CHESTERBROOK ACADEMY - need feedback please! (Columbia, North: appointed, day care, neighborhood)

[kcho]

Hi - moving to Columbia from Michigan, visited many preschools last week for my 2.5yr old, and was disappointed at how few quality full-day child care / pre-school options there were on the NE side (that didn't have a year-long waitlist). Can anyone provide feedback on Chesterbrook Academy?
Karen

[Chi2Midlands]

Originally Posted by kcho

Hi - moving to Columbia from Michigan, visited many preschools last week for my 2.5yr old, and was disappointed at how few quality full-day child care / pre-school options there were on the NE side (that didn't have a year-long waitlist). Can anyone provide feedback on Chesterbrook Academy?
Karen

Karen - as you unfortunately discovered, the places which don't have a long wait list are all too often ones that aren't that high in quality. My wife and I looked long and hard for quality day care / preschool locations throughout the Northeast.

If the Lake Carolina neighborhood is not too far from your future NE Columbia home, I would highly recommend sending your child to the Lake Carolina Early Learning Center (Lake Carolina Early Learning Center). We send our nearly-2.5-year-old son there and he loves it there and we feel is a wonderful, caring environment for him. We love the fact that it is run by a young couple, both child care experts with solid experience, who moved down here from the DC/Baltimore area and have put their heart and soul (not to mention life savings, probably) into it.

I have heard good things about Chesterbrook Academy, if and once you can actually get in, from a pure academic/environment point of view. We know many parents who send their kids there or who have attempted to. Have not heard complaints of how their children are doing there. However, I have gotten pretty negative feedback on their local administration/management (they are a for-profit chain of preschools/early elementary grade schools, mostly in the Southeast states I believe). Instead of having a wait list, they had a date in early March where parents would have to wait in line at like 3 or 4 in the morning to await doors opening at 7am or so to get in, (i.e., almost like a day-after-Thanksgiving "Black Friday" shopping event). I don't know if there is an effort to manufacture an impression of exclusivity or something, but the vibe I get is that they are trying to be a PreK-2nd Grade launch pad for the elite private schools in Columbia (namely Heathwood and Hammond, both wonderful schools, BTW), regardless of how genuinely good their environment may be. A co-worker who went their had their questions about biting in the 1-year-old room (a common issue and concern at that age) casually dismissed. If you can get in, I think you would be in good hands with their teachers, etc., but I think their management has been rude and unprofessional to folks we know who have tried to get in.

I had an earlier post on child care / preschool facilities in the Northeast you can read here:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/3107354-post5.html.

Good luck and hope you find the best school for your child. As a parent I understand the concerns you have.

[Chi2Midlands]

Karen - I forgot to mention that Lake Carolina ELC does have at least one ex-Chesterbrook teacher (LCELC opened its doors just this past January). This is not to malign Chesterbrook or over-hype LCELC, but if you feel Chesterbrook is/was a potential match for you, perhaps you might consider that LCELC has been successful in attracting good teachers. Also we have friends who send their 2.5-year-old son to LCELC even though Chesterbrook would have been significantly more convenient to them commute-wise towards downtown. They were getting somewhat "stonewalled" on admission/wait-list issues and were impressed by LCELC's setup and environment.

[melissalynn]

I am moving from florida to we think, ne columbia> i have not visisted yet, but i have been calling pre-schools all over. yes, i am finding that there are waiting lists also. I wanted to know where are you looking to live? i will be visiting in june.

[lovelenarania]

I moved to Columbia in 2001. I only send my girls to daycares I can work in. I left a position as a director at a substandard preschool to work in the kitchen at Chesterbrook. It was the best decision I ever made. My 10 year old still remembers going to school there, and she loved it. We moved to Michigan in 2005 and sadly I was not able to find such a quality setting for my younger daughter to attend pre-school. I assume many of the same people are still there because they have very low turnover and the teachers are very dedicated, and love their classes. They take pride in their jobs and take pride in the impression their students will leave on the kindergarden teachers in the local schools. They want thier students ready for kindergarden. It feel like family the minute you walk in the doof. If the director is the same I can assure you that NOTHING they do is to "create an impression", if there really are lines that long I'm sure it only done for the sake of fairness. This is a great pre-school, better than even other Chesterbrooks and better than any other in the area, I think even better than Richland 2 preschools.