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CB Primary and Secondary Schooling (K-12) KinderCare Education horrible place to work for and to send your child to
KinderCare Education

KinderCare Education review: horrible place to work for and to send your child to 5

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6:13 pm EDT
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I have worked for KinderCare for over a year now. I came to them after my other center was closed due to the failing economy. I thought that working for KinderCare, a company with such a reputable name...the largest provider of childcare in the country, would be fantastic. Boy, was I completely WRONG! I guess I'm glad to see that the same crap is going on all over the country and that it's not just my center, but it's still terrible. Here is my little list of complaints:

1. Curriculum. WHAT A JOKE! When I got there, the box for each season was missing 75% of the materials. My other teacher and I went through and made lists of what we needed to complete the curriculum...and was told we weren't getting it. Beyond that, we can't even get simple supplies to do what is provided in the lessons. It's gotten to the point that we follow the bi-weekly themes, but plan our own activities because they are more age appropriate and the children are more interested.

2. Ratios. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Laughable! We are constantly over ratio and are basically told that there's nothing that can be done about it. Hire more staff? Yeah, right! Our hours are getting cut when we don't even have enough staff to cover the center! Just 3 weeks ago, I was left alone in our school age room with 33 KIDS! Yes, almost double ratio. My director had to do a bus run and there was no one else to help out. Did she try to call the other center that is 3 miles away and picks up from the same schools to try and help out? Nope. I was almost double ratio! I informed my district manager and NOTHING was done, even though she tells us to ALWAYS come to her when something is wrong. Yeah, a lot of good that does.

3. Meals. Um, EWWW. Our director honest to God orders the same foods EVERY SINGLE WEEK. She also happens to order the cheapest food. Why? Because it helps get her closer to bonus. In the rare event that something is made that the kids will actually eat, they are always left hungry. Proper portions aren't provided and it breaks my heart to have to tell kids no when they want more food...when I know for a fact more than a few don't get much to eat at home.

4. When it comes to reporting things, nothing ever gets done. I have a child in my room that comes in every morning smelling of urine, covered in dog hair, and is filthy from head to toe. EVERY SINGLE MORNING. His father also smells of weed every morning. I spoke with my director about this child's situation because it was really getting to me. She told me that there was nothing reportable about it because it wasn't a form of abuse or neglect. Uh, excuse me? Disregarding a child's hygiene IS a case for neglect. I had a child (who is no longer there) that had some delays. When I would change her throughout the day, her private areas were always very red and she would act as though she was in pain when I would use wipes down there. There was also a very foul odor. I called and reported this. I informed my director of the situation just so she wouldn't be blindsided. She was livid that I reported it! When the investigation took place, she told those conducting it that she had never noticed anything and that the parent had informed her she had a yeast infection. Nothing was done. The parent NEVER told us about this supposed yeast infection. You know what happened a week later? We were informed that this child would no longer be in attendance because she was taken by CPS because she was being RAPED by her mom's boyfriend. This company cares NOTHING about the children.

5. My director is completely incompetent. She is 26 and this was her first director's job right out of college. Just because you have a degree doesn't mean you can do the job! She spends the majority of her day in the baby room with her child. She's never available to take calls. You ask her a question and the responses you will get are, "I don't know, " or "I haven't thought that far yet." Our center runs better when she's not there. We have a WONDERFUL assistant director that is credentialed to the highest degree and has twice as much experience as the director. When our director was on maternity leave and the assistant was in charge, it was a completely different place to work for. The staff was happy. Parents were happy. We did great projects and activities. She truly cares about us as teachers. She agrees that we are paid crap and that there's no incentive for us to do more than we are asked. When our director came back from leave, everything went back to normal. Parents noticed the very first day she was back that no one there was happy. That's sad.

6. Speaking of being paid crap, let's talk about that! I have an ECE degree. I make a whopping $8.50/hour...that's $6.85/hour after taxes. This is the 2nd year in a row that wages have been frozen. We don't get supplies/materials and the company charges an arm and a leg in tuition...so where is all of the money going?! Our headstart classroom gets an extra budget for supplies. In the 14 months I have been there, I have not once seen them be able to use that money. We have 3 teachers that have been there 10 years + and the highest paid one of them makes $8.98/hour...and she has 2 Bachelor's...education and art. PATHETIC. There was a teacher hired about 2 months ago that has a CDA that expires on 6 months that started at $9.00. REALLY?! With a flipping CDA?!

7. Some of the teachers are just absolute CRAP. We have 3 in our center that constantly yell at the kids, yank them around by their arms, squeeze their hands/wrists to the point that the child says it hurts, etc. Numerous other teachers have voiced complaints over this and NOTHING has been done. One little boy said one teacher hurt his back. Our director looked at it, as did I, and it was indeed very red in the area right around the base of his neck. Was anything done? Nope. One child had an accident while outside. She had told her teacher (the same one referred to before) that she needed to use the bathroom and she was told to hold it. Not long after, the little girl peed her pants. The teacher noticed she had done it and told her to go sit on the bench and not get up. She sat on that bench for over an hour until they went inside. Once inside, the teacher DID NOT HELP HER CHANGE CLOTHES! Her father came in to pick her up and asked why she smelled. The teacher said she did not know. BS. This was on a Friday and it happened as I was walking out the door. First thing Monday, I informed the assistant director about it. An investigation was launched and obviously, this teacher lied about it. The little girl told the director, assistant, DM, and her parents exactly what happened, but it didn't matter. The teacher was safe from any consequence. Wouldn't you know, though, that I came under fire for not reporting it Friday!

