Is Creme de la Creme worth the $ for preschool? (Buckhead: homes, live in)

[nycplaza]

My daughter is at a Creme preschool in Chicago, and she (and we) love it. The hours are long and very flexible (we can drop her off whenever we want and she just plugs in), they are ALWAYS open, taking very few holidays, and the program is great. She comes home happy and having clearly learned new things all the time. The staff is very helpful and communicative, and they seem to genuinely care about the kids. Yes, it's expensive, but relative to other schools in our area it wasn't out of range. I would recommend. And to one poster's point, there are no china goblets, but they do stress sitting at a table with others, eating with napkins and forks, cleaning up after themselves, and other life skills that I'm happy she's getting exposed to beyond ourselves!

[kdkmom]

I think Creme is about appearances and I want quality, nurturing and curriculum. As an educator and a mom my heart belongs to Primrose!

[cityrover]

my personal opinion: nothing is worth it for preschool. or even k1-4. preschool specifically you ARE paying for and selecting a caretaker for your child. Everything else is designed for you, as an adult to sell you on an idea that is utterly irrelevant to a toddler.

So look at it from this aspect, not from the marketing farce of what you baby will not learn.

buy your kids some legos. worked for me. no really, most awesome thing you can ever do for your kids. start with duplo and up from there as they age, up to technic at around.... 12? or whatever age

[syracusa]

Originally Posted by pinetreelover

My biggest gripe was over uniforms. It seems very developmentally inappropriate to have toddlers and preschoolers wear uniforms. This is an age when they are supposed to be learning independence and dressing just like everyone else is contrary to that goal. If a three year old wants to wear a Batman costume to preschool - go for it

I would surely not reject the school based on the above argument.
Toddlers will gain all the independence they need at that age in uniforms or without uniforms. Coming dressed as Batman at preschool will not make your child better in absolutely ANY WAY compared to one who is required to wear a uniform daily. Many would argue children actually benefit from wearing that uniform - which is probably the reason why the school adopted it in the first place.

[danstew01]

Originally Posted by kdkmom

I think Creme is about appearances and I want quality, nurturing and curriculum. As an educator and a mom my heart belongs to Primrose!

Agreed. We love the Primrose in Dunwoody, and I would disagree with the OP that it's just a step above KinderCare. We got a terrible vibe when we visited there. Same with Creme although on a different level. It just seemed too snooty. Then again it probably depends on the specific location. It's amazing how quickly my toddler is learning new things at Primrose. We love it!

[movingtoAtlanta4]

We just enrolled in Primrose when we relocated here and LOVE it.

[sweet_potato]

I wish I saw this thread ealier. My son was in Creme de la Creme Marietta since he was an infant, and now we decided to move on. We don't mind to spend money if Creme does a good job in terms of educate, discipline and at the same time provide a fun enviroment.

Everything could be fine if your kid is a "yes" person, otherwise, if the management cannot handle a situation, they blame the kid and the parents even they suppose to be professional educators, and even your kid spends more time with them than with you as he was there full time since he was an infant. They only want "easy" kid(money).

We really like most of the teachers, however, the administor is rude and not respectful, sometimes you got a smile, other times you are invisible depending on her mood. When you try to sit down with her to discuss kid's issues, she talked down to you like you are a loser. We don't think we deserve the way she treat us with the $ we paid.

[klassyk]

I was am employee for Creme de la Creme for three years. I came to work, cared for and nurtured all the children and enjoyed myself. As I started being there longer I started hearing all the bad things about cremes directors and some teachers but I didn't work in the class with those teachers or really new what the directors were doing so I didn't bother with it. I started out in the four years old room, then toddler then last but least the infant room where the directors made me the lead teacher. We always receive great reviews on our classroom from DHR, corporate and parents. I loved my teachers and babies in that class. That's when I started to see all the things that where being said with my own eyes. I couldn't believe all the gossip, hatred, sexual advances and things done on the property (inside &out).

I was asked by directors to leave my classroom and go into other classrooms to sneak and spy on teachers and come back with information for them. Flat out I said NO! I have a classroom to run and as soon as something goes wrong I will be the one in trouble. I told them to find them another yes girl because that wasn't me. Then they started messing with the classroom docking hours of me and another teacher, I guess to see who would quit. We didn't quit we just came in and did our work as usual and had a great day. Then the directors came with a different approach, they tried to move the other teacher to another class so she gave her notice and left. After a while that teacher called me and told me tell them she wanted to come back but her car wasn't working so she needed a ride from me. The only problem with that is that we would be late by ten or fifteen minutes. Directors were like we won't write you up we want her to come back so you go ahead and pick her up and don't worry about the time. We will take care of it.

