Jaileen Diaz

Review of Smart Steps LLC

My daughter was at this daycare prior to the owner...

My daughter was at this daycare prior to the owner being changed, so a little over three years - she is currently 5 and a half. And as of yesterday, she was "kicked out" via text message by the "director".

The staff here are very unprofessional, aside from one, which was always very loving with my daughter but unfortunately she was caring for the younger aged group. I have had multiple incidents where my daughter has been hurt or another child has marked my daughter and an incident report was never made. But if my daughter spoke to a child in an indecent manner, she was in trouble and I was hearing about it when I picked her up. There has been multiple times where I have went to pick my child up with ant bites, bruises, a bruised eye, and filthy. And no one at the facility was able to explain why. I was verbally told by the director that one of her staff members yanked my child by the arm because "she was not listening" to her. I stated no one is to touch my child and if she gets out of hand, I am to be called. I made a report. But she is currently still employed there.

As a parent, I did my part to ensure my daughter's safety and made sure the specific teachers in charge of her were the only ones dealing with her. Made sure I was aware of any incidents that went on - even if she caused them herself. With time, things got better.

As of yesterday, I received a text message from the director asking for payment while in the middle of my work day. I advised I could not speak to her at the moment but I would be there to pick up my child before closing hours, as per everyday. (This was not the first time she was told not to contact me regarding payment via telephone/text during work hours & she "understood" why) She then stated if she did not have payment by Friday, my daughter could not return. Based on the verbal agreement we had when she first took over the facility, Friday's were payment days for me, either way. I did not respond. I then later went to pick my child up from the facility with my partner, as she stepped out to go inside, the director comes to knock on my window. I advised her that I did not appreciate that & that there is not anything we need to speak of. After raising my window for the second time, she proceeds to bang on my window. When she noticed that I did not respond to this, she goes inside to let my partner know that she is NOT kicking my child out of daycare and to please make me aware of that. As we leave the daycare, I receive a text message stating because I chose not to speak to her after she had "been so nice" to me, my daughter cannot return.

A late payment of $40. The prior week of payment owed, $60. & the current week, $90. Based on agreement, prior week and current week were both to be paid on Friday - in which she was asking about on Wednesday (still not a LATE payment). So technically, my daughter was kicked out of daycare for a $40 LATE payment and because I chose to not speak to the director after having discussed that she needed her money by Friday or else my daughter could not go back.

The following day, today, I went to pick up my child's belongings. The teachers had no idea what my daughter's blanket even looked like or were even aware that she had one (which should be used EVERY DAY at nap time). I then found my daughter's blanket in the midst of a bunch of other junk, ontop of a filing cabinet.

After having my daughter's ENTIRE emergency contact list called regarding payment, being told she will not release my child to anyone not on the emergency list (although they had been to the facility before, and I gave consent via text and verbally) meanwhile my child is screaming crying while being held back by them so she could not walk out the door, being harassed for ADVANCED payments. I still managed to never disrespect and make sure she had payment on designated Fridays.

These pictures might look nice, but what goes on behind closed doors is not. I just hope to advise parents on SOME of the reality behind all those nice pictures and the hollow promises you'll hear.