Academy For Kids

I would suggest you do not take your child here staff do not know what is going on. Let alone don’t know who will be giving tours or paperwork. Took my son for 2 hours before I went to pick him up. Staff were rude. I decided not to kept having my son there after the 2 hours he was. Said I would not be taking my child there anymore and I will pay for the time he was there and that paperwork does not state anywhere I have to pay for the whole month but they still charged me anyways for the whole month. The teachers are expecting a certain type of child and if your child does not meet there requirements right away they will not try to even see if maybe the second day your child gets more use to the routine.

I don’t recommend academy for kids AT ALL! I haven’t been there for a few years and the staff may have changed, but my experience was horrible! Coming from a students perspective, it was not a place I wanted to be. I had to spend every day after school and most of the summer there. Most of the staff was okay, but Ms. Teresa was one of the cruelest people I have ever met. She would criticize your every move and if you did something wrong, or one of your fellow classmates snitched on you, you were forced to go through a loud and embarrassing screaming match, and then you were forced to lie on a cushioned mat on the floor while your peers sent your looks of sympathy. She taunted everyone who made her mad and scared people. If you made one tiny mistake, you had to pay the price. She disrespects many people, kids, parents, coworkers, strangers, and even her own family brutally in front of everybody. There is much more to the story, but I’m just warning you, don’t pay for an overpriced child care facility that you will regret!

Perfect… Until…
I have been taking my son to Academy for Kids since he was 18 months old, with a brief 2 year leave when his grandmother cared for him. He is now almost 8 years old. It has been a terrific daycare. I never had to worry about my son when he was there. I have recommended this daycare to hundreds of people over the past six and a half years. Not anymore.
My son suffers from a medical condition called encopresis. Based on his medical condition (which the director was informed about when he was five years old) the director and her assistant determined they no longer wanted my son to attend the daycare. His medical condition is not contagious, is not a danger to others, does not require medical treatment by the facility, he cares for it all by himself, without assistance from staff, but because it is something unfamiliar to the director and her assistant, they felt uncomfortable with my son being there. Due to this, they asked us to leave the facility and gave us three weeks to find another daycare. They did this without warning, without telling us face to face, I got the written notice in a letter attached to his sign in/​out sheet. I tried to discuss it with the assistant director and she stated they didn’t have the accommodations to care for my son. I told her the only accommodation he needs is a bathroom. I replied that this is medical discrimination, then contacted the Americans with Disabilities Act division under the U.S. Department of Justice. They confirmed that the daycare center could not make my son stop attending based on his medical condition. I informed the director of this and she said he could stay and that she will be checking to make sure they are following regulations. I also informed her that she could not deem him as special needs and try to increase our rate, because he needs no assistance. Unfortunately, she tried to do just that. The next letter I received was from her attorney stating that due to the hardships the facility has had to endure, they would need to increase my monthly rate by almost 3 times the normal rate. I spoke with his direct daycare providers who are with him every day and they have told me they never have to do anything for my son, they never have to clean up after him, nor do they assist him in any way. I spoke with the ADA again and they again confirmed that I could not be charged an increased rate. I spoke with a discrimination law attorney who also said that it is illegal to charge an increased rate for a medical condition. I spoke with the State of Oregon’s Child Care Division and they put me in touch with the daycare’s licensing specialist who also told me it is illegal to charge an increased rate. When I went back to the daycare to discuss this with the directors, they said they would need to take it back to their attorney and discuss it further, even though I gave them the documents from the ADA’s website that states they cannot ask my son to leave and they cannot charge an increased rate. I was so disgusted and disappointed in their response. It was clear to me that they would go to any lengths to make my son leave. I wanted, with all my heart, to fight them legally on this, because we would win without question. Then I thought, ‘even if we do win, do I really want my child to be cared for by people who are dishonest, discriminatory, and are willing to break the law?’ Naturally, the immediate answer was ‘no, I do not.’ I know that I could never believe another thing they said to me, which means that the trust we had is broken. Based on this I removed him from the center and have placed in him another daycare.

My daughter has been going here since she was 3 months old. I love how the teachers make her feel so special and she loves going to ‘school’. She comes home with drawings and paintings almost everyday. They also send home a detailed report of her day! I would highly recommend Academy For Kids!

Academy for kids has a wonderful staff. My 4 year old son is always excited to go to school and we love his teachers. The structure he is provided with has really helped him with his reading. I would highly recommend this school !

We have a toddler and an infant at Academy. Knowing what a great place we were taking them made it easier to go back to work. I especially love getting detailed reports on their days at pick up. We highly recommend Academy 4 Kids!

We recently moved to Happy Valley and had to find a new preschool for my 3 yr old daughter. We enrolled in Academy for kids in September and couldn’t be happier! Not only was it my favorite of the schools we toured but it was also the most reasonably priced. Miss Mindy is AMAZING with the 3 yr olds and they even get to do fun field trips like going to the pumpkin patch and trick or treating at retirement homes. We will enroll my newborn son in the infants program when I go back to work in February as well.