Piccoli Preschool

Piccoli is The Best! Laurie and the other teachers were/​are always supportive, nurturing, and engaged; at Piccoli, we watched our daughter — and all of the other kids — flourish and so we couldn’t have asked for a better environment or experience for our kid. When we started looking for a preschool for our daughter, everyone pointed us to Piccoli…
The negative reviews here? They don’t pass the smell test, as far as I’m concerned — maybe from competing daycares or from parents who felt their kids deserved special treatment? I don’t know, but my experience was that Laurie/​Piccoli staff never did and never would act unprofessionally… Ya, it’s true, Laurie doesn’t do email, and she doesn’t relate to putting a kid in front of a laptop/​ipad, video screen — but personally, I like that and if I’m not mistaken, Piccoli has been in business for something like…35 years. (!!) I’d say they’ve really got the preschool thing down.

I was looking at Unilocal to share Piccolli Preschool with my sister who is researching preschools for her almost three year old. I was very upset when I came across the negative reviews, especially concerning Laurie’s character. I can offer an unique perspective of the quality of care at Piccoli Preschool. As a mother of three sons my middle son went to Piccoli from age 2 – 5 years. He is 18 yrs old now and a freshman in college. The freedom of creative play was perfect for him and he was defiantly ready for kindergarten. He learned what he needed to know for kindergarten readiness but even more than that he was able to grow & fondly remember his preschool experience and make his first friendships there. He looks back at his preschool memories fondly & often talks about it. What makes my perspective even more unique is that about 35 years ago I was one of Laurie’s (the owners) first preschoolers in her original home based location. I have sooo many wonderful memories of preschool and I loved to go there! I fondly remember doing arts & crafts, tea time where we practiced table manors, circle time, and the comfort & love I felt when I was there. I even re-​visited her often when I was older 11 – 12 yrs. She was like family to me. I can’t say enough positive things about my own experiences with her as a young child and my son’s positive experiences at Piccoli as well. I feel so very thankful that I was able to grow up with her & my son was able to also.

It would upset me to go into the specifics of what a horrific experience my son and I had here. Laurie’s treatment of my son and myself was beyond terrible. As the other poster indicated, there were extreme favorites and days when she seemed to not look or speak to certain parents or children. It’s been a year and my son is now thriving in public school but he still speaks of his time at Piccoli with fear and is terrified he might have to go back. One of my biggest regrets is not having gotten my son out of there quicker. Please don’t subject your children to Laurie’s moods and cruelty.

Let me start by stating that we enrolled our 2 yr old in Piccoli based on a recommendation by a day care provider; we didn’t shop around. When we initially started, everything was fine. He was thriving and picking up new skills from his older peers and Laurie sang his praises.
In less than a year, we began to notice some digression. We would ask Laurie how our son was every day to which she replied dismissively «fine», «good», or «great». We tried to tease out more, but were given the cold shoulder. Perhaps she didn’t have the time to speak to parents at drop off and pick up times since she was the only teacher working these hours (the other two teachers work shorter hours). She doesn’t have a cell phone, she «doesn’t do email», and she wouldn’t schedule a parent conference outside of preschool hours.
We also noticed that Laurie plays favorites. She exhibits varied greetings in the morning based on her favorite kids at that particular time. When our son was no longer the favorite, he was often not greeted at all.
Further, Laurie has openly vented about another boy and how «terrible» he was and how she wishes she could just «get rid of him». She made these negative statements in front of said child and his peers — said child was often ostracized and referred by his peers as a «trouble maker». She states in her paperwork that she doesn’t «discipline». You may want to enquire about her etiquette and discussing your child’s behavior/​performance with other parents.
When our child turned 3, he began to challenge us — typical three year old. We approached Laurie for advice, and she replied w/​, «read this book» and handed us a book titled «Your Three Year Old — Friend or Enemy», published in 1980. We approached her again a few months later about our son resisting drop off and she replied by saying «he has an irregular schedule and he needs consistency» and then walked away. By the way, we’ve kept the same schedule for the past five months. Later that week, we asked our son why he was unhappy going to preschool to which he replied, «I have an irregular schedule». What three year old says this unless he overhead a discussion (unlikely as it look place in another room) or was coached by his teacher?
Another concern is that Laurie is very cavalier about kids’ safety. My wife noticed a creepy man lurking outside of preschool. At pick up we informed Laurie to which she replied, «don’t worry, nothing has ever happened here.»
Laurie also tried to teach me a «technique» of getting a kid’s attention by grabbing them firmly by the back of the arm. She did this as an example to one of the kids running — the child looked terrified and Laurie equated it to grabbing a dog by the scruff of the neck.
I have also witnessed Laurie shoving kids hands away from touch/​feel book as she read them to a group of kids (kids naturally wanted touch the pages and she’d get frustrated). I have also seen kids put into isolation/​time out without an explanation of why they are being reprimanded. In order for our son to learn from his mistakes, he needs to have them explained — from what I’ve witnessed, Laurie simply «redirected», isolated or reprimanded unwanted behavior without explanation to the kids on why they were in «trouble».
I’ve tried to be objective in my review. If you ask any parent who enrolled their child in 2012 — 2013, they’d confirm my story about Laurie publically ousting one of her students has a «terrible child» doomed for failure. She is in a position to make a positive impact in this child’s life, but in turn, she damaged him further and made it acceptable for other kids to humiliate him.
When I called Piccoli to inform them about my son’s departure and how we found another place, Laurie simply stated, «I accept that» and hung up the phone. She did not give me a chance to ask if my son can return to say goodbye to his friends and to collect his belongings.
There are countless negative/​child damaging examples that I can provide. To keep it short — Laurie is a very deeply negative person. She is very old fashioned in all of her approaches (see reference to a book she gave us published in 1980). She has terrible bedside manners, unprofessional and can be abusive. She is dismissive and plays favorites. She does not offer feedback even when you ask daily; unless your child is a favorite at the time. In this day and age where consumers have options, why settle for Laurie? It’s worth it to us to spend a few dollars more for our son to be in a program that fosters love, growth, creativity and exploration; is it worth it to you?

Great environment. Diverse and fun. Nurturing, loving, non competitive yet stimulating. At Piccoli kids learn through playing.
My son comes home with art projects every day. Ginger, the music teacher comes every Friday. They cook every Thursday. Toy sharing happens twice a week. The kids learn a variety of social skills. It’s very safe, both physically and emotionally.
Laurie is a great teacher with over 20 years of experience. She truly loves and cares for the kids.
My son is learning values that I am proud of. As soon as he started at Piccoli, I saw a significantly positive change in him. He’s enrolled full-​time and loves it.

My three sons had a great experience at Piccoli over many years. I remember a day when I came to pick up my oldest (now 25 years old and UC Berkeley graduate — working abroad) when he was about 3 years old, singing «Twinkle Twinkle Little Star» all by himself, accompanied by Laurie’s daughter on the flute! This is a nurturing, structured, flexible, varied, inspired program. When my youngest son — a neat freak — wouldn’t play in the rice box (the indoor box filled with rice instead of sand) because he didn’t want to get his hands dirty, they patiently encouraged him until he felt comfortable enough to have fun. Go visit the premises, but the quality of the care is wonderful – my3 kids had a great start here.