Blue Leaf School LLC

Cassie and Blue Leaf School changed the trajectory of how my husband and I interact with and raise our child. Had I not taken the RIE course with Cassie during my son's early infancy, I would not have strengthened my skills of kindness, patience and compassion as a parent, which were modeled so wonderfully by Cassie. I recommend her teaching and school to all of my friends and two of them have taken her courses and have also had life changing experiences with their children on account of her work in the early education field. She is a pioneer and a treasure. Highly recommend if you have the opportunity to work with her and Blue Leaf!

We had a wonderful first year at this school. Unfortunately the wheels fell off the bus and we had to find care elsewhere. The biggest issue is teacher turnover. All six (100%) of our children's teachers left in the last three months. Two of them were replacements for teachers that turned over six months before. The RIE philosophy stresses the importance of Continuity of Care. We have no doubt that our children were negatively affected by the sudden departures of their primary caregivers. Another issue is the one-sided contracts. If you are considering attending this school, please review the contracts carefully to understand exactly what you are signing up for. For example, our contracts said that the school can close at any time for any reason and keep 100% of our pre-paid tuition, fees, and deposits. The contracts also stated that "enrollment is contingent on...Willingness to promote RIE® and Blue Leaf® outside the school community" and that parents should "avoid unconstructive commentary...including criticism...on social media." This policy deterred us from providing our honest feedback until we left the school, and means other families might also feel pressured to keep quiet about their negative experiences. Blue Leaf has beautiful spaces and enormous potential. We hope they can address the turnover issues and amend their contracts so that future families have a more wholesome experience.

Our child attended Blue Leaf for a year. We had some positive and some negative experiences in our opinion. The classroom and outdoor spaces are very enriching and thoughtfully designed and there were many wonderful teachers there during her time. A major problem is that all of those teachers are now gone (through a combination of resignations and terminations). The school emphasizes the importance of continuity of care, and so we did not expect the revolving door of caregivers that persisted throughout our child’s time at the school (and is still ongoing at the time of this review, with all 3 of the current toddler teachers leaving within a 12-day period). Communication about this issue by the leadership was not only opaque, but consistently defensive and occasionally unprofessional. One example: some parents who raised concerns about turnover (including me), were told by the director that she “really doesn’t need this [stress] in my life right now.” After a group of parents asked for more insight/clarity into teacher retention and HR practices, admin responded with a new code of conduct restricting parent speech that felt punitive in its timing. The code stated that possible penalties for violation included unenrollment of the child and any siblings that attend Blue Leaf. Indeed, during our year, we are personally aware of two families in our classroom who were unilaterally unenrolled by admin. After the majority of toddler families didn’t renew their contracts, the school began pushing to move some toddlers up to pre-K early, which we believe was driven by enrollment/business factors rather than the child’s readiness. The school's own handbook unequivocally states that children move up as a cohort at the end of the year (not individually based on age) to preserve continuity of care. We witnessed the owners attempt to override this policy without transparency or parental consent, and to unilaterally move children who were under 2.5 years old - a decision that we believe is in conflict with CDEC guidelines. In short, Blue Leaf has some admirable strengths, but we ultimately decided that these strengths were materially undermined by serious management failures and unprofessional business practices, and we chose to depart.

We have trusted Cassie and the staff at Blue Leaf with both of our children from the day they opened until today. The Blue Leaf team has shown equal love for our children and patience with us as parents. The reality of infant-to-PreK childcare in Boulder is that every school is different, and as a parent, you learn alongside your children about the adventure ahead. I have always felt that the Blue Leaf team have been a true partner in that adventure. I couldn’t be more thankful for their effort. Thank you, Blue Leaf, for being a constant, positive force in our children's early years.

This past year I had the opportunity to work with the owner and director of Blue Leaf as my parent coach while I prepared for the arrival of my daughter and throughout her first months of life. The owner and director's knowledge of child development and respectful caregiving has been invaluable. Before my daughter was born, she helped me think through how to prepare our home environment, approach diapering and daily care routines, and communicate with my child from the very beginning. Since then, she has always been available to answer questions and provide thoughtful guidance as I've needed it (and I have!). What stands is that as a parent coach she helped me consider my child's perspective while balancing the modern demands of being a working parent. Her coaching helped me approach parenting with greater intention and realistic expectations. I truly believe that the strong relationship I have with my daughter today is due in part to the foundation Blue Leaf helped me build. I enthusiastically recommend Blue Leaf to any parent seeking support with their child.