HAPPY HOLLOW LEARNING CENTER

DO NOT TAKE YOUR KIDS HERE. I started taking my son to this center when he was 3 months old. As he got older the asst director would always reach out to me about my son’s behavior. They would start entering it in an app they used to keep you posted on what your child has been doing. After a few months of taking my son there one of our favorite teachers left. When I would drop my son off in the baby room I started to see the asst director walking around in her bare feet which where do dirty they were black. When I would put my son down on floor so I can leave I see a bunch of Little Rock’s from the play yard around in the baby room. I would pick them up and say something but she didn’t care. That is not safe for infants to put in their mouths since any parent knows everything goes into their child’s mouth. My son got hand foot mouth with some of the other children and after having him out for a week I found out that they didn’t not clean and disinfect the room and toys. Actually they never clean the rooms in a day to day basis. Maybe once every three months. As my son got older and started to eat solid foods in the summer time we had to bring a packed lunch with all the food groups in them and if we didn’t have one we had to bring it in or pick up our kids. When something would happen to my son or I would start asking questions about it the asst director would say due to state regulations we have to do this or that when that wasn’t true. When holidays would come up they ask if you need to have them to be open. If “not enough” parents signed up they would make up some lie “due to low enrollment” we are closed but I would see 20-30 names on that list. When my son started a new room they said he had behavioral issues for taking toys from others and saying no and for “spitting”. The director told me we needed to have a meeting about it. In that meeting, which as an hour long, it was just saying how we need to parent our child. I was also told that they have the best 2 year old teacher working with him. That same teach told us that we need to work with our son on potty training at home when our son was not ready for it. I have heard so many things about this place after I pulled my son out. And I am so happy I did. Please do not take your kids here this is the worst place ever. I have seen so many really good teachers come and go because of how they were treated by the director and owner. I have heard a lot of kids being pulled from this center to go to another and these “problem children” are doing amazing at there new centers. All of the last minute changes then having to find someone to watch your kids or you have to miss work. There was one day my son was playing with another kid and the other child fell and my son fell over the other kid and hit his head hard on a table. The assistant director took a video of what happened to show us but has here finger over it so you could not see the other kids but you could not see anything. Then when see was explaining how it happened she was laughing about all of it. My son had a huge not on his head that was 4 inches long and black and blue instantly. I found out she was laughing about it with the staff for days later. I don’t want to talk for other parents but that is not funny. It is meant to be taken seriously. I will never recommend this place to anyone

Disclaimer: I AM a disgruntled parent whose child is no longer enrolled at this center. My child WAS having behavioral issues while at the school, so there is no need for the Center to state to disregard my review due to these conditions rudely. If you’re looking for consistent care, professionalism, or customer service, I recommend you avoid enrolling your child at this center. Main issues with the daycare center: 1. When we toured the center, we were told they are open from 6 am to 6 pm, and the handbook and enrollment agreement we signed stated these hours. During my son’s first week, I was told they “Never said they were open until six and that due to staffing issues, they were only open until 5:30.” 2. Any time there were dates surrounding a holiday, a couple of weeks before that holiday they’d ask parents to fill out a sheet of whether they’d need care, and then right before said holiday, they’d put a note on the whiteboard that said, “Due to low enrollment we will be closed on this date.” I understand wanting to be closed on days surrounding holidays, but deciding to be close to the actual holiday puts a lot of pressure on parents to either take time off or scramble to find alternative care. 3. Summer Care: During the summer, they run a Summer Fun Program for field trips, where you must pay roughly $250 for the field trips on top of the regular weekly rate, which is fine. However, if your child has a bathroom accident or behavioral issues, you must pick them up from the current field trip. They are banned from going on the next trip, and not only are you not refunded, but you also no longer have care that you PAID FOR on that date. 4. State Regulations: They mask their own rules and regulations as being state regulations. I don’t care if you have your own rules, but do not lie to my face and tell me they are state regulations. Then, when I show you the regulations from the state, say no, we never told you these were state regulations. Case in point: During the holidays and summer, you must provide lunch for your child, and they mandate that you must provide the items that schools are regulated to provide in school lunches, and if you don’t provide them, you get in trouble. Nap time is another part they lied about. My child is 4 ½ and doesn’t nap, and they informed me that the state says he must lie down for 1 hour. However, according to the actual state guidebook, children must be offered a rest period of 30 minutes, which does NOT mean laying down but can include quiet play. If, after those 30 minutes, the child has not fallen asleep or has woken up, they must be allowed to do a quiet activity. 5. Customer Service/Professionalism: During our year and a half at the center, they raised prices three times. Each time they raised prices, the letter and agreement announcing them included the line, “If you’re not happy with these price increases, you’re welcome to leave. We have other families that want to attend here.” This kind of statement would be considered unprofessional in any other industry. Furthermore, when we gave our two weeks’ notice at the center, I was told by the Assistant Director that “some children just aren’t meant to be in a public school setting and need to be home-schooled. Are you sure your child isn’t autistic?” This kind of comment is not only unprofessional but also insensitive and inappropriate. 6. Consistency: During our 13 months there, my child went through at least four classroom teachers and a multitude of before/after class pick-up times, and I think if you look at the reviews of previous employees and the responses that the center has made to said reviews that the reasoning is clear. Plus, as I’ve already mentioned, not knowing when we could expect to have care for our child caused undue stress and multiple panic attacks. If I pay you for full-time care, my agreement has listed which holidays you’re closed for, barring emergencies I expect to have care for.

