New Horizon Academy

Such a warm and welcoming atmosphere as soon as you walk in the door. All the staff are so friendly and kind. They’re very personable as well! My 18 month old absolutely loves coming every single day and is all smiles when I pick her up :-) this is such a wonderful environment for kiddos 10 out of 10 recommend!

My daughter transferred to this location almost a year ago and we are both very happy to have made the switch. Her teachers have been wonderful, and she loves coming to school to see them. They communicate well when she has a harder day, and relay to me exactly what went on if she had a difficult time during the day. They’ve been heavily involved in her process of getting an IEP, and always provide helpful feedback on their perspective of her own personal struggles. She has learned so much since transferring here, and although she shows signs of having a learning disability they’ve always treated her as equal, and have always put in extra effort with her to help her thrive. She is counting, recognizing numbers and letters, and has even been reading common words. The teachers always ask what we do at home to help her, and the consistency between school and home have made a huge positive impact for her. I’m so thankful for her wonderful team of teachers for helping her grow not just academically, but emotionally as well.

I have Had two children with this NHA over the last 8 years. My 8 year old daughter and, as of November 2024, my three year old son. February 3rd, 2025 I was Made aware of some out of character behaviors my son was showing. While out of character for my son, they were pretty normal behaviors for a three year old and were also behaviors his peers exhibited as well. At first notification it was requested to have a mental health behavioral specialist come observe my son; I explicitly declined As it was the first I’d been notified. February 21st, 2025 the above referenced specialist came to observe my son, under the guise of observing the class. The director went so far as to send a message to the entire class of parents saying the class was observed, however, said specialist admitted that she came to observe my son specifically. During her visit he did not exhibit the behaviors (which were admittedly exaggerated by director). He did however sit in an upset mood longer than they thought was acceptable. And swat. And yelled. A plan was created that outlined my son was expected to move out of a deregulated stated within 5-10 mins to be within acceptable range. As well as removing him from the classroom to calm down when his behavior became too escalated that it required intervention. This is not aligned with current early childhood development best practices. Best practices say to offer co-regulation tactics while keeping a three year old in its environment with its peers. A meeting to discuss this plan was had on February 26th 2025. I met with Kate, the mental health behavioral specialist March 3rd, 2025 to discuss the plan. The plan also says my son has an IEP and he does not. It had exaggerated behaviors. It was sudden and out of nowhere. March 19th, 2025 my son had his third set of tubes placed and his adenoids removed. March 26th, 2025 a meeting with myself, director, assistant director, 2 NHA teachers, Kate, the mental health behavioral specialist had a meeting to discuss all the discrepancies in reporting. During this meeting his two teachers said that, over the last 6 months, he’d had about 8 incidents where his behavior was so escalated it required intervention. At one point during this meeting Kate, the mental health behavioral specialist, blurted out “we didn’t put your son on an ICCPP because he’s black”. Which caused the meeting to end earlier than anticipated. The plan leaving this meeting was that a second version would be made to reviewed and signed. The second version had additional behaviors id never been made aware of. March 31st, 2025 I requested We try a third time and only use documented behaviors as everything was very inconsistent and again, I was Never even made aware of these issues. I never Received a response to this email. April 4th, 2025 I got A message that my son was having a rough day; exhibiting extremely escalated behaviors. April 7th, 2025 the director at this site suggested i remove my kids because I said the trust had been eroded due to miscommunications and lack of resolution. And got a message every single day from April 4th, 2025 until today, April 15th, 2025, the day they “ended care” for both of my children. My 8 year old included, who has life long friends at this center, and had no behavior issues. Over the course of 60 days my son experienced a complete 180, according to staff at NHA. From April 4th to April 15th - 8 days - my son experienced an even more extreme change in behavior, only present while at NHA, which resulted in his expulsion. My son was bit and hit and scratched multiple times, over months, by a peer and that peer is still enrolled. My children are kids of color.. Edited to add (after the performative response) : I reached Out to corporate, DM, CEO, executives — My experience was one ‘The New Horizon Team’ was aware of - nothing was said or done; not even a response. I never Once got the impression anyone with NHA wanted to learn or grow based off their defensive posturing. You spelled my name wrong.

Both of our children attended this location since they were in the infant room and we had a great experience! The communication about how their day was going was clear and helpful. It was amazing to see them learn, grow and build relationships with other kids. Our kids loved their teachers in all of the rooms they were in, it's a great team. Katie and Tarah are approachable and helpful whenever we had questions or something we needed the center's partnership with. We only left this location due to a family move but would recommend this to any family in the area.

My children have been attending the Elk River NHA for the past year and a half. I am so impressed with the connections the teachers have made with my children.My three year old looks up to the teachers so much and is always pretending to be a teacher. Management is always there to greet us with a smile.