Antietam Academy

I’m giving one star because it won’t allow me to give zero and still leave a comment. We recently visited AA and went through the motions of enrolling our 2 year old daughter. The facility is close to home and had good feedback. However my gut was telling me that something just wasn’t right so I decided to visit a few more times before our scheduled start date. I’m glad I did! When we walked in nobody acknowledged our presence. there was no welcoming committee and all the girls in what would be my daughter’s room continued about their activities which at the time consisted of making children sit at a table while they cleaned up the room. as the children grew restless as 2 and 3 year olds typically do they were scolded for not sitting still and waiting for the room to be cleaned. Once this was done they children were escorted outside to play where they were repeatedly yelled at for everything under the sun. I understand children need discipline for safety purposes, but in a teaching environment, these should be teaching moments not reasons to yell. This was visit number two, I went back for a third visit during a different time of day to see what would be different. On this day, the girls seemed very disinterested in being there. One in particular sat and talked about how awful she felt and how she wasn’t in the mood for this while sipping her iced coffee. When one little girl asked her to read a book she scoffed, looked at me and then reluctantly agreed. This was the final straw and I decided to not continue with our enrollment.
Once I notified AA that we would not continue I was told that my deposit, which is to be used for the last week’s tuition payment would not be returned. I called and spoke to the owner who essentially told me tough luck and that I need to follow the rules. His name is Ted and was extremely rude and abrasive. I now know why he allows his employees to act this way with the children. What a shock and disappointment this turned out to be. I’m glad I went with my gut though. It basically cost me $ 235 to find out what a lousy place this is.