Discovery Point

After of family’s former preschool close down, we researched thoroughly for a school that fit all our family’s needs (toddler care, Georgia Pre-​K 4, and afterschool care with transportation from elementary school). DP — Suwanee came highly recommended by a friend. The staff is extremely competent, professional, and courteous. My children genuinely appear to be happy and healthy while in DP’s care. My four year old is thriving more now than at his prior preschool. I have no regrets and complete peace of mind. The technology available (smart boards, tablets, etc.) and special programs (ie. fall festival, International Day, Pre-​K field trips, summer camp, extra-​curricular activities, etc) offered by the school are added bonuses. We love to check-​in on our children during the day via the video web. As two working parents, seeing our children engaged and smiling during the day gives us great comfort!

Here’s the text of a letter sent to the owner of the Discovery Point franchise that will explain my 1-​star rating (too bad you can’t give a zero):
July 19, 2002
Mr. Clifford M. Clark
Chief Executive Officer
Discovery Point Child Development Centers
1140-​A Old Peachtree Road
Duluth, GA 30 097
Dear Mr. Clark:
I am writing to let you know of a very unfortunate and disappointing situation at one of your centers. The center is the Discovery Point located at 930 Peachtree Industrial Blvd, Suwanee, GA 30 024. It is operated by Mary Ellen Camp and Ronald Camp.
Our eight month old son, Matthew, had been attending the center on a part-​time basis since he was four months old. I work full-​time and my wife works one to two days a week. On those days we were utilizing Discovery Point. The center had no problem accepting Matthew on a drop-​in basis at a rate of $ 60 a day.
Up until yesterday, we were not aware of anything unusual or any problems with Matthew or his care. Yesterday afternoon, July 18^th, when I arrived to pick Matthew up at 4pm, I was asked to come into the office by Mary Ellen Camp. Ms. Camp proceeded to tell me that they could no longer accept Matthew due to problems he was having adjusting to childcare center. I asked for a further explanation and was told numerous things which I will go into detail about below.
First, the prior day that Matthew was there, on Tuesday, the daily parent report showed that he was fed two full jars of baby food and a full six ounce bottle of milk within a two to three hour period. I didn’t read the report in detail until after I got home. When I was at the center picking him up, I was not told of any major problems that day.
When my wife read the report, she was very concerned about the amount of food he was given and thought it was very unlikely for him to eat that much in such a short time frame. Because of her motherly concern for the well-​being of our son, she wrote a note for me to bring the next time I took Matthew to the center, which was yesterday. The note suggested that when Matthew is overly cranky and upset, that it may be due to such things as boredom, over-​stimulation, tiredness, etc. and not necessarily hunger. It was not accusatory in any fashion, and was just an attempt to figure out what exactly was happening.
When I dropped Matthew off on Thursday morning, I expressed our concerns to one of the staff who was in the infant room. I believe that morning it was Amy (not sure of her last name). I left the note with her and asked her not to take it personally, that we weren’t upset about anything that was done, but rather just wanted to figure out what was in Matthew’s best interests. She said that she understood completely.
One of the things that Ms. Camp told me in yesterday’s meeting, was that her teachers took the note very personally as an attack, and that one of the teachers that has been working there for over six years had basically threatened to leave if Matthew was not expelled from the center. She would not tell me which teacher it was. I since have reason to believe it was the afternoon teacher, who’s name is Susan (again, not sure of her last name).
Ms. Camp also told me that other parents had made complaints and that she, Ms. Camp, could not afford to lose other children as a result of the current situation with Matthew. I do not fully know the nature of those complaints. I have heard that possibly the complaints were to the effect that the staff was not properly taking care of the babies. This may have arisen from the fact that when other parents would be at the center, there would be times when Matthew was inconsolable and crying.
I asked Ms. Camp what Matthew was doing that was so terrible that was causing these problems. She told me that since he has been going to the center he has not been happy, has had numerous times where they could not pacify him unless they were giving him individual attention, and that they could not keep doing that.
What strikes me as odd is that every time I visited the center during the day to check on Matthew, he was always in one of the exersaucers bouncing and laughing, or sleeping peacefully in his crib. On no occasion was I ever told of any serious issues with him. There was never any parent-​teacher conference scheduled, any phone calls made to my wife or me, or anything to indicate there was a problem.
Because of space limitations, please visit my website for the rest of the letter and their response: