.
We have found a new play-​based school with structure for next year, but would consider returning to KLA if it doesn’t work out and if my daughter could return to the same group of teachers and students. I feel sad leaving my baby’s first school and leave with fond memories of teachers Elif, Elda, Vivian, Luz, Mitzi and Maria. Teacher Vivian and the kids made us a hand-​painted good-​bye sign with everyone’s pictures. We were deeply touched by the goodbye. I even started tearing up. I’m also going to miss many of the wonderful families that attend KLA. I’m hoping we can continue at least some of the friendships.
I do have one more comment. I’m not sure where the Reggio enters in. KLA doesn’t do the group projects like Old Firehouse. They do have an art emphasis and a focus on documenting the child’s activities, lots of pictures, a journal and weekly emails.

Wow. 1-​star reviews? I had to check the address to make sure these people were talking about the same place that I know and love. My wife and I put two kids through KLA, and I think it’s a really great place for kids to explore and grow. All of the teachers my sons had were great– friendly, loving, fun, and nurturing.
I used to be a preschool teacher and I’m currently a middle school teacher locally, so I have a pretty good eye for what to look for, and this place has exceeded all my expectations. There’s a wide range of activities– different mediums of art, music, science, technology, motor skill development, writing, problem solving, along with some bonuses like tumbling, yoga, and bilingual teachers.
Are there sick kids? Uhhh. yes, just like every other school on the planet. Are there some things to work out for a brand new school? Sure, that’s to be expected for any new business. But having been around for both of the first 2 years, I can tell you that year two was an improvement on year one, and I’m confident that KLA will continue to refine all areas of their program. How confident? Baby #3 is now 2 years old and I wouldn’t hesitate to enroll her at KLA when that time comes.
Thank you to all of the warm staff and caring teachers. My sons really enjoyed their time at KLA.

Like other reviewers, I am also surprised by some of the negative reviews for KLA. Maybe the school previously had issues that they’ve now worked out, but I have only had positive experiences. Our daughter (who just turned 1) has been attending since she was 7 months old and loves it.
Her teachers are amazing — I truly feel they have genuine care for the babies. To transition my daughter, my mom, my husband, and I all took turns hanging out with my daughter in the classroom. We observed that her teachers are very attentive — as soon as a baby cries, they provide attention. They have been great at listening to my feedback and making adjustments to my daughter’s eating and nap schedule. For her birthday, they even surprised her with balloons, a tiara, and some gifts. It was so sweet!
I have also found the staff to be accommodating and responsive. They do a good job at keeping the parents updated with weekly newsletters and email communications. The school’s environment is safe and clean. The front door remains locked at all times and I appreciate the no shoes in the classroom policy. Toys are sanitized every evening. Knowing that my daughter is being well taken care of while I am at work gives me great peace of mind. I highly recommend KLA!

~ OVERALL: Bad communication, broken promises, high turnover, incompetent ownership.
~ STAFFING: If a good teacher is there, they will either quit or get fired pretty quickly. The good teachers that we did have in our classroom got fired for bogus reasons — the truth is that they stood up to management.
~ ACTIVITIES: The days pretty much consist of playing outside, playing with toxic paint or bingo markers, and hanging out for a majority of the day. The teachers are probably chasing whichever kid is having an issue at the current moment. Again — the teachers who conducted graceful, deliberate learning activities all get fired or quit, mostly because of the management.
~ SANITATION — The classrooms are NOT properly cleaned regularly. Not only that, but Roberto (the local owner) had specifically told the teachers to water down the hand soap. Another time they were OUT of soap, the whole school was out of hand soap. When I talked to the director (Sabine, at the time) about the soap issues, she said they were working on it. Yep, a few DAYS later, they got soap again. The soap issues were not isolated incidents, the lackadaisical view of management towards problems is astounding. On many issues we got the «yeah, yah, we are working on it.» attitude from the director and the 2 local owners.

