U-GRO Mechanicsburg Messiah Lifeways

There are not picking up their phone
This is so sad, my kids are not enrolled but what if a parent has an important issue!

Giving one star because I cannot give zero. We sent our son (4 years old) to this school for a period of five months or so. The entire time was riddled with issues. First, the pre-K classroom expects the children to lay on their cots for two hours during nap time. There is no alternative. Those with busy children who have outgrown a nap by 4 years old will appreciate how unrealistic this is. After pleading with the school on multiple occasions to help us come up with another alternative than laying on a cot for two hours, they suggested we bring our own toys from home every day to keep him busy. That is an issue because we pay you almost a thousand dollars per month! Why do we need to bring in our own toys to entertain our child when we pay you so much? Regardless, the bags we sent always came back in complete disarray and even broken at times. After several weeks of this, we spoke to the director who assured she would assist our child by providing him an alternative environment. Two days into this venture, the teacher left bruises on my son's arm. The next day we confronted the teacher and she admitting grabbing my son by the arm and that she had been frustrated. Needless to say we withdrew from the school immediately. After an "investigation" the teacher remains with the school.

During our time there my wife and I noticed on several occasions the teachers speaking inappropriately to the children, not assisting with learning activities, and discouraging parent involvement with holiday activities. In general, none of the teachers we encountered were people we would feel comfortable leaving our children with. Nor do the teachers seem to be invested in the children. Each room had a very "I am just here for my paycheck" feel to it.

There are no cameras in the school, so when an accusation of wrong doing is made the school has no way to verify anything their teachers do. This is concerning by itself.

There were countless times my son was taken to their playground without his water bottle. This is also inexcusable and never addressed by the staff.

Overall, the school was an awful experience for our family. I would not recommend to anyone.

I could not be more thrilled with the service we are receiving at U-Gro. We joined the facility at the end of the summer 2019, and have been enrolled for ~2 months. The quality of service, curriculum, food service, teachers, facility and administrative staff is second to none.

We had the experience of switching from Goddard in Mechanicsburg, which is a higher price point and also a national chain (franchise, however), and the difference is night and day. Hindsight 20/20, I wish we would have switched sooner, we didn't realize how much we were missing out on.

At U-Gro, you can tell how happy the teachers and administrative team are and how much they enjoy their jobs. I feel my daughter is safe, happy, and experiencing cognitive and social development by leaps and bounds at U-Gro.

I love the teachers and all the learning activities my child does each day while having fun. And I especially love the Grandfriends program!