I was a former Center Director for a Kindercare in Northern, VA. I was fired (later over-turned by the Unemployment Commision through a legal proceeding). As a center director of a center making a lot of money, I felt that the quality of the center should reflect the dollars put into the center. This was not the case. To put this in perspective. My center was at capacity at 87 children. Less than 1 child's tuition per month was given to me to purchase supplies for the children.
While I worked there, we fought with a constant sewer rat problem. These rats were often seen running through the infant room. I called and called and called. I filed report after report to no avail to get the problem fixed. It took months to rectify this situation.
We were forced to run a daycare center without properly functioning airconditioners, against VA lisencing code. I began work in June, they finally fixed the airconditioning in October! The ceilings would mold from the condensation and lack of properly working AC's.
My staff was pulled out of my building to work at other centers, even when we were understaffed and unable to remain in ratio. Check out Monday afternoons, if you are lisencing.
As management I was required to work with fevers that were higher than lisencing allowed.
To top everything off the building was filthy! I spent my first two months at the center washing walls and carpets. The corporation didn't believe that the carpet in the center needed to be cleaned because it was only six months old. This was in a center where everything except the bathrooms and the kitchen had carpet on them.
The final straw was when my supervisor in writing demanded that I enroll the building over capacity. I refused because it is against the law and not good for children. I have all of this in writing, as she wrote me an email. This was also used in the unemployment case. That happened on a Friday. Monday was a training. Tuesday mid-morning my supervisor came to the center and suspended me because of a "anonymous" email.By the end of the week I was no longer working for Kindercare. The other employees were instructed to lie to me. After leaving I recieved a letter from a grandparent at the center stating that I had done a wonderful job.
My numbers were up in the center. Kindercare claimed that I had been sitting in my office intentionally leaving a classroom out of ratio.in reality I was at the doctor's office across town because of a 101.6 degree fever I was forced to work with recieving medical treatment. I have documentation to show that I was at the doctor's office at the time in question. I believe that I was "fired" because I refused to break the law, the unemployment court agrees with my setitment.
I would caution anyone enrolling your child in Kindercare or any other Knowledge Learning Corporation Center (they own a ton of them) to be very cautious. While the people that I worked with as teachers were for the most part loving and caring the upper level management was all about money. Decisions were based on money not on the best interest of children. Any corporation working with children that nets the amounts of money that they do should be looked at closely. If you are charging over 280 per week for an infant to attend daycare, it should be top of the line.
I thought that I could turn around that center. Unfortunately it was a nightmare. This was the case for many of the other center directors as well. Parents beware.
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