I Saw Your Daycare- Milwaukee, WI

Received Wednesay, December 12, 2007-DAYCARE WARNINGS
Allow me to speak my thoughts, since I know some questionable daycares and worked at two of the WORST daycares in Milwaukee, WI...

E.K.

In summer 2005, a 2 year old Milwaukee girl died from being left on the daycare van. The mother put her child on the van and returned later to pick her up, only to find her child wasn't in the childcare facility. The mother found her child on the van dead-the little girl fell asleep on the van and the driver, after arriving at the center, DID NOT check the van to ensure all the children were in the building. When I worked in daycare, and ANYTIME children were brought into the building after riding the center vehicles, I ALWAYS stood at the door and counted them one by one, and did a van check to ensure NOBODY was left on the van.

It gets better-the center's owner was stripped of her childcare license, and CANNOT open another facility. However, since Wisconsin is a martial property state, her husband got a license in his name, and she owns half of the daycare. Interesting? Yep! Anyway, the center is family owned, and all family that works there, and I was the lowest paid, with the most classes and experience. The center director, the wife's sister, had no experience in daycare and has fewer classes then I do, and almost fired a teacher for having strep throat, when it clearly states in WI that if a teacher or child has strep, they are not allowed in the center for 48-72 hours. This facility was MICROMANAGED, meaning that the director was breathing down my neck, the curriculum for the infants was switched 3 times in 3 months, and my lesson plans were too repetitive for my infants/toddlers. Duh! That's how they learn, through repetition. Then again, what was I to expect from someone who left a $50K a year job in social work to work at her sister's daycare with no experience for 1/2 the pay?

How did I find out that these were the people who left the child on the van? Wisconsin daycares are required to post any licensing violations on the parent board, usually located near the front door of the facility. I happened to read the letter written to the owner's wife by the state, and put 2 and 2 together. I ended up leaving shortly after that. The reason why I don't recommend parents enrolling there is because:

1. They left a child on the van, and the child died. Had the director had more experience, she would've known to count each child as they entered the building, and done a van check after the children were inside.

2. The director lacks common sense, and does micromanagement. There is no reason for this, and it doesn't make up for the fact that a little girl died due to your negligence.

OK, and now for the WORST daycare in Milwaukee, WI:

J.L.H.

Where do I begin? *LOL* This daycare has an owner/director with a DEGREE in Early Childhood Education. She has no clue how to run a daycare, and anything goes:

I had children hit, bite, scratch and slap me. These were 2-5 year olds! Taking the child's hands and saying, "I don't like it when you do that, that hurts me, stop that!" "I won't allow you to hurt me or anybody else" usually works, but in this case, NOTHING worked. I would put the children in a time out for inappropriate behavior, and she would say, "if they don't want to sit in a timeout, they don't have to. You can't make them sit when they don't want to" If a child hit me, I had to call for assistance and she would pull the child into her office, where they got treats and hugs and kisses for bad behavior. Instead of saying, "I can't let you hit your teachers" or "Hitting your teacher wasn't very nice", she would roll her eyes and tell me I couldn't handle my class-how could I handle them when she, as an owner/director, didn't provide any support for her teachers, and thereby encouraging children's behavior?

The field trip was a classic example. We went to a petting zoo, and a 4 year old boy was punching baby animals. He would run from animal to animal, hitting them in the face, and laughing about it. One of the petting zoo employees made a comment about the child's behavior-and the owner/director, being the little boy's cousin, did nothing about it. On the playground, children would climb the fence, laugh about it, and keep doing it. NOTHING was done about the behavior, and it brought unwanted comments from the owner about how I couldn't handle my class alone. Yeah, yeah, OK. Had the state walked in and saw this behavior, she could've been shut down. I did the best I could, and she couldn't handle running a daycare. *shaking my head LOL* I left after being scratched by a 2 year old-it was me yell at the parent, or me yell at the director. Oh yeah, I was hired as supervisor and talked to during my interview about the teacher I was replacing. Then, 2 days later, I was demoted as supervisor and in pay, because she didn't like the way I was running things. How did I know how to run things when she was never around to show me how she wanted things done?

I don't recommend this center because:

1. Children run around like wild animals. There is no structure, no discipline, and your child could get seriously hurt by another child.

2. The director has a good heart to an extent, but lacks the skills necessary to run a daycare.

3. There is no A/C, no windows, and the playground equipment can cause serious injury to your child.