Wednesday

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.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

simple, she doesnt not care about the teachers or the kids
she is afraid of confronting their behavior because she does not want to lose the money.
makes you think twice about putting your child on a day care.
another, i dont think she has any childhooed education training.

Anonymous said...

this post seems fake to me

Anonymous said...

Its Milwaukee and it is probably true. The daycares here are HORRIBLE!!

Anonymous said...

A daycare operator is currently on trial here in Texas for leaving a child on a daycare van, where he died in the heat, and then (not wanting to get caught having let him die like that) she took his body to a park and dumped it there. Then she called the police and pretended the child had suddenly and mysteriously died while playing at the park. Too bad for her it was obvious how he had died, and also that this was a body dump.
I imagine she'll get the book thrown at her. They don't mess around in Texas.

Anonymous said...

How do we know to stay away from bad daycares without the name of them?
I'm sure there may be a liability, but these are our kids!

Anonymous said...

if you live in the area, dont you recognize the daycare by it's initials?

Anonymous said...

12:01
No, but then again, how was I to know? As long as the people in that area are aware, I'll shut-up.

Anonymous said...

9:20-If you don't believe me, do a Yahoo search on "Asia Jones". Atricles from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel should pop up, and then you will see that I am not lying. As for the second one, well, it's a true story, and that's the reason why I am done working in daycare.

MilwaukeeNanny: Good to see you!

11:54 and 12:01-I didn't want to disclose the names of the centers, and I'm sure MilwaukeeNanny knows the name of the first center, since it was closed down and moved to another location. At the second daycare, my boss was overdressed and ignorant, so rather than publicly talk about her, I used initals. Then again, she did have her finger in my face all the time, so...here goes....

Daycare number 1 is located on N. Martin Luther King Jr Drive

Daycare number 2 is located in the 4100 block of N. 35th Street

does that help anybody?

Anonymous said...

OP
Thanks for doing your public service!
:)

Anonymous said...

A daycare in Maine had a baby drown in a pool because they did not have the proper teacher/kid ratio. You will have to google it for the name because I honestly don't recall.

Anonymous said...

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=332715

Anonymous said...

I hate people who decry "fake".
Who are you helping? This is a freaking cautionary tale and it really happened. Shame on you.

Since 1996, at least 228 children have died in hot, unattended vehicles in the United States, according to research done by General Motors Corp. But the automaker's report said the actual number of fatalities is probably much higher.

At least 22 children who have died from being left in hot vehicles since 1995 were left in those vehicles by child care providers or van drivers, according to a separate study published this year in Injury Prevention magazine. And 32 children who died were left in cars by family members who intended to take the children to day care but forgot about them and went to work instead, the study said.

Anonymous said...

I dont believe that the person who claimed the post was fake was saying that no child has ever died in a hot car, the word girl, so calm the hell down.

Anonymous said...

542-
any person who ignorantly calls something fake is an asshole. the end.

Anonymous said...

My post is not fake. The little girl DID die on a center van, and do a Yahoo search and find out everything you need to know. The second daycare story is true. It's cool though. Say whatever you want about me. I know the truth! And why would I make this up?

Anonymous said...

6:22 anyone who calls someone they dont know an asshole, is very ignorant.

Anonymous said...

this is some scary shit and let me tell you that is why i don't want to put my daughter in a daycare.. fake yeah right hello people you hear about this shit all the time on the news. maybe you should start watching it before you open your mouth.........

Anonymous said...

Seriously? One center was on MLK and the other on 35th st?

DUH...could you get any more in the ghetto. Can't imagine why you had these problems. Make your way to a nice side of town. The care is better and the pay is twice as good too.

Anonymous said...

Ummm... so what are ya saying?! That kids in the 'ghetto' can't expect to get any better care? That is a ridiculous comment. The pay may be better south or west, but there are kids north that need good, caring teachers!

Anonymous said...

Wow, I will say that I am thankful I am in a position to stay home with my kids.

With that said, I can imagine what a heart-wrenching position parents must find themselves in when they hear about stories like these.

To anonymous who commented about the part of town to seek childcare in... social or economic status should not dictate the care that a child is entitled to. IF that is the case, then those child care providers should be shut down immediately pending further investigation.