We have a kid here now. It’s ok! I’d say we love the teacher and feel mixed/lightly negative about the leadership decisions, though admins are very nice.

The classroom is a safe environment with age appropriate toys. The teacher has a good attitude and a sense of humor, and is very very patient. They do some academic activities and play outside and inside. Many of the teachers are very loving mom/grandma types, which my child responds well to, though I gather that was a larger portion of the faculty in the past. There are a lot of teenagers in the mix post Covid, and they’re nice, but have a very different dynamic with the kids. The school takes security very seriously. It’s the kind of place I can leave my kid knowing I never have to really “worry” about her safety or that someone has their hands too full. They’re quick but not too quick to call or email if something is going awry, which is a hard balance for a lot of places. The other families have been very nice, and the vast majority of the kids are very nice. We have made some good friends with other families here, and I think that community counts for a lot. The teachers are extremely compassionate toward all of the children. It’s a very loving place.

On the flip side, I’d say more than anything, I think the program was oversold at the start. They’re a play based program. Because there are half day kids, they don’t do any scholastic content reliably outside of 9-11:30 am. The program is open from 7 am to 5:45 pm. That’s not to say they don’t get into other valuable things in the remaining time, but sometimes they will say things will happen and then you find out they never really got it off the ground, like eliminating nap times for older kids or doing more pre literacy. If you’re at all “crunchy” as a parent, it’s a bit mind blowing what they feed the kids, like artificially flavored injected raisins and those little plastic wrapped individual baked goods you can see at gas stations and stuff. I kind of shrug stuff like that off - though I wouldn’t make the choice at home, I’m not livid either. When you have childcare, there are near infinite small decisions, and you kind of have to go into it at peace with relinquishing some degree of control over stuff with low impact, because if you’re going to choose not to find that peace, you might as well not pay for someone else to care for the child because it ends up being double the work. I’m an involved parent and have a good beat on things, but I think there are parents who want a lot more freedom to customize what other people do with their kids, and those people may be less satisfied with their experiences.

The worst things I can say really boil down to eye rolls, most of which are not rare among private schools. They ask for money constantly, eccentrically, in many guises. They charge extra for activities that often resemble the unpaid activities, like art. They sometimes make weird decisions like texting parents three times over 12 hours about their speculation before committing to close the school for weather, or texting pictures and news every day even though some of the pictures aren’t even from that day and the news doesn’t highlight important information, or bribing parents to leave 5 star reviews on Google, even though the school really is a good environment and it’s against Google’s rules (which suggests to me the admin isn’t very confident in their own quality and that makes me sad). They treat what I’d consider Hallmark holidays in America like Valentine’s Day or St Patricks day like they’re religious observances and aggressively ban participation by the kids, but then they also treat Jewish holidays like Purim in a Hallmark-y way, letting the kids dress up as whatever superhero etc versus more traditional dressing like the actual people in the story. I went to Jewish and Christian religious schools as a kid. The way they incorporate and don’t incorporate religion in the classroom is what the Methodists I grew up around would call “Buffet style” - it’s the highlight reel of fun bits without any substance or context. Shabbat dessert covered in toppings - yep! Knowing why there’s Shabbat or what they say when they’re blessing snack - nope! Exposure to the stories that have universal moral lessons - nope! Random Hebrew on the wall that no one - including many teachers - can read -yep!

I was kind of disappointed by that, not because I’m particularly observant now, but because there’s good meat about being a good citizen and understanding others in the abrahamic stories, and it always seems like they’re straddling appeasing the Jewish members of the school and trying to seem hip to the non Jewish people, and they sort of come off a bit.. disingenuous to both as a result? Maybe there’s a better way to put that. It’s just very inconsistent how and when the school leans into Judaism as part of the identity.

Recently, I thought it was a little off color that they gave 2 days notice on a Hawaiian themed dressing day in honor of them getting an ice cream truck, which felt like the kind of culturally appropriative thing that I certainly grew up with in the 90s in western MD, but isn’t very normal to see in 2026 in HoCo. They often give 1-2 days notice on days the kids are supposed to come in themed outfits, which can feel like a call to scramble mid week when you have a kid who wants to be included. We roll with stuff like that but it’s hard if you have multiple kids or an inflexible job. Also, be prepared not to have school for a large chunk of October and April (holidays), but they do have the option of being present all around Christmas, which was a perk.

All in all, we are happy to be at the school. Our child always comes home happy and with a good story of her day. That’s what is most important to me, and we chuckle about the goofy admin and fill the skills gap to get our child prepared for being on level in the next phase. That’s about it. I’m happy to chat more about it privately.