Judson Preschool

My daughter’s teacher was fired because she pulled a toy out of my daughter’s hands with such force that my little one flew back and hit her head. The teacher never informed us. Then the director also proceeded to not tell us this information for several days. She claimed it was because she was sooo busy filling in for the terminated teacher that it slipped her mind. Interesting, because the teacher at my daughter’s new school tells us every time she hits her head, and includes a pdf/handout of head injury red flags. Also really ironic that a teacher got fired for not disclosing this incident, so supposedly the incident was serious enough for termination but not enough for the literal director of her school to share. It’s not as if the students attend past 3 pm; I think she could’ve found the time. The director did not share this incident until we informed her that we were moving schools. Interesting timing! My daughter was also constantly separated from her class when she became overwhelmed-they had literally no other tools. This is actually in violation of Minnesota state regulations, in addition to demonstrating the lack of knowledge and skills in some of the staff, in my opinion. You can see how they were cited for this violation on the MN childcare license lookup website. My daughter is actually doing really well at her new private preschool; it has been a complete 180. Unsurprisingly, she is also much happier-there were times during the previous school year at Judson where she literally seemed depressed. She is learning actual social emotional skills at her new school, in addition to making friends, following the routine, etc. So I would say look elsewhere when making a choice about the upcoming school year.

Our daughter attended most of her first year of preschool at Judson, from September 2024 to February 2025. During our experience at Judson, there were several caring staff members (especially several of the classroom aids) and an active parent community that we will miss. Unfortunately, we have grown increasingly disappointed with Judson’s administrative practices, communication with parents, understanding of Minnesota licensure regulations, and overall management -- so much so that our interactions became some of the worst I’ve had with any organization. Judson’s director notified us 15 days after our daughter hit her head when she was knocked into a wall by her teacher while pulling away a toy. We were notified of the 2/4 incident on 2/19 after we indicated we would be pulling our child from the program. We were also told at this time that our daughter’s teacher had been terminated due to the incident several days earlier. While Judson’s director admitted full fault for the incident and promised us a refund for February, it took several emails (which the director stopped responding to), a credit card dispute, and 48 days to receive a repayment check. While attending her first year in preschool, it became clear that our daughter had special educational needs that we had not previously seen at home. Despite Judson telling us about their value of not kicking children out of Judson’s program due to special needs, Judson does not have the skills needed to run an inclusive program, especially not for neurodivergent children. Judson’s default behavior management with our daughter was to frequently (possibly multiple times per 3-hour school day) remove our daughter from the classroom. After leaving the school, we learned that their practices violate the Minnesota Licensure statute (you can look up violations of this statute on the MN state regulatory website). There was no record of these removals aside from the occasional email, and no plan was developed to proactively stop the classroom separations as required. Another example -- when our daughter struggled to sit on a rug for 10-15 minutes at the start of the school day to wait for classmates to arrive, we were asked to come 15 minutes late instead of exploring other modifications used in many classrooms, like the use of visual timers, fidgets, or exploring possible classroom routine modifications. Needless to say, we would not recommend Judson Preschool to our neighbors and community members. In comparison, our daughter is thriving in a new preschool with hardly any of the behavioral issues we saw at Judson. Our new program offers ample outdoor play, flexible routines, and well-trained staff in inclusive practices. We wish Judson had been more upfront about their program’s limitations. Our daughter should never have been knocked down by her teacher, and we should have been notified immediately when she hit her head. This has been an unnecessarily painful experience due to the program director’s inability to communicate in a timely manner. The director’s frequent apologies to do better only became more failed promises as I spent weeks trying to get our money back, while navigating the pain of our daughter losing all her preschool friends, dealing with the news of our daughter’s mistreatment by her fired teacher, and finding a new preschool program.

My daughter attended Judson Preschool for two years. My son is currently enrolled in his first year at Judson. The teachers are superb and the learning environment excellent. The "play-based" curriculum developed over many years is well thought out, thoroughly vetted and constantly improved, and implemented by outstanding early childhood education thinkers. The school's administators and teachers have created a safe and loving environment in which creative exploration can and does occur. The teachers always welcome feedback and the parent-teacher conferences demonstrate their interest in and dedication to meeting the unique needs of each child. The various events the school puts on for parent-child-teacher interaction are fun and well organized. Judson is a true treasure.

When looking at preschools, our family must have toured at least seven or eight. We could not have been more pleased with our ultimate decision of going with Judson. In addition to a wonderful preschool experience for our daughter, we also met amazing families, built community, and long-lasting friendships. Judson made it a priority to create new, exciting, positive and invigorating opportunities for the children and families who attend. Science projects, rotating dramatic play, art projects that are beyond creative, and, ultimately, happiness are alive and well at Judson Preschool. Not only do the teachers and director work tirelessly to provide wonderful experiences week after week, but the preschool atmosphere as a whole creates many other connection points throughout the year for the whole family--through Discovery Night, family picnics, singalongs, and more. I was so amazed at our experience and only wish we had our daughter attend more than one year. If she weren't headed for kindergarten in the fall, she would! I will continue to recommend Judson to families for many years to come.

I would also like to share our experience at Judson, where our son went to preschool 2012-2013. Judson exceeded our expectations in every way! We were looking for a play-based program that would prepare him for the social transition from home to school and introduce him to "school" with a fun and positive first experience. We wanted him to come home excited from a day of new friends and experiences at school, not a backpack full of worksheets. His class at Judson had a curriculum with weekly topics and activities tailored to important skills for children of his age--conflict resolution, teamwork, communication and expression of emotions, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, pre-reading and pre-writing, science, math etc. But these were all incorporated into fun activities for the children. The lead teachers all have teaching degrees. I was glad that we were informed and updated on important safety issues. I was very impressed by the director's commitment to safety and communication with the parents. For the quality, Judson could be much more expensive than it is. By keeping costs low, they keep Judson accessible to more families. My son loved his experience at Judson, and I will continue to recommend it to other parents.