Caterpillar Campus Preschool

I’d give zero stars if I could. They kept my child alive so there’s that. But if you want more than just making sure they’re breathing, then this ani’t it sister.

The owner, Jennifer seemed very nice when I went to look at the “preschool”. However, after only six weeks of my Son attending the center I quickly learned that Jennifer is not nice and only there to collect checks. I will say the staff there was kind and I never had any issues with my child’s teacher, Nicole. But Jennifer must be in financial trouble or unhappy with her life because she was awful.
While I understand this is a business as well as a “preschool”, I prefer to have my child somewhere where money isn’t the main focus. My child and his emotional and educational needs should at least be factored into the equation. I was never spoken to about how my child was doing good or bad the entire time we were there. But I was repeatedly left notes attached to his sign in/out sheet saying I owed money immediately. Even when there wasn’t a payment due at that time, I kept receiving payment due notes. I paid as agreed during the time we attended.

Luckily, SCOE called with a spot for my little guy after about five weeks of us going to Caterpillar and since my child had learned absolutely nothing, they had raised their prices within a week of us attending, and I didn’t feel like anyone was paying attention to my child’s needs, we went to the SCOE preschool.
Which, I have to say is night and day better. If my Son gets a tiny little scratch on his hand the teacher tells me the entire story at pick-up and as well as leaves us an “ouch report”. They know if my child is overly tired that day. They have taught him how to write his name in under two months. The State ran preschool is hands down a better place for my child.

When I emailed Jennifer to tell her it would be our last week at Caterpillar, I also stated we would pay what we owed for the last week we were there. She replied saying that I now owed a $500 early cancellation fee. Apparently, it was in the fine print of the enrollment paperwork I’d done. I wanted to tell her to stick it where the sun don’t shine but I refrained from being argumentative and decided I’d send in the payment for the last week my Son attended and make smaller sized payments as I could afford to the rest.
I don’t believe it’s fair for a school to do this. Life happens and we don’t always have a months notice when it does. Had I waited the allotted time to not have to pay the fee, I’d have lost our spot with SCOE.

A few weeks later, my adult stepdaughter also had a child attending caterpillar. My grand baby was having some problems physically and emotionally that the staff was completely ill equipped to handle. My stepdaughter decided to stop attending Caterpillar at that time. For the record, I had absolutely nothing to do with this decision.
Apparently my stepdaughter had a large balance to reconcile with Jennifer. Which I’m not sure how that was ever allowed to happen since I’d get a notice the same day a payment was due.
My stepdaughter and Jennifer ended up on a phone call with each other where my daughter was explaining when she’d be paying. Jennifer then makes the comment to my daughter that, “I am just nervous letting this balance because your stepmom is the worst and unprofessional”.
Kinda exactly like that comment is? The irony.
Here’s a thought, run a business with actual professionalism. Don’t make your clients feel like all they amount to are check writers.
If you’re going to say you’re a preschool, you actually have to teach something.
Maybe it’s time for Jennifer to get out of the childcare business because all she seems to really care about is payments.

That’s my professional opinion!