~ REFRIDGERATION: The little fridges in the classroom were NOT keeping milk cold enough. They didn’t believe me, I put a thermometer in there for a day to prove it. Yep, the cheapest dorm room quality fridges you can buy do not keep milk not cold enough.
~ LANGUAGE: They pretend that Spanish is meaningfully integrated into the Reggio curriculum. That is a lie, there is a constant, ambient Spanish throughout the day. Not purposeful or instructional. Some of the staff barely speaks English. I know this is a sensitive subject, but it is also a real problem when I asked things like «this isn’t my daughters cup, do you know where her pink cup is?» … and the response is a blank face, because the employee didn’t understand what I asked.
~ SICK KIDS: They are not immediately isolated, as mentioned in another response from this business.
~ DAYS OFF: Oh, there are lots of holidays and closures. Way more than other pre-​schools in the area take. Be prepared to take lots of time off from work to care for your kids. Wait, isn’t that what day care is for?
~ SAFETY: I fixed some of the drawers which had broken safety latches myself. Seriously, I brought in my toolkit and fixed a drawer that contained scissors and other dangerous items. The teachers knew they were broken, but were fed up with management not doing anything about it.
~ COMMUNICATION: Pathetic. They tell you about events after they happen, or without sufficient notice. They THINK they are fostering community with parents by sending out a weekly newsletter. All the KLA parents I know read that newsletter in misery — mis-​spellings, grammar, layout, everything is just terrible. It’s sad that they think sending a weekly newsletter counts as engaging the family.
~ QUOTES: They are great at printing «inspirational» quotes all over the place. In the building, online, Facebook, PowerPoint slides, newsletters, etc. It is all bullshit marketing.
~ UPSELLS: Shirts, tumbling classes, photography, etc. Seriously. I’d wish they would just take care of my kid before selling me additional tacky stuff.
~ GROWTH PROBLEMS: We put up with a certain amount, since it was a new business. But the ‘new business’ issues have lasted way too long.
~ SALESMANSHIP: This one they score high. They know how to loop you in, what a nice and new building. They pretend that they use that glass encased Altierre /​show room, etc. Nope — that front glass room is mostly used when the owners are in town from Miami.
ALSO: Employees and teachers posting their own reviews here on Unilocal,not cool.
How can this place be fixed? Replace the local franchise owners, who are related to the main owners from Miami, so… yeah. That isn’t likely to happen.
… now if you have read this whole review, and you have a child under 2 years old… your options for day care are extremely limited. There isn’t much for you and you might be stuck going to KLA. We tried hard to find a good place in Walnut Creek and ended up there. But — once your kid hits 2 years and 1 day, run, don’t walk over to Springfield. Its 2 blocks away, but a world of a difference.
Got a question or comment about this review — feel free to message me. I can provide even more information, these are my experiences, yours might vary but in my opinion, KLA is a total disaster.

I feel I have to disagree with the negative posts about KLA. Our daughter has been going to KLA since the day it opened and our experience has been almost completely fantastic.
There was a time at the beginning of the year where we had some worries about the direction the school and particularly our classroom was going. KLA listened to our concerns and addressed all of them. They replaced teachers who weren’t doing the job we expected of them. They replaced the headmistress. They added teachers to our class. They switched the timing of the activities. And they did it all within two weeks of the start of the school year.
Is it structured like a Montessori school? No, it isn’t. But we feel there’s plenty of time for structure in the future. For the time being, our daughter is learning through play and activity. She turned 3 two weeks ago and can count to 20 and knows her colors in three languages. Sure, the third language (German) she learned at home but the instructors at KLA encourage and nurture that, to the point that one of her instructors over the summer tried to learn some German to talk to my daughter.
Re-​enrollment time is due and we’re staying at KLA. We love it and our daughter gets up everyday and WANTS to go to school.

