Arthur M. Blank Family Youth YMCA

Reviews

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  My son attended the preschool program for a total of six months. As a teacher my son frequently visited my school and possessed a pure joy towards the idea of school. However, after six months of attending this preschool, he began to tell me that he "hated school" and would beg and plead for me not to leave him there. No this was not first day jitters, this attitude towards his experience with school began to change after a few months of attending this school. In the handbook, this school does parade around the fact that they "suspend" children even as young as three years of age. Although this was quite alarming to me given the widespread data of the adverse effects that suspensions can have on children, I still did not think that my son would have to experience being suspended. As a 3 year old only child, my son had quite a bit of adjustments to make in this new environment, however weekly he was making progress. Shortly after enrolling him he was suspended for 2 days for biting another classmate. Although this action was hurtful and not the proper way to solve a dispute, suspension should not be an answer. especially for a three year old. Developmentally, there are some actions that are expected from that particular age group due to the many changes that are happening within that child during that age. Would it not have been more beneficial to take that moment as a teachable moment to teach empathy and compassion? Within six months, my son had been suspended for similar "offenses" or "behaviors" several times following the first suspension. The last suspension was for an entire week, in which one of the directors deemed is "preparing him for when he transitions into elementary." ALARMING! Prior to this last lengthy suspension my sons father, his grandfather, grandmother and I had all scheduled class room visits on different occasions to observe. After the observation, we all shared that we noticed my son was getting very board. He was often times the first one finished with his snack and with his work and was asked to "sit quietly" and wait on his other three year old classmates to finish. No, he was not giving tracing sheets, a book, coloring and pasting activities to keep his young active mind engage. He was asked to sit.....and wait. And it was after about 3 minutes of sitting, that I noticed that my son would become anxious and began to get very curious, But what three year old would not? After the 5th suspension, I picked my son up to discuss what was going on. His reply was "Mommy, I'm a bad boy." This response concerned me for two reasons. 1. What adult had he heard that from and was now internalizing. 2. Things of this nature can become a self-fulfilling prophecy for children. Since I removed my son from the school, I am having to undue the damage that was caused by this school. I have to rebuild that love for school and build my son back up and constantly help him realize that sometimes we all make bad choices, however "he" is not bad. Please do not send your children here. The location might be convenient and the updated infrastructure might even be convincing, but please resist.
  By Raavin Evans, January 23, 2018

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