Capitol Complex

The extra star is for other teachers in other classrooms at this location who may or may not be more experienced and capable. The teachers my child had (there were quite a few since two quit in the four months we were there) were not experienced and capable and they obviously did not receive the support from administration that could have made my child’s experience at this school acceptable. I took my child out of care here after seeing my child be disciplined in a way that, while not illegal, I found unnecessarily harsh and demeaning; I knew I could never again drop off my child there with the conviction that my child would be safe and happy.
I was shocked. UTCDC was for a long time one of the best programs in town and when I worked in child development in a different city in Texas we would sometimes visit UTCDC to see a living example of best practice. Now I would not be able to recommend this school to anyone, even someone whose child is very docile and eager to please (though this kind of child is what their current curriculum is designed around and requires). In the classroom my child was in for four months the day was highly regimented, group time and long periods of concentration and cooperation were central, and the focus was almost exclusively on school-​readiness, despite it being a 3 – 4 year-​old room. While the fit was particularly bad for my immature and very active child, I don’t think the expectations in that classroom are appropriate for any child of that age; they should be learning through intrinsically-​motivated activities in a flexible environment for most of the day, rather than being enrolled in what is essentially a younger version of kindergarten.
I will note that, since the fit was particularly bad for my child, the administration was happy to meet with my partner and I about the problems I’m stating here. However, we both left the meeting with the impression that our child was not wanted at the school, was inconvenient to the teachers in the classroom, and that rather than evaluating the curriculum, teachers, or environment the administration wanted us to find our child a different school to attend. So while we tried to help our child meet the school’s expectations for weeks after the meeting we eventually left after the incident I describe above.