I said are you sure because I don't want to lose my job due to tardiness and being late everyday. I was assured that I wouldn't be in any trouble so I her a friend and the directors. There was another teacher there and she was a wild one. She had been doing the craziest things but the directors loved her so fudging much that she could get away with anything. She locked a child in the closet and the lead teacher reported her to the directors. Guess what happened. They asked the building manager to remove the door and not long after that the lead teacher was fired. Finally they came back into our class and broke us up completely. I was a rotating teacher in the infant c room and my other teacher went to be the bus driver and working in infant c and my best friend went to the toddler room. I came in the room and saw that the teacher who locked a child in the closet had gave two twins dairy and they were highly allergic. They broke out and I gave them there meds. Next, she fed them their snacks of the porch floor, used hair chemicals in the classroom around the kids, slept in class and screamed at children.

I reported and another teacher too but nothing was done. I called Bright From The Start. No first I called corporate and they came down. I asked if I could be anonymous because I feared my job would be in danger. They had put me in the infant A room by then. Finally when corporate came I was like okay something is being done. That's when the administrative director came to me and said corporate here Leslie. I'm like do they know I called. So finally The corporate per came in and spoke walked to me and asked how I was doing touched my face and told me how pretty I was then said, don't be scared to let me know anything I'm only a call a way Leslie. I was done! The director always let me take home learning books for my daughter. So a pre k teacher gave me a book to copy pages out of but I was gone leave that till when i leave for the day. I put it to the side and left it with my lunch box. I guess one of the teachers put it in my bag but anyway. That next morning the admin director drops off my bag. I get called in the office they ask where did I get the book from I told them then I was wrote up. The other teacher that gave me the book wasn't.

Finally the sabotage and set came and I was terminated. The directors and that teacher did their thang. I have never been wrote up in my life of working 5 to six times in a week off things that had nothing to do with me. I leave to go pick up my child who has broken his arm in school. A floater comes in mybplace. She has been trained by me and every other teacher. A parent is asked why wasn't his child's daily form filled out and that floater had no response but I don't know. I came back to work two days later and had a meeting. I was asked why the daily form wasn't filled out. I said because the teacher who was in the room didn't do the task. Why didn't you fill them.out before you left Leslie. Because if I filled it at at 1130 and a parent came in early to pick their child up and none of these activities were done, they are going to want to know why it's on the form and plus it's Un ethical to do that. I was wrote up. I took them to court and the hid begins the at will law.

I was told this school is under investigation now for child neglect/abuse. The same thing that I report to and the school was fined. Theses directors were D. H, V. D, C. B and the teacher was J.S. Might I add they had a known sex offender working there also and they knew about it. These are the people who were in my wrongful termination law suit. This should hook would be great with the right directors but with tat V.D the I don't think so. So many kids were getting hurt up there it was horrible. I wish I could go back but I cant. If that V.D wasn't still there I would. That is all I have to day about Creme De la Creme Buckhead.

[10 feet tall]

I have no idea whether the story posted above is accurate or not.

But any mass chain daycare company is in the game for profit and I would say they are usually not worth the $$. Think about what the full time tuition is, multiply that by the number of kids, and then subtract the very small amount they pay teachers and their other expenses. Massive profit. Daycare centers are some of the most abusive workplaces for employees and they generate a ton of $$ for the owners. I have seen owners making 30-40,000 per month after expenses are paid. Not bad for a small business. And if they are a massive multi-state chain, practically nothing would shock me, based on what I have seen go on in some of these places.

[LovelySummer]

Yes, but I don't think you understand HOW MUCH Creme charges. Try $1600 per month for a class the same size and same student-teacher ratio as most other schools. The class sizes aren't any smaller and the ratios aren't any better. You're basically just paying for the name. Paying ALOT for the name, by the way.

Originally Posted by 10 feet tall

But any mass chain daycare company is in the game for profit and I would say they are usually not worth the $$. Think about what the full time tuition is, multiply that by the number of kids, and then subtract the very small amount they pay teachers and their other expenses. Massive profit.