8. Something is going on at home office. We can no longer have our grass cut or our floors and carpets cleaned because KLC owes over $30, 000.00 to each company! They also have yet to pay people that have come in for summer activities. I looked and there are 81 jobs open in the home office. Hmmm. Interesting.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Bottom line, DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO KINDERCARE. Management only cares about money and lies through their teeth (well, most do, anyway...my assistant director is as honest as they come). It's so bad that my assistant director is pulling her triplets out and our DM's assistant is pulling her 3, also. We are told to inform our DM of any suspected wrong doing by the director...and we do...but nothing ever happens. We've given up. Every employee there (and all of the parents) want our assistant director to be promoted, but our DM refuses. Why? No one knows. It sure would go a long way to improve the center. I am currently looking for new employment. I will hate it, though, because I do love my kids and I love my co-workers. The director, DM, and company philosophy/practices as a whole just absolutely SUCK, though.

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5 comments
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ihatekindercare
, US
May 16, 2017 2:09 pm EDT

I used to go to a Portland center. Now this is coming from a kid. There is a teacher there that punched some of the kids in the stomach. But, guess what nothing was done about it and the kids that got punched were the ones that got into trouble. There is also a lot of racism there. There is also a different type of segregation there. I have ADHD and ADD I also have athsma. One of my friends had a very serious brain problem to the point where everybody, including the teachers treated both of us a lot differently. They gave us crappy food. On movie day they had us sit in the corner instead of watching. They wouldn't even let us help vote on the movie. The teacher that started all of this(I cannot reveal names) also called the director all the time. It was like it was in his daily schedule. He called for things that we didn't even do. When we protested he literally dragged us out of the classroom to the directors office. On his way he like twisted our wrists so bad that marks were left. Even when we said that it hurt this would be his reply: "Shut up. Cause' I don't care." Please help one of my friends still has to go!

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Jackson2
, US
Feb 21, 2017 5:17 pm EST

I wish that I would have listened to my gut feeling when I read the reviews before I start working for this company. The DM is a horrible male bully that knows little about the Director's role or center operation. He hired me and never mentioned to me that I would be traveling 2 hours for training; then when it was mentioned to him he responded, "Well you need to take advantage of every opportunity with a smile". Just cold and inconsiderate; and when I decide to accept a position travel time and distance definetely plays a part so this should have been mentioned in my interview. What's worse is the black Directors that were supposed to be training me were lazy, gossipy women that hide behind "being employed with kindercare for 20 years" but are not very productive and talk bad about other Directors that don't send in their labor hours on time. The DM always make rude comments about "mom and pop" daycare centers, but mom and pops are way more organized and structured than Kindercare and they care about children. Worst experience and a waste of my time... I learned very little from this great corporation that has outdated accounting systems, environments and staff. This is in the 60473 zip code area. I think the third district .

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FormerTeacher
, US
Jul 22, 2016 10:32 pm EDT

I could not agree more. I had almost the exact same experience working there, and it reached a point that was so unbearable that we were losing teachers left and right. No one in management or at corporate gives a rat's ### about actually providing quality childcare. I have never worked in a more dysfunctional environment.

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Carrie Bell
Horn Lake, US
Jul 22, 2012 12:23 am EDT

Amen!

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Ifafemi Alafia
Sacramento, US
Oct 02, 2010 5:11 pm EDT

Some centers may be okay, but Kindercare Learning centers. are more about the cover than the book. They shuffle children around like cattle from class room to classroom to meet ratio. Teachers are sent home early so they can save money. Children at a lot of centers have no predictability when it comes to a primary caretaker or teacher. This is critically in these tender years. They claim their curriculum is so great but often don't have all the supplies to meet the curriculum. Teacher's end up buying materials just so they can do their job and give the children something.
Parents have no clue what is going on and they need to know that it is not what it appears and they are not getting their money's worth.
They try to cover up licensing issues and will go to any extent save to save the company name. There are many illegal things going on and cover up from poorly kept properties to administrators and staff incompetent behaviors. Northern California has some of the worst yet. Don't be fooled by the art work and lobby displays. Try looking in their kitchens and bathrooms. Check for hazards in the yard areas. See if the materials are available and out for children according to the curriculum. Notice if their toys are clean and sanitized. Check online or your nearest childcare referral agency for quality standards for childcare. Check the Community Care licensing agency if there are any violations and what type before you decide place your child in a center.

Note that Knowledge Learning Corporation owns Kindercare Learning Centers. They are the largest in the United States and the worst. They need to be interviewed by sixty minutes or a news reporter. There are a few parents and teachers that are looking into this we will be finding away to contact people with lawsuits etc. This needs to go public.

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