Just Imagine Academy

This was my initial post: "My son have been attending JIA for 2 months and it seems like he has been there since he was born. The teachers are simply amazing. They offer individualized care and a lot of love and attention to each child. My son had an extreme separation anxiety and I was very nervous to put him in day care. Needless to say my surprise when only after 3 days he stopped crying. I thought it was a miracle" For those amazing teachers I just dislike it (2stars) and not fully hate it (1star).
Only 6 months after this amazing start one by one the teachers and children started to leave. We were never informed that the teacher had left, but because 3 of the teachers babysat for my son a couple of times , when the school was closed, I found out from them.
From there on everything went down the hill. The ratio was NEVER 2:1. Even worse there were 4-5 kids ( the owner's children included) with one teacher( usually the owner) and 2 of them were 6 months old. My son was involved in a few accidents were him or other kids got bