Primrose Schools

We had always received such positive feedback about Primrose School of Smyrna West from neighbors, friends, and colleagues so we were confused as to our two year experience while there. As we continued to do research it seems all of the positive reviews were under the previous ownership.

Under current ownership (Nitin Gulia) we have witnessed multiple teachers resigning (mid school year), several front staff quitting, as well as kitchen staff departures. Additionally, the new talent they are bringing in typically has little to no experience (read: cheaper pay). The primary reason we pulled our children from Primrose is the constant disruption to their learning as a result of these changes. Do not let the upcoming shiny new playground distract you from the fact internally as a daycare provider this location is cutting corners, resulting in staff turnover causing a noticeable lack of continuity throughout the entire staff.

This unfortunately trickles down to the children and their learning.

Regrettably, with the premium pricing Primrose School of Smyrna West charges, we as parents did not feel like our kids were receiving a premium day care experience. We would not recommend this daycare.

Let me start out by saying that I should have trusted my gut about this place. I initially reached out in January 2022, when I was 3 months pregnant, because I knew that waitlists would be long.

The director, Ashley, responded to my online form submission via email and then disappeared. It took a follow up email, a missed phone call, and a comment on Facebook to finally get her to call me back a month later at the end of February 2022. Almost all of her email communications were delayed and she was unresponsive. I tried calling many times, but not ONCE have I called this place and had someone answer the phone.

These were the first red flags.

Still, I scheduled a tour with Ashley in March. The tour went fine, and she told me that a spot would be available for my infant in November 2022 for Fall enrollment. She sent me home with the paperwork. My husband and I took the night to think about it, and the very next day scanned and emailed our application to Ashley.

She responded and confirmed she received the application and told us "Welcome to Primrose". I emailed her again to ask if I could drop off the $150 deposit in person, as I live right down the road, which I did do. Ashley again emailed me after this and told me she received my check (she wasn't available when I arrived) and "Welcome to Primrose". My check was cashed shortly after.

Now, in September, I'm making plans to go back to work and email Ashley for an official start day.

Two weeks go by with no response. I call - as usual, they don't pick up the phone. Finally, I sent ANOTHER email and she responds back that she 'regrets to inform me' that she never processed my application through their system and therefore she never actually reserved my spot - despite cashing my deposit. That was it - no offer to return my deposit, no mention of a way to remedy the situation, not even information on when a new spot might be available.

I thought for sure there was a mistake.

I called Ashley's direct line and the main line to the daycare - big surprise, no answer. I left voicemails on both. I got tired of waiting and sent another email to Ashley saying that I didn't understand what was happening, as I'd submitted an application, paid a deposit, and was welcomed to the school. She responded to my email and told me that it was her error, but there is nothing they could do.

The soonest availability for my daughter would be June 2023 when she turned a year old. I emailed her back and told her to call me, I wanted to speak on the phone.

I spoke with both Ashley (Director) and Liz (Owner) over the phone. Both were unapologetic, unsympathetic and nonchalant about the entire situation. Liz said "I don't know what you want us to do, we're just humans here." Yes, we all make mistakes, but when I make a mistake, I fix it.

This is a mistake that is going to cost me greatly financially, professionally and emotionally.

My options are to take a leave of absence from work, pay almost triple to hire a full-time nanny (if I can even find one on short notice) or to sacrifice both the quality of my daughter's care and the quality of my work by juggling both.

Yet, Primrose doesn't care.

So, ask yourself if you want incompetent, unsympathetic people caring for your child. And if you do decide to enroll at Primrose, double, triple, quadruple check that they do their job

Do NOT enroll your toddler in this school

The particular franchise in reference is located in Lees Summit, MO -specifically referring to the toddler group. There are 16 toddlers with 2 staff.

This is unacceptable.

The teachers are unqualified in regards to child care. One can view their online profiles on the daycares' website. Many are young & may be attending post secondary school. Most assuredly, they are underpaid for the responsibilities they incur on a day-to-day basis.

I imagine job satisfaction falls well below the acceptable level. Hence: There is NO continuity of care. High staff turnover. Here is the particular scenario:

Toddler was enrolled for approx 3 mos.

(attended 1/2 of this time) : Between holidays, family vacations, later drop-off & earlier pick-up & continuous calls from the staff to pick this child up early for various reasons. The weekly FT rate was still adhered to.

He learned to bite(never exhibited the behavior previously) as well as the odd occasion of hitting(incommunicable frustration-which is common at this age as toddlers develop language skills). Staff were observed cleaning or a time consuming task of taking photos of the children to send to the parents, as required by the organization. The parents of this toddler attempted to work with this daycare to alleviate & work through any issues they were apparently experiencing in the classroom setting.

Books as recommended were purchased and used by the parents; Several qualified outside resources were consulted

A qualified educational resource person was brought in for observation of this toddler - both in the home & classroom setting. The home setting observation was highly satisfactory. The conclusion while in the classroom setting was this: the observed toddler was the least of the problems in the classroom. The classroom was described as chaotic.

It was observed that the toddler was struck by another & did not retaliate. There was NO structure. The child was disenrolled shortly after stating the daycare could not provide the 1:1 care they felt this child needed. There was absolutely NO acknowledgement/feedback of the resource persons opinion/observations by the Director .

The parents of this child also sought & received several other educated opinions about this toddler (Pediatrician, MSW person,etc). Observations were that this toddler is a normal toddler with normal behaviours. The parents are well educated & work from home for Global companies. It caused much disillusionment & emotional damage regarding their thoughts & feelings on their parenting skills & their child's development.

Upon further research, it appears this particular school has similar scenarios in regard to disenrollment. Perhaps it is time to look into the functionality of the school.

This is another organization run from the top where they have no clue/concern on what is going on at the base level.

It is all about the financial gains/status.

The child care resources for parents are scarce and many are forced to continue with the Ill equipped child care centers that are available. Very sad as these children are our leaders of tomorrow.

I strongly suggest to anyone thinking of enrolling their child in a Primrose school to think twice & do your research!!!

It may look appealing from the outside, but it's the inward workings that count!

We moved to Midland in the fall of 2019. We needed childcare and went with Primrose Westridge.

The new daycare had just opened prior to us enrolling our daughter. We trust the Primrose name and have been happy with the care. We have since had another baby and he has been with Primrose since September 2020.

My husband and I are both doctors. He is an orthopedic surgeon and I am an OB/GYN.

We depend on childcare to do our jobs. That saying Primrose is sponsored (?not sure if that is the correct name) by several different oil companies.

We were just told that our youngest child is no longer enrolled at the childcare due to the oil companies taking precedence. They have given us less than a month notice to find other childcare options. Needless to say we are extremely disappointed and heartbroken that our child's care who we love and cherish have cast us out.

We are just as important to the community as the oil companies.

We help service oil workers who have injured themselves on the job or deliver their babies. It is extremely disappointing and morally questionable.

First off I would Like to address anyone that is trying to work at this school. They are racist I ran across a lot of problems at this school Im a very quiet person dont really mess with to many people because I am shy...

but they brought plenty of other teachers in the office And asked them if I should be fired. Which is not okay, that kind of stuff is supposed to be confidential and also the lead teacher in the classroom is soo disrespectful, She use to talk to me crazy talk about the color of my skin and also spit in my face and got into my face. When I brought it to my boss they said I was lying and I blamed everything on her and other teachers. Mind you I really dont know that many teachers because Im so use to working in one classroom.

Now Im going to address the part where yall should NOT bring yall children here.

So obviously some kids may hav siblings so due to COVID some kids may had it or they might of been around someone that had COVID when they shut the classroom down they still allow the other siblings to come to school which is not okay because basically you putting the other classrooms at risk. I tried Calling HR several times and the phone rings and go to voicemail, I would love to report this situation

This daycare appears clean and elite

But staff is inattentive negligent

Borderline abuse

Children come home black and blue

Bite marks

Black eyes...one year old

They are under investigation with child protection services

Please do not get fooled by their sterile environment

Its a facade

The daycare is negligent unsafe

I will remain anonymous for now but if someone high up in management sees this and wants to know who I am, I will reveal myself to them.

Hi. I am a support teacher at Primrose School at Midland of Westridge.

I have been working there for about three months now and I have to say it's a very...uncomfortable and intimidating place to work. Many of my coworkers can agree, the leadership here need some work...retraining or something. Two of the leadership are not included in what I'm about to explain. I will keep names out of this for privacy reasons, but can give them if higher management asks.

The four members of leadership I am talking about are very unorganized, very set in each of their own ways (right or wrong) and treat others (including the kids) poorly.

Many of my coworkers and I have had breakdowns due to their behavior. If we have problems on the job, we are laughed at or lectured on things we do wrong. Sometimes it's ridiculous things. For instance, a coworker of mine didn't know how to go about a particular situation regarding another coworker telling a parent about their child's bad behavior.

Instead of being given an answer, she was assigned online classes on how to deal with special needs kids.

On the unorganized part of it, a story from myself: I told leadership from the get-go I live in a shelter, don't have a car and rely on the bus when one of my coworkers doesn't work for school (which by the way they said she could do but now that she's doing it it's a problem). They still to this day lecture me on the fact that they hired me for closing. Then again at my interview, I was told I'd be working noon to six. My hours vary every day due to lack of staff communication.

I know my story will give myself away to those from this location that read this. I don't care.

Oh and the kids. I have worked in a particular classroom with the same coworker I mentioned. A leadership member continues to come in; telling us everything we're doing "wrong", going behind other leaderships' back and messing things up, making the kids fear her in ways that she tells us isn't okay...she's a tornado of negativity and she acts like she owns everything.

One Friday my coworker was gone for personal reasons.

A kid peed on my shoe. I was laughed at and kicked out of the class for it. The following Monday my coworker returned to find a huge bruise on a child's forehead and no one having any idea what had happened to her. The leader that had laughed at me and kicked me out had every excuse possible to where the blame wasn't on her.

There were many more incidences than I have typed out here.

But I am begging someone to please fix this school.

It could be so much more than what it is if everyone had better training or some of the leadership were kicked out altogether. Please do something.