POOR COMMUNICATION and HIGH TURNOVER with staff!
Now that we have pulled our daughter from the school I can finally write this review. Our experience with this school has been disappointing since before enrolling our kid here. We basically had to call and beg them to take our money to enroll our daughter, the front desk person told us she would enroll us but went on vacation without doing so. I should’ve listened to other parents who have had negative experiences here prior to enrolling our daughter but the beauty of the school and extras the school offered was enough to cloud our judgement. Since the beginning of this school year there has been a director change, and multiple new teachers or assistants in my daughters class, 3 to be exact; issues with parents complaining about the large class sizes. We were even asked to move our daughter to another class when she had just adjusted to the new school. They did say they wouldn’t move her after I protested, but let’s just say there are issues not only with the administration but management. If you have an issue do not expect answers or return calls from the school. Also, if your kid gets hurt they might not even tell you what happened or return your call when they say they will. My child came home with dried blood in her nostrils and scratches and a bandaid on her body yet no one informed me of a fall or injury. You will need to follow up continuously if you need something, I waited 2 days before I finally asked the front desk lady what has happened.
Yes the school is beautiful, they have a art room, an indoor gym and a light/​music room.
High turnover with staff, an aide I’my daughters class was bold enough to ask me when parents night ended so she could go home; she clearly did not want to be there, well later that week I get an email about how she had left on unfavorable terms, and how she had tried to come to an agreement with her which resulted in her «abrupt departure from the school». The new assistants do not even know your kids well enough to put them in their own clothes, or tell you how they got hurt (bloody nose).
Poor communication, at most the only update I would get from the teacher was whether my daughter had an accident (potty) or not and of course I have witnessed many kids having to go at the same time, and one toilet for 18 kids. Surely their will be accidents. I ask my daughter what she did and usually it was «I played in sandbox».
The reason of two stars and not one is for their new director who seems to care at least enough to listen to your concerns. We really really wanted to like this school especially since our daughter made some friends. We only visited 3 schools before deciding on KLA, but now that we have seen many more schools and found another we know we have made the right decision.

We are considering schools for our child now, and we are extremely excited about KLA. We have visited a number of times, and our experience and feeling with the school only gets better and better.
First, the teaching staff at the school is engaged, caring and sincere. You feel that you’re lucky to be able to drop your child off with these kind and professional people during the day. They will not only care for your child and watch out for them but they will be the first step in their growth. It’s of course a milestone to send your not-​so-​little baby to pre-​school (where did the time go?!) but you also know that this first step in their development into a person is in the right hands. That is such a comforting feeling.
And I’ve seen some comments from other reviewers about a sub-​par experience with the administration, and I can only say that if that was really the case, the administration and Director have listened and have only improved. We found the Director of the school to be extremely motivated, understanding and helpful. This is a new school, so I assume there were a few kinks to work out, but I would hate for people to be dissuaded by some of the comments on this page. The staff and leadership of this school are impressive and have really created a great community … for the kids and the parents. And I feel they value this community, and listen to it and want to collaborate with us.
Third, I love the spirit and passion in which they incorporate the Reggio Emilia philosophy. KLA appears to me to be focused on letting the children explore and express themselves through their experiences and senses. This of course needs to be done right to be effective and KLA impressed me as an organization that knows how to properly foster these benefits with our children.
And fourth, the facility is just beautiful. The building, the grounds, everything. It’s so impressive and it makes me feel real good to know that my child is not being dropped off every day in some shabby pre-​school, but rather is beginning to develop in an place that is paid attention to and is constantly being updated and maintained for their well being. It’s just such a nice place to be at.
We of course are not parents yet, but we have done our research, spoken with the community and we are looking forward to having our child at KLA.

Not a fake parent. And my baby has been there for 10 months now.
There’s always room for improvement, and My experience has been and still is positive, so far.

