Stepping Stone School

My little girl has been enrolled for 2 months since she was 8 weeks old. She is in the satellites classroom with Mrs. Lola and Ms. Priscilla. They are both loving and attentive and my girl is always clean and dry and well fed. The facilities are always clean and bright and seem to be well organized… also every employee that works there seems to know my little ones name! All in all, as hard as it is to leave her every morning, the people at stepping stone brodie make it as easy as possible by proving each and every day that my daughter is in great and capable hands. Thank you!

I wish I could give zero stars. Our oldest went there until she was 5. In the infant room and the first toddler room we had a great experience. It quickly went downhill form there and we only stayed as long as we did because of the friends our child had made. In the 5 years, we were there, we went through 8 principals (For the last few I told them not to introduce themselves until they make 6 months so I don’t know their names) and 17 different teachers including a controversial dismissal of our daughter’s preschool teacher in the middle of the school year which ended any true school prep our daughter was getting which later found out put her behind for kindergarten. In hindsight, we should have bit the bullet and pulled our daughter from her friends and into a place like nearby Courtyard which actually does real school prep. I placed multiple calls over our final 2 years to the district office and never, ever got a call back. Instead, I would sometimes get follow-​up at the school from the same person that was causing the issue. I have talked to others with good experiences at north Stepping Stone Schools but the organization obviously does not care about the south branch that is so far form all of their other locations.
While there were many issues I will list a few that hopefully a parent will take into consideration.
The vaunted educational program they have is a joke. We got daily updates in the infant room, but did not see a report from then through the preschool room until we left. Not only were the reports inaccurate about what my daughter had learned (It listed things the teacher explicitly told me she did not believe in teaching) but also repeatedly referred to my daughter as «he» which makes you wonder who (if an actual child) was being reviewed if the teacher can’t get gender correct.
Every day at pick-​up became a search party to figure out where my children were which makes you wonder what would happen in the case of an emergency like a fire. At least twice a week, I had to enlist the assistant principal and another teacher to go room to room to look for my children. To be fair, they were always with a teacher but no one ever seemed to no with whom or where.
Reviews and awards on other sites are likely misleading. While were were there, there was always a give away or drawing for free tuition for those leaving good online reviews or voting for them in different polls.
The final straw came literally a week before kindergarten for our oldest. We then had 2 younger children attending Stepping Stone so that they were at least all at the same place and the younger children rooms were much better. For 3 children, we were on pace to spend well over $ 20K for the year. We had gone through the process 9 months prior to change AISD schools so we could be at a kindergarten from which Stepping Stone picked up afterschool. Exactly one week before classes started, we got a note that Stepping Stone was discontinuing service to the school we had switched to, so I had to take a last minute vacation to find a new school. I called the district office several times and got a secretary that was very apologetic promising a call back from a Director that never came. It was very disrespectful to wait so long to inform us that we would have to figure out another solution. The school was shocked we pulled out our other children also which shows a lack of perspective and to do this to a family that had paid tens of thousands over the years and paying that much in the last year shows a disdain for their customers.

Their stock responses are comical, though. Indicative of what to expect here. Nothing is our fault, take a number while we generate an auto reply and work to devalue anything you have to say.

We used this daycare to bookend our time at Stepping Stone Kyle. We used them for a week or two, until a spot opened at the Kyle location, closer to home. Then, after an unfortunate incident at the Kyle location that left us seriously questioning their ability to care for our child, the corporate office was able to transfer him to the Brodie location while we shopped around for something else.
As I wrote a pretty fair but unflattering review of the Kyle location, I would just like to make a few comparisons. This location has a great principal, Jessica, who is really on the ball and appreciates the staff. I also loved that there is practically a triple entrance to get in (a gate, a keypad-​coded front door, and then a door to leave the foyer area). The nutrition is much better, too. For example, when I brought extra fiber-​rich food for them to serve if breakfast was just graham crackers, the teacher sort of scoffed, as if there was no way they would serve something so UN-​nutritious for breakfast (where as the Kyle location would).
My son really did seem to like it at the Brodie location. There were more toys for him to play with, though the rooms were pretty small.
Compared to my favorite daycare, I was a little annoyed that the parents didn’t pack up the bags for you at the end of the day. You spend (i.e., waste) a lot of time digging bottles out of your kid’s cubby while the worker is inconveniently handing your your child. You look at them like, «can you hold them long enough for me to finish loading their bag???»
The workers are all very nice, accommodating, etc. My kid probably spent a total of less than 3 weeks here between his first and second go, hence shorter feedback.