I would not recommend. Edit: my daughter was enrolled. I am not just a random person from the community. And I would say more about our experience but somehow they keep getting people’s honest reviews deleted. And in response to their reply. One of my concerns and only ONE was that my daughter had blue lips when I picked her up because the staff had her napping by a drafty door in the corner. My kid sweats in her sleep. Her lips were blue for hours after her nap until she got home. Again this is ONE incident. ONE. AND I HAVE DOCUMENTATION FROM THE DOCTOR TO PROVE THIS IF THEY TRY AND TELL GOOGLE IM LYING.

We were customers of Happy Hollow from January 2021 until April 2024, and based on our experience, I would not recommend sending your kids there or working there. In my opinion, the center is dirty, unorganized, and management is rude/abrasive, and unprofessional. (I have photos of the center and screenshots of conversations with the director should documentation of this be required). We have been at our new center for over a month and I can not believe the difference (and for roughly the same price). We stayed as long as we did because we lucked into some really great teachers, but unfortunately none of them last long. In my opinion, the director treats staff, parents, and kids extremely poorly (sometimes even with cruelty), resulting in extremely high staff turnover, a poor environment for the kids, and inconsistent/unreliable care for the parents. I think the amount of turn over here tells you everything you need to know about what goes on. HH goes through staff like my twins go through diapers. At least 7 staff members have left in the last few months (this is on a total staff of 10-12, so over 50%) When they went through a large amount of turn over in 2021, they blamed the Covid stimulus money. “people are lazy”, “people don’t want to work”. When asked about the turnover in recent months the director said (and I have a screenshot of this); “The turn over is frusterating to everyone, but some demands (are not doable) and rules have to be followed ect. you cant make everyone happy unfortunately.” To which I say, with over half your staff turning over in the span of a few months, can you make ANYONE happy? She also said “I talk to 4 centers in the area directors, and they are going over the same staff turnover if not worse.” But we’ve reached out to other centers and have friends at other centers and NONE of them have experienced anything like this. I also find it hard to believe she talks to 4 other directors when she’s having staff call local centers and pretend to be parents to find out what they are charging (I’ve heard her on several occasions gleefully reporting to staff that “so-and-so down the road” charges way more…which, not the case. Our kids are now going to “so-and-so down the road” and we are paying a little less, and getting so much more!) In my opinion, the turnover is hard on the kids. And, because of staffing challenges, the center once had to go down to only allowing kids to come 4 days a week for a stretch of time, and has warned it was looking like that may be needed again on two other occasions (including when we left the center in April 2024). This unreliability (which in my opinion is easily avoidable by treating staff well) does not work for my family. Our son now says he is afraid of the director and owner (he says he likes EVERY OTHER PERSON IN THAT BUILDING, past and present, with the exception of one other teacher, and he loves every single employee at the new center. *If you are considering this daycare for your kids, I would encourage you to see what moms have to say in the “moms of slinger/hartford” Facebook group. Many are willing to share specific experiences via DM. Unfortunately I don’t feel that the reviews seen on Google are completely reliable. At least at one point, staff were incentivized to leave good Google reviews (which is strictly against Google’s policy). I don’t know if this is ongoing, but I do know it was at least offered once. Also, there is a one star review from 4 months ago (so approximately January 2024) that they are very quick to call out that the reviewer was never a customer. There is also a 5 star review from 4 months ago that I know (and I would bet they also know) was never a customer, but they gush with gratitude over it “we are grateful for your business”. So, please take any Google reviews with a grain of salt. At least some of the positive reviews are, in my opinion, the result of a lack of integrity rather than an accurate reflection of the services provided.

My observation , after reflecting, of the daycare is kids are having fun parents are leaving smiling kids are waving vigorously saying good bye to their teacher based on Kacys posting sounds like she didn’t observe a lot made several comments about things that were good , notes she didn’t observe things and was hear say. Being someone who frequently goes to pick up children at the center for their parents this sounds like a personal conflict directed at the assistant director My interactions with them have been positive both electronically and verbally they are engaged and professional . I entrust my family members to their care everyday It appears that Carlie has a personal conflict with management and is intentionally causing conflict I would suspect the two negative posts are a collaboration of two friends that were less than perfect employees I would suspect that owner and director are there open to close and after I have recently, within the last ten days, had multiple trips to the daycare and when I walk in I see the children interacting positively with their teachers. The kids were smiling and playing. Excited to tell their parents about their activities I saw the assist director kindly playing with multiple children I saw other teacher engaging with the older children working on fall projects most recently this week playtime outside , in the nice weather attentively watching the kids, communicating professionally with one another love that my loved ones have a great place to go and have positive influences taking care of them