First off, this school is beautiful. The environment and materials are gorgeous, and it is exactly what you probably have in mind when you picture a high-​end ECE program. The problem is that the leadership (owners and director) are awful. They don’t treat families or staff with respect. Further, they do not know what they are doing. Examples: the owner lied about the education level of my daughter’s teachers, they had dangerous food heating/​storing/​serving practices, they were constantly out of ratio and over group size, the soap in the children’s bathrooms was watered down to save money, their security procedures were horrendous, they couldn’t keep staff because they were constantly jerking around teachers’ schedules or they were busy firing good people who questioned the administration’s questionable practices.
For infants and toddlers, relationships are THE most important thing and KLA just didn’t care about anything except cashing their checks.

My daughter attended KLA for one year in the Nido class last year. My frustration with the school began right at the beginning of her time there. The lack of leadership and organization in the school was apparent. As outlined in the school philosophy of parent involvement, I attempted to speak to management on many occasions. Each time I was met with excuses as to why the school was not challenging my daughter or providing her with the aspects of the school promised when I enrolled her. The excuses and promises quickly became lies, and at some point I stopped caring enough to communicate with leadership at the school.
The school taught my daughter that it’s ok to do what you want, when you want and how you want. I learned that their interpretation of Reggio Emelia is mayhem and no structure whatsoever, or at least that’s how it appeared. They didn’t implement any support for my little one to learn basic skills of what’s okay and what’s not. It made for a difficult and confusing time when we were at home and I asked my daughter to follow any sort of guidelines.
I noticed when I toured alternate preschools that teachers tend to stay a very long time and enjoy working at their jobs. At KLA teacher turnover was as common as the changing of each month and the teachers always seemed to not be getting along with each other.
I regret sending my daughter to such an overpriced chaotic environment. If you’re reading this and considering KLA, I can only suggest that you find another preschool.
Also, it’s clear that some of the 5 star reviews on Unilocal are fake and written by employers/​management because they’re simply not accurate. Additionally, my child and most in her class were sick the entire year with one illness or another. I hadn’t blamed that on the school as kids do tend to share germs, but now that I read Sarah W.‘s review I wonder how much KLA could have prevented my little one from being sick so much.

As a previous parent at kla I was very disappointed by the lack of communication and follow up from the director. The school itself is a beautiful facility and most of the teachers I came across seemed friendly and knowledgeable in the Reggio philosophy. While my child was attending kla I noticed that many children were sick with various major viruses like noro virus, hand foot and mouth, and conjunctivitis! It seemed kids in the nido class were always sick and many had been mis diagnosed and were still contagious. There was no consistency with cleaning the toys or classrooms as I noticed a lot of dirt, dust and a lack of washing mouthed toys. I also saw a blatant disregard for sanitation with hand washing during toileting and diaper changing. Some of the staff was very rude and un-​helpful and did not seem to be able to answer questions that I had about cleaning and sanitation. This school seems to be in need of a good foundation in preschool logistics before it can run smoothly and succeed! I hope things change for the better so that families can get the best experience and teaching for their children!

My son has been going to daycare since he was 6 months. He started preschool when he turned 3. By the time he turned 4 he would wake up every morning crying that he hates school and doesn’t want to go… EVERY school morning. The school he was going to was great but it wasn’t the right fit for him. We decided to hold him back from attending Kindergarten and did our research to find a school that would rekindle his love for learning. We toured several schools with different curriculums and education methods. We found KLA the best fit for our son. Their approach to education is through the child’s interests evolving into creative play, stimulating all senses my child will be using to learn, engaging his mind through his projects using several different environmental materials and so much more. Shortly after he started attending KLA we noticed an immediate behavior change and a renewed energy in him. He no longer cries in the morning to get ready for school and is eager every morning to be there and even asks to go there on days he’s off! What are they feeding into this kid’s brain? LOL! He is thriving there and loves to draw, write, and read again. He loves learning and going to school again and it’s brought me to tears knowing we’ve made the right decision and watching him thrive in education is priceless.

