CCLC in Downtown Palo Alto

I am sad to update our review for this center to just 1 star. We spent considerable amount of time in this daycare, and we gained experience with two head teachers so far. The really good reviews that we had provided earlier go to teacher Sachi exclusively. She has been a true educator for little and older kids, struggling with them for their development and taking it as a personal task and achievement.
Unfortunately our experience with the overly stressed next teacher and the director, does not meet common parent expectations. We did not reject this daycare option for some months. However after moving to a new place and switching to a new CCLC we can see such a difference.
We wish that CCLC in Downtown Palo Alto will meet the CCLC standards at some point.

DO BE BE FOOLED BY NEGATIVE REVIEWS
I have nothing but good thing to say about CCLC Palo Alto. I was a mother that had my son the the Octopus room for several months. The teachers were really informative and genuinely concerned about my sons well being. As a mother I was always concerned about who took care of my baby and they eased my concerns. They posted pictures of him, gave him assessments on his development and did what they could to make my family happy. The teachers work well with each other and made a big impact on the families. They made sure they knew the parents names (even the ones that were not in their child class). From the multicultural day to the Halloween parade, there was nothing wrong with what this center had provided for my family. There are always good and bad experiences all throughout life, it is up to you to make wise decisions for your children. If I had to I would put my son in this center again.

So glad others have had a positive experience. Unfortunately our experience with a «rewarded» teacher was VERY different and caused us to leave the school. Tra’shelle’s behavior combined with that of the center, was appalling. We had been a LONG standing CCLC family and referred countless families to the center. Thankfully we had many positive teachers at the center, with my daughter attending from 20 months through Pre-​K and then my son from 18 months, until we had to pull him half way through Pre-​K because of Tra’shelle’s actions. Throughout my son’s time at CCLC this teacher was watching him and involving herself in his care, even though she was not his teacher for several more years. She suggested dietary changes and hearing screening on hunches, all of which were to no avail, as we had already predicted. My son surely is a tough kid behaviorally, a fact we never ignored, but we were able to remedy his problems in EVERY OTHER class room that he was in at CCLC, working closely with his teachers, and even engaging outside help from a behaviorist. This did not happen in her class. There were constant suggestions of explanations, that never seemed to form a pattern, including an assertion that my son (who is of mixed African American and Caucasian heritage), would «only listen to black people», like her, her daughter, my husband, and my mother in law. I only hoped the comment was a joke, but I am not so sure that it was, and it certainly wasn’t funny. During the time my son was in her class, my husband and I were going through a divorce. She seemed to continually want to attribute his behavioral issues to this, and given that we understood this to be a possibility, started him in therapy to see how a professional thought he was handling things (we had been separated for over a year and been amicable and open and honest with our children). The feedback from his therapist, was that he was coping incredibly well with the divorce and was simply a strong willed kid testing boundaries. Then it got bad, over the course of 2 days, a Friday and a Monday, she implied that he was being sexual with dolls and other kids and acting out acts that he «must have seen somewhere.» Asking us who was around him, and were my ex and I dating, etc. She seemed sure this was the cause of his actions. One example was him licking people. We explained that we had two dogs that he watches and oh by the way, don’t all of the kids in the class pretend to be baby kittens and puppies? As a matter of fact, she had told me several times at pick up not to call him his name but to call him baby kitten. We had long talks with our son to try and understand why they were feeling his behavior was inappropriate and he explained his actions. The teachers at CCLC, the first time they felt his behavior was inappropriate with dolls, never even went up to ask him what or why he was doing the things he was. Had they, he would have explained and it would have made sense. Instead, this wonderful teacher took it upon herself to call CPS directly, without even notifying the school that she had done it, which from what I heard from other teachers at the school was in direct violation of their policy. In fact, the Director told us she was completely caught off guard when CPS showed up and then later when I called to let her know that the CPS officer was reporting the incident unfounded, she said «oh good, and I am not surprised». As it happened, CPS came to the school, interviewed my son, then to our home and interviewed us and our 8 year old daughter. In less than 30 minutes the CPS officer said, «this is obviously not a case of abuse or any inappropriate behavior. I will be reporting this as „unfounded.“ As a matter of fact, I have never seen two people go through a divorce who get along so well and are solely looking out for the welfare of their children.» He remarked that the implication from her was that likely we had men and women coming through the house as dating partners. Completely contrary is the fact that we have written in our separation agreement that no one will even meet our kids, until we have been in a relationship for over one year. She never asked us about that. He felt terrible for having to interview my daughter, who was visibly distraught at the suggestion of the allegations and the involvement of CPS, but said it had to be done to complete the report. He even advised us, as a parent himself, to pull our son from the school, stating that it was clear that there was a target on our son’s back. He even suggested that based on what he heard from my son and us about the teacher, that we could call and have CPS look into conduct at the school. We did not pursue this, because other than this teacher and this experience, we had a positive experience at the school. We even hired one of his former teachers as a nanny,

This school is really as good as it gets. My son started at their toddler class (Starfish) a month ago, and from day one, he loved it, and is looking forward to school everyday. Teachers are attentive, provide plentiful feedback everyday, and I could not have been happier as a parent to see my child look forward to going to school.

My daughter attended this preschool under the direction of Sonya Ramsey for 4 years. Previously a stay at home mom, I was nervous to leave her in daycare so that I could return to work, but by the end of the first week, I saw that I needn’t be. At CCLC palo alto, she learned everything from how to clear her own spot from the table (at only 18 months!) to how to sort, add, and group objects. Today she is a bright, confident 7 year old and I attribute much of that to the many caring and committed teachers at this school.