Primrose School at Pinnacle

LARGE ADULT SCISSORS LEFT LYING AROUND IN THE CHILDREN’S REACH!!! MAJOR STATE SAFETY VIOLATION!!!
I totally understand the overwhelmingly positive reviews. I myself would have written a glowing review for this business up until just a couple of months ago. We loved Primrose and thought the educational value was superior. As a teacher myself I really valued my kids being in this educational setting. Furthermore, it is a beautiful, clean facility with impressive outdoor play areas. Three things happened over the past couple of months in our three year old’s preschool class that drastically changed my opinion of this childcare facility. I will start with the most shocking:
1.) SCISSORS/​SAFETY VIOLATIONS: I was usually in and out in about 2 minutes during pick up and drop off. One day about a month ago my son said he had to use the restroom when I was picking him up. While I was waiting for him I noticed adult sized scissors lying on the low counter by the sink where the children wash their hands. I am not an over-​reactor by any means. It was brought to the teacher’s attention but I didn’t make a huge deal about it. About a week later my son was showing me something he had made and I was shocked when I noticed the scissors lying out again. I informed the director about the scissors on our way to my other sons’ classroom. The director went down to the room. On my way out she thanked me for bringing this to her attention. She said that the teacher said she was not aware that she could not leave regular scissors lying around. This actually scared me more. This means those scissors had probably been out just about EVERYDAY and I just was always in and out so quick that I didn’t notice. The director assured me that it would not happen again. However, I just kept wondering «what else does this teacher not know that I assume (as the person I was trusting to keep my kid safe each day for 8+ hours) that she knows.» I wasn’t willing to take any chances and wait to find out. We did not send our sons back to Primrose after this incident. I also contacted the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services who oversees childcare facility licensing and they said that this is a reportable state safety violation.
2.) BULLYING: My son was being bullied by a group of 4 boys. This is a more subjective topic so I will not go into the details but I assure you that based on all the facts I have I am convinced that my son was in fact being bullied. When I mentioned my concerns about the «bullying» to his teacher she didn’t seem to think there was a problem. Things continued that concerned us so we brought up our concerns with management who tried to smooth things over by telling us that 3 year olds are too young to have malicious intent and bully. I am a teacher and coincidentally we just had a professional development session about bullying for the staff at my school and the speaker said that bullying starts at age 2. I did some quick internet searches and found similar facts stating that bullying does in fact start in preschool. When I had concerns about my son getting bullied, management’s response was actually a denial of the problem and giving me inaccurate information. If they were not acknowledging the possibility of bullying then how could I expect them to do anything about my specific concerns I shared with them?
3. TALKING BAD ABOUT STUDENTS TO PARENT OF OTHER KIDS. My son got bit by another student and I had to sign an incidence report at pickup one day. As the teacher was explaining the incident and asking me to sign she said to me that she thought one of the other students in the class had «mental problems» and «just wasn’t quite right». I was completely bewildered at this unprofessionalism. Did she say things about my son to other parents? Wow. As a teacher, I can’t imagine ever talking about one of my students in a negative way to another parent. Not to mention that there are laws (FERPA) that prohibit the sharing of information about other students.
Primrose looks great on the outside. My sons spent 8+ hours there a day but I was only seeing a small glimpse of what happens during my quick drop off and pick up times. From what I saw I felt great about sending my kids there. When the 3 things that I mentioned above all started to come to light I was shocked. Knowing what I know now, I would NOT FEEL SAFE sending my sons there. In fact, I decided to withdraw them immediately after the second scissors incident and I still had to pay for 2 weeks worth of service. This was also an inconvenient decision financially since it essentially meant that I had to pay for childcare at two places at the same time as well as pay the enrollment fees at a new center. However, my children are irreplaceable and far too important to me for me to take any chances when their safety is at stake.

My son recently started at Primrose at Pinnacle and I’m blow away at how wonderful this school is.
As a blended family parent of two and as someone running a small business, it’s hard for me to keep tabs on everything I need to do. What I like about Primrose is how well they communicate with parents. I get about 2 – 3 emails per week that keep me up to date on what I need to remember to bring, special events and any changes that happen.
What’s more is their attention to keeping parents involved in the experiences their children get to have. The staff even takes time to send me pictures a few times a month. For instance, this week, I received a set of pictures of him holding a baby Alligator this week when they had some folks from the wild life center come into class.
I’m online almost all day long for what I do. I enjoy reading Dr. Z’s blog and enjoy tweeting out the lists of children’s books. Their usually good fodder for weekend trips to the library.
One suggestion I would make for Primrose in general here is to make each location have their own unique Facebook pages so that parents at the school could connect with each other as well. It would be nice to have an online hub where parents could talk and coordinate play dates, birthday parties, etc.
Primrose has excellent and accredited programs and curriculum. I really feel like the Pinnacle location pays special diligence to making sure that the programs implemented as seamlessly as possible. In the summer, Pinnacle even goes as far to have weekly special events like «Water Day» «Bounce House Day» and a few others. My son really looks forward to these days.
Finally, I want to say that the teachers and really the entire staff at Pinnacle are absolutely top notch. This is a collection of friendly people who really get how kids learn. They also respect and understand the importance of keep parents involved in that process.
Primrose at Pinnacle an excellent school and my son loves it!