My 4.5 year old son is thriving at KLA. He loves his teachers and classmates, and tells me more about his activities there than he has told me about anything else he has ever done. The facility itself is beautiful, and his classroom has wonderful open-​ended toys. Yes, the opening was a bit rocky from an administrative standpoint, but I think that’s to be expected with a new business, and I’m not choosing a preschool based on the administration anyway. The school offers an emotionally and physically safe environment, warm teachers, engaging activities, and opportunities for growth socially, emotionally, and academically.

This is a beautiful facility unlike any other I’ve seen. I went to the school’s open house today. All of the teachers I spoke to were very friendly and professional. There are endless tactile activities in each classroom. My child was very upset when we had to leave because she was entirely engaged in activities. To be clear, this review is based solely on my brief review of their website and my 1 hour visit to the open house. I spoke with the person at the front desk, the teacher in the under 12 months area, and one each of the 2s and 3s teachers. I think this would be in my top 3 preschools in the area, if not for the «one size fits all» placement policy, as discussed below.
I was interested in sending my child here because of their child-​focused philosophy. I was disappointed to learn that instead of doing an assessment of each child to determine the best place for her/​him within the school, KLA employs a rigid admissions policy that, as far as I can tell, simply involves filling out paperwork and paying two different annual fees. Your child’s placement is based SOLELY on her/​his date of birth. I understand this is how public schools determine admission. I do not feel this should be used as the sole determining factor with younger children whose development in the various areas (physical, social, verbal, etc.) varies so drastically. I choose to pay for my child to attend a preschool. In turn, I expect some effort to be made to ensure that my child is placed in an environment that best suits her.
As it was explained to me today, a child who turns 3 on September 2 (or after) will be placed in the «2s class» for the entire year. A child who just turned 2 on August 31 would be placed in the same class. No exceptions. Given the incredible physical and verbal development over this time period, it does not seem to be in the best interest of kids at either extreme of this stage to be grouped all together. Just as I don’t think my child would thrive in a class with a majority of kids 6 – 11 months younger than her, I also don’t think she would be most successful where the majority of kids are 6 – 11 months older than she is.
When asked about this, the founder told me her sons were always the oldest and that benefited them in terms of confidence and in developing leadership skills. In fact, she said her son’s birthday is in July and she’s going to hold him back to be in the younger class again. I say great! You decided what was in the best interest of your child and placed him in an environment that helped him achieve success and develop skills that you value. It does not make sense to me why a child would be allowed to stay in a class that they are «too old» for chronologically, but not move to a different class that they are «too young» for chronologically, if this is what is right for the child.
One of the teachers explained that the projects allow kids to move at different paces so the younger kids and older kids are not affected by the age gap. I agree that «academically» (because what does that really mean when these kids are ²⁄₃) an age gap in this type of learning environment does not seem like it would matter much. My concern is the social environment. My child is very verbal and we are working with her on social skills to ask for a turn, etc. In a class of this type, she would have less opportunity to work on «using her words» when part of the class is still working on the more basic verbal skills. I don’t say that to judge, my daughter went through the same stage. My point is, she needs to be with kids who are able to work on the social skills with her. It doesn’t help her much if she says «I’m playing with this.» when a child is taking a toy from her when the other kid is only able to play tug-​of-​war and not working on the same social skills.
I asked the 2s teacher how she would work with such a big age gap when the skills development is so varied among this age group. She said her reaction would be based on the situation but, generally, an older child would help «model» the appropriate behavior to the younger ones. I’m all for the «you learn best when you teach something» approach but I am most interested in my child being able to progress socially, and not simply being there as a tool for the teachers to use in modeling behavior.
Instead of focusing on each child as an individual, allowing them to change environments based on where they will be both challenged and feel comfortable, this school seems to use the most administratively-​friendly approach to a child’s placement.
Perhaps split the kids up into two sections? Or have a mid-​year reassessment of each child to determine placement?
Overall, very disappointing. I visited today thinking we’d be making an appointment to get registered.
** As a side note, it seems one of the 2s teachers will have her own daughter in her class. I do not know how (or if) this would affect anything, but think it is worthy of note.