Mustard Seed Children's Academy

Update: now that we have pulled our child from this facility, I feel more comfortable going into detail about other concerns parents should know.

1. Take these reviews with a grain of salt. The owner ran a contest, whichever teacher could gain the most positive Google reviews, would earn money for their classroom. Of course parents went and rated them 5 stars, hoping for better materials for their kids.

2. Before enrolling, ask about the amount of turnover. Not just teachers, but directors, supervisors and even the chef. During the year our child was enrolled, we saw at least 5-6 directors come and go. Some barely lasting two weeks. The culture from top down is very toxic.

3. Keep an eye on your bank account. Only one person has the control over payments and they seemingly misplace everything. We were overcharged twice and it was a nightmare getting reimbursed.

4. Our child kept being bitten by the same kid. Their policy states after x amount of bites, they will assign another teacher to that classroom to monitor the student. This never happened, and our son and others kept getting bit. Look - we know it’s going to happen, but if teacher ratios were being follow and their own policy, this would not happen 3 times in one week.

5. Everything is incredibly disorganized. Most days it’s a struggle to find someone in a position of power to help you with any questions. Mostly because they’re helping out in another classroom because of how understaffed they always run.

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Love the teachers. Not impressed with the management and constant change.

Management is slow to respond to concerns and lack empathy for their teachers. You think with how much tuition is ($448/2 weeks), the management team would go out of their way to interact with parents.

It’s also sad to know that every few months we pay a material fee ($115) that is described as supplies needed for the classrooms. Then we hear that money is never spent for items in the rooms. We have overheard teachers complain about using their own money to buy supplies.

My advice to management: you have some great teachers, take care of them before they leave. Listen to parents and engage with them in the lobby. You should want to hear our feedback as much as possible. Sending out one anonymous survey in 6 months is a start. But make sure you’re addressing the concerns brought up.

If we didn’t love the teachers so much we would pull our child with no hesitation.