La Petite Academy

As a new mom just moving here with no infant spots open anywhere but here, I was nervous. I felt out of control and like this was the only option. I reminded myself that did not mean it was bad! But it was still scary to leave my bambino.
He adapted well and the infant/​toddler room gals are amaZing!!! My boy loves Rachel and Jillian, we ask him now if he wants to go see them and he always says «yeah» and nods and starts moving to go bye bye.
What’s more awesome? He talks more at daycare than home! And they got him on a nap routing (I could not get that down) within weeks. He loves routine and structure but is very independent and strong willed and he does fantastic here in their set up.

When we first signed up with La Petite we felt that it was a decent place for my son to have some interaction with other children (he was about 3). All was ok until he started Pre-​K and it just didn’t seem as though he was learning much but we thought give it a little time. There were a couple good teachers that interacted with my son but I kept feeling that he wasn’t getting the attention he needed because there seem to be so many children and not enough staff.
The day that changed everything was when my husband went to pick up my son and noticed one of the care providers in the infant room roughly grabbing a baby. He was so shocked and went to speak to the director. The interim director was not on site so my husband spoke to him the following day and explained what he had seen. Needless to say, the interim director stated that he would speak with the care providers to hear their side of the story and would get back to my husband by evening. We did receive a phone call from the interim director stating that after speaking with the care providers, my husband had not seen what he thought he saw, it must have been a mistake but he would have the care providers review the care policies again to ensure they are following them.
I knew that my husband had no reason to make this up, it wasn’t his child that was part of the incident and he was so upset about it. After receiving the call from La Petite, we decided to remove my son from the school.
We have sinced enrolled him in a new Pre-​K and now see that he wasn’t learning as much as he should have in LP. He comes home and tells us how much he has learned — we can see the difference.
I would not recommend LP in Lodi.

Moved into Lodi and we used La petite as back up care through work. I made an appointment to tour the place, the staff were very friendly an helpful. My kids loved it and they had no complaints. I will continue to use La petite :)

Ok, it has been a little over a month since I had to call the police when picking up my child here, so I have since calmed down a bit, just enough to write a review update without smashing my laptop out of anger. Actually La Petite just sent a «survey» to my email, and that is why I am writing this now.
Our son was enrolled here for a very long time. Over the last 7+ months, he has increasingly «HATED» going there, and we did not know why. When I pulled into the parking lot after 5p.m., I saw 3 teachers/​management running out the front door like the place was on fire. Two went around the left side, and the manager went around the right side, which is parallel to Kettleman lane. I got out and asked a friend who works there what was going on, she said (I won’t use names) a child hopped over the fence into traffic. The child she was talking about has done numerous other crazy things, hit other kids, run out the front door, ignore teachers, etc he is a very disturbed child. I went to the back playground where the kids were to get my son, who came up to me and was red, sweaty and looked like he went through a nightmare. He just was not himself. I asked what the hell was going on, and he said «he was kicking me, and punching me and spit on me». I turned to the manager and started cursing/​yelling at her, as this was not the first time this other kid has done something, but this was the worst. To make a VERY long review short, I called the police, he spoke to the teachers and the crazy child’s mother, only to learn he was on medication and has anger issues. We pulled our child from this center that day, the officer said he would have done the same thing, and I am STILL SO FREAKING ANGRY! For a child «care» center to allow a mentally/​emotionally disturbed child around other children, WITHOUT the other parents having knowledge is despicable. I would never want my child around such a kid who is so unstable he hits teachers/​other kids and then runs outside. But La Petite is all about $$ and that family has 3 children there, so they are making big bucks off them. I would rather not work and cut costs so we can live on one salary than to have my child in a center which really does not «care» about the kids. To hear my child tell the officer he was hiding under a bench outside from this terror makes me angrier than I have ever been.
STAY FAR FAR AWAY FROM LA PETITE.