Poor experience here all around as a potential parent. When we visited we were concerned about the low reviews on here and other sites but met with the new principle/​director who promised to make changes. However, in our visits we noticed that the staff were not paying much attention to the children and were talking to each other even while we were doing a tour.
We had to push to ask if there was a discount for Seton employees which the principle/​director seemed to grudgingly admit and then gave us pricing for. We followed up two times over the next few months to ensure our child would have a spot and really felt that communication was a total let down and this lack of care to respond to me signals a fundamental problem and lack of thoughtfulness at this facility.
After this communication issue and hearing continuing poor reviews from others in our neighborhood group, even after the new principle/​director arrived, we decided to place our child elsewhere and have no plans to reconsider this school.

Infant care is substandard.
My baby was always frozen. Her little hands and feet were ice-​cold every time. I gave specific instructions to dress her in the warm clothes I brought and those instructions were ignored. I went in one day and found her dressed in just a body suit, completely cold. She was just 2 months old!
I was told the place is kept so cold to keep germs down. Unless the place is sub-​zero, that’s absolute nonsense.
The place appears to be understaffed. Mrs. Lola and Miss Priscilla are excellent caregivers but they suffer with too many babies, many absences, and uncertain staffing levels to the extent that the principal herself claims to have cared for my precious baby.
What did it for me was the day I picked her up and found her with scratches up and down her face! I was — and still am — livid. Sure, babies can scratch themselves but the extent of the injuries was so severe that neglect, at best, was the quality of care given.
And she never, ever, had scratches in the 2 months I cared for her personally.
She had deep scratches down her cheeks and under her eyes. Thank goodness here eyes were not damaged!
There was no report. I was not called. When I confronted the «director», she had no idea of what happened. The principal was no where to be found.
My baby was immediately dis-​enrolled and a police report filed.
When I picked up her stuff, the incident report appeared, filed at 9pm (! — they close at 6:15pm) on the date of injury and stated that they were «too busy» to file it earlier.
My blood boils to this day. I paid them for quality care and didn’t get it. They were paid NOT to be too busy to properly care for my child.
My baby was in their «care» for just 10 days.
Hold your baby tight. This is definitely not a place you’d want to entrust your precious child to.
Never again. Never.

Look past the photos posted from the owner! There are a couple of good teachers — the staffing turnover is extremely high and one of the most consistent aspects of this school. The tuition is high and the ratios are always high as well — I would count the students and checked with the office when was over and was told someone would be coming for relief. The state or some inspector seems to be here frequently. Beautiful building but the semi annual fee adds to the extra cost. The play ground is mostly uncovered and the kids always look hot and sweaty despite having water available. The principal or the revolving door for principals is a concern and there is always assurance «this person has x years experience» and there are promises of success with the company. We wonder if the Brodie location is a necessary — that «we have to manage campus and keep this campus to have some presence in south Austin». The principal there now wears spike heels and often takes her shoes off bare foot in the baby room and doesn’t seem to wear booties consistently there was also concern when we would drop off our child and relay information and it was not followed through or we would pick up and would not know the teacher and they would seem to be baby sitting and not teaching. I attended an open house to see what was being promised and was upset to know there was a disconnect between the main administration and the campus. The brochures are nice and the perks sound good but the basics are lacking, people seem over worked. We moved to another school and are much happier to have found a school that follows their mission and does deliver care in an educational environment. I encourage you to look past the campus and to simply keep looking.

We were not sure about the ratings on this school but decided to give it a try because the location is very convenient for us. It seems that from a couple of months ago until now they added more staff, I see the new assistant principal welcoming the parents and floating around classrooms to make sure everything is going smooth. (I drop off a bit later than most) Ms. Paty has been a great adition to the school. I’m just glad my job is part time and my son doesnt have to be at a daycare for long hours like some of those kids. 6am to 6:30 pm seems a little too much to me. JMHO

We continue to be disappointed with the understaffed after school care classroom. To many students of varying ages mixed in together. Staff turn over constantly from administration to teachers.
We will not be coming back next year. It didn’t start this way but has gradually been declining over the past three years. To bad Stepping Stone the Brodie campus is beautiful, just wish the staffing was more consistent.

Not a good school — i have called the main office twice to file a compliant with an ‘Area supervisor’ and I am still waiting on a call back. It seems they read the reviews on Unilocal rather than returning phone calls. The administration at this school is horrible and clearly the main office doesn’t care either. The principal has a snotty attitude and they don’t really care what your wants, needs or concerns are. They can not keep teachers which speaks to the management of the school. Again, my sons main teachers were not a problem. The school is. I won’t go into every issue I had but lets just say I did not feel comfortable leaving my son there anymore.

Not the place for your Child if he/​she has Special Needs of any sort.
My Wife and I had looked for a good place for our 4 Year Old Son with Aspergers (delayed development) to attend while we both worked. Initially we were swooned by the walk-​thru of the Campus and were impressed with the knowledge of the Front Office Staff. She was very informative and seemed highly motivated. We were especially impressed at their supposed Teacher Accreditation. We were also told the Teacher/​Student ratio was very small. After explaining how our Son is still being potty trained and wears pull-​ups (due to his delayed development) and we were assured he would be well cared for and would also assist in the potty training. WRONG
Our Son was literally ignored on a daily basis. We regularly picked him up and he was filthy, had been left in a poopy diaper for what appeared to be the entire day, dirty, and was typically off playing by himself. The student/​Teacher ratio was horrendous and the «Teacher» who they touted as having a Bachelors Degree was not really a «Teacher» at all. She always appeared to just be a Supervisor for the «Student Teachers» that were literally doing all the supervision and care for the Kids. The supposed Teacher had ZERO experience with Children with Special Needs, espcially those with Aspergers. She treated him like he was a Monster and made confusing comments about how she doesn’t see any Violence in him. As if Children with Aspergers are all violent animals? Any time either of us would arrive to pick up our Son, the Teacher never knew where he was and would instead refer to her Helper. They pretended their classrooms were small quaint environments when in reality they would just open all the connecting walls and what was once a class of 15 became a class of 45 – 60. All the while the Student Teachers/​Assistants were running around trying to keep control of the classes. Due to the lack of experience from the Student Teachers, their frustrations would show even with Parents around. We observed on numerous occasions them yelling at the Kids.
Needless to say, our Son was switched to a Private Provider where he received the actual love and attention that he desperately needed. He was potty trained in less than 2 weeks and we/​he couldn’t be happier.
Read the reviews and if they do not convince you of how horribly run this place is, then I feel bad for your Child if they’re subjected to this environment. This is a cash cow for this Company and in no way shape or form is a place of prestitgious learning nor loving facility – as they so claim.

My son started at this campus in May 2013, when he was 2 years old. Previously, he was at the Stepping Stone in College Station, which we loved, as you can see from my glowing Unilocal review! Now, our experience with the Stepping Stone campus on Brodie was a polar opposite. We were quite dissatisfied and ended up pulling him out after 6 weeks. Here are some of the reasons we were unhappy:
1. The student: teacher ratio was high — always at the state-​mandated maximum. As a result, even though the teacher seemed nice, we always felt like she was distracted and our son did not get sufficient attention.
2. Often, we would drop him off in the morning and his regular teacher hadn’t come in yet or classes were combined, and the new teacher had no idea who he was.
3. Often, we would come to pick him up, and he wasn’t in his usual class and it took several minutes and several teachers to figure out which class he was in.
4. Our son cried for some time after he left him (new school, new city etc), but the teacher never comforted or distracted him. She had a «time out» pillow and he would just «cry it out» on the pillow.
5. The teachers did not seem supportive of our potty training efforts.
6. We picked up our son at naptime a few times and his face hadn’t been washed and he had food around his mouth. Once he was put to nap in his pullup, without pants!
7. The principal and assistant principal were poor in communication. We didn’t know their names. They weren’t easy to find. The few times we talked to them, we dint feel like our concerns were being really heard.

We moved to Austin November 2010. I got a job on South Brodie and was pretty sold on Stepping Stone from the beginning when I saw the building and how close it was to my work. I knew they had a few locations and the facility was so nice, it seemed like it was meant to be. Never have I been so wrong!
I called and set up a tour. I met with the director, Janika. She showed us around and we met the teachers. They seemed nice and the kids seemed to be having a good time for the most part. Their brochures and outline of the curriculum was very polished and they even had a cute little video of laughing happy genius children. The first day went okay. I never saw the teacher introduce him to any kids or help him adapt. He was also still potty training and i didn’t feel like they helped that process at all. i’m not one of those moms that expect preschool to potty train my children but they do have to help when they spend so much of the day there. He went through like 5 sets of clothes everyday. It’s like instead of reminding him to go, they just waited for an accident and then changed him.
Our 3 year old son has NEVER cried when being left with new people. He’s very social but after the first couple of days, he would throw a FIT when we dropped him off. We gave it the benefit of the doubt in the beginning, thinking it was just a lot of change for him all at once. But it didn’t get better. He always came home with stories about someone hitting him or throwing rocks at him. He’s three so, again, hard to know what really happened. Then, THE FINAL STRAW: i walked into the lobby one day and he was standing there, ALL ALONE with no adults or children around. He could have walked out the front door all by himself! The teachers leave around five everyday which is when the «assistants» are left with the children who, apparently, are nothing more than teenage babysitters.
On top of all this, the director called me after I had paid my first month’s tuition to tell me that I was $ 100 short. I questioned her on it and she then remembered that she has UNDER-​QUOTED ME BY $ 100 but still said I was required to pay the full amount. $ 100 a month is a big difference. We immediately withdrew our son and I’ve never been more confident that I made the right decision.
We’ve since put our son in Sun Moon & Stars Learning Center (SMS) on South 1^st Street and he loves it! He’s learning so much and has made so many great friends. His teachers are also his friends and they actually quoted me the right price and everything. Not once have I questioned his safety and he can’t wait to go to SMS and even asks to go on the weekend! (See Sun Moon & Stars Review)