CHESTNUT CHILDREN'S ACADEMY

We have loved our experience at Chestnut Children’s Academy. This is our third summer camp, and each year keeps getting better. Our kids are always excited to attend, especially with the new facility and expanded building—there is so much for them to do. They love the culinary activities, the new playgrounds, and their teacher. It’s a very well-run, welcoming childcare center, and we highly recommend it to other families.

Amazing daycare! Pardeeville is so glad to have this daycare it’s an assets to town! Friendly, caring, positivity, learning, growth, fun! Owner treat employees so good, not just a number! They have such great programs for the kids! Love to be involved in the community! It’s over all more like family than a daycare center! I would recommend this center for my kiddos and anyone’s! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!! Ashley n Wayne are great owners!

Our girls have gone here for the last almost 2 years and we wouldn’t have it any other way!!

We went in for a tour, lovely facility, we enjoyed the brand new building as well. The owner/director was very informative and it’s evident she loves the program she is providing. Great new playgrounds, clean, friendly teachers.

We recently withdrew our son from this daycare due to repeated concerns with the quality of care and how the owner, Ashley, handles issues/things in general. Our son often came home with unexplained bruises, rashes, and frequent illness, and communication around these concerns was consistently defensive and sometimes entirely ignored. There was also a situation where he was placed in a baby bouncer he had outgrown and was over the weight limit for, simply to keep him contained because staff had “already cleaned and didn’t want him to make a mess.” That is not appropriate care or supervision. Another incident involved him being taken outside in cold (30-40s), windy, rainy weather in wet clothing. When I arrived, his fingers were bright red and he was visibly uncomfortable. I was told he “needed a change of clothes and they were out,” but common sense would have been to contact me and not take him outside under those conditions. They also knew exactly what time I was arriving and had said he would be ready, yet he wasn’t. As a result of being outside in cold, wet clothing, he did get sick afterward. This showed a lack of judgment and lack of child-centered decision-making. During the summer heat wave, the air conditioning was out due to construction. Staff were drenched in sweat, and children were in only diapers to prevent overheating. Staff told us they had asked Ashley to close, and she refused. It reached the point where staff privately texted parents from their personal phones to pick up children. My son was lethargic, sweating, and had a 100°F temperature. When I addressed this, Ashley responded with arguments and copy-and-paste state regulations, refusing to acknowledge the situation but did close the center the following day, and only after pressure. There was also an ongoing pattern of concerns not being addressed. On multiple pickup occasions, staff expressed their own frustrations and said they felt ignored when raising concerns internally. One staff member shared that there had been issues with staff behavior and professionalism that also went unaddressed. Hearing this directly from staff was very alarming as a parent. Overall, what led to our decision to leave wasn’t one single event, but a consistent pattern of poor communication, lack of accountability, and decisions that did not prioritize the children’s well-being - financially it also wasn’t in the cards for us anymore to continue paying $305 a week to send our son to a daycare that made us uncomfortable. Being home instead has been the best decision for us. ** It’s also important to note that many of the publicly posted positive reviews appear to be from friends, family, or incentivized reviewers like staff, which does not reflect what we experienced day-to-day.