Kiddie Academy of Cedar Park

My daughter has attended Kiddie Academy since their opening in August. I have been very impressed in the care that she has received there. Her teachers are kind and nuturing while maintaining classroom rules and expectations so the kids are safe. I love that she has circle time everyday where they do calender time, read books and sing songs. They do crafts everyday. I also love that I can watch her anytime on the video cameras. Her teacher send pictures throughout the day, and updates on what they did that day come to my email after she checks out. I would recommend this school to anyone looking for a child care option.

This day care has incredible curb appeal, the entrance door is pass code protected and is guardian specific. The school appears to be clean and kept up with. The set up of the classrooms is spacious and the children have a lot of choices with toys and activities they can do. The teachers seem to keep a watchful eye on the children but I didn’t see them interacting with the kids or make themselves accessible unless the kids go to the back of the class and seek out a teacher. It seemed like the teachers are very social with one another at the same time they are providing supervision. That didn’t sit well with me, but to their benefit, they did remain faced toward the kids. All in all the initial impression was overall pretty good.
I have to consider the whole picture because I want my child to feel comfortable with everyone who is an employee. I think it shows that they care about each child regardless of what class they are in. There was an initial concern that kind of stayed with me. I appreciate that the classes are not packed full of children but I don’t think that there are very many kids enrolled in this school. There was a lot of empty space and there is plenty of room, but why so few kids in a school that seems be a good place to bring your children and feel safe doing so? Tuition was at the higher end so that may have been a factor, but it is not exorbitant to be fair. That being said, I don’t mind paying a little extra for my peace of mind.
While I was walking through the hallway I noticed that there were two teachers in the front middle class that had abandoned the facing toward the children while being social with other teachers. Normally this wouldn’t have caused me to about-​face and walk away completely but the girls appeared to be in a very involved conversation that could have caused a delay if one of their kids got hurt or something that required the teacher to act fast. I walked closer to the class to get a better look at all of the different things the kids have access to. I was very impressed. I guess the girls weren’t aware of my in the hall behind them or they didn’t realize that they were talking at a level that was easily heard in the hallway. That’s where everything turned around for me. The girls were talking with a lot of emotion and almost seemed as if there had been some sort of problem prior to my arrival. The girls were discussing the owner of the school in very negative tones. Then I heard the deal break news. They were talking about how much they have been micromanaged all day and that the owner kept correcting everything making accusations toward them about them not supervising their children or they wouldn’t have had an accident happen in front of them. They then started a detailed account of the owner having a child sitting in the seat inside of her office. The child had a seizure in the owners office. They said she has no qualifications or even a CPR certificate. The conversation directly went back to the seizure that happened two feet in front of the owner and she ran out into the hall leaving the child alone in her office during the seizure to demand that another teacher come into her office and give him CPR right away. The teacher advised the owner that CPR is not performed for seizures, that the child needed to be rolled onto his side to keep from choking on vomit. Then the teacher was told to put her finger in his mouth to help him breathe. The teacher again told the owner that she was not wearing gloves and that is also not what to do during a seizure. I was so shocked that every employee was not certified in basic first aid and protocols for common ailments and illness. This conversation confirmed that in my mind. Even though the owner isn’t a teacher inside of a classroom she should still be able to administer assistance properly. In this conversation it was mentioned that the owner had walked out of her office with the child in crisis!!!
I loved the appealing school set up, cleanliness, and the amount of different structures and play spaces, and that all of the children were not disorderly and misbehaved but none of that really matters when you can’t be there for a child is in need of medical assistance and there are only some employees know how to assist. I for one am not willing to take that chance. What started out as a definite choice for consideration turned into a child left unattended in the owners care and the owner thought that the answer to this seizure was two things that could have put the child’s life in jeopardy.
Not sure what the problem is with everyone being certified and able to assist but this definitely convinced me that the owner did not actually care about the children as much as I had first thought. If the children were the priority she would be certified whether she is required to or not. How awfully sad.
This was a serious let down after closer inspection. I’m glad I overheard the teachers conversation.

Okay, only day 3 but… We love it so much here! The staff is great, the owners and director are great… This school is what dreams are made of!

Love the teachers, director and owners. I had a bad experience at a previous daycare/​pre-​school and was SO fortunate to find Kiddie Academy. I plan to have my daughter enrolled here until it is time for her to start Kindergarten. I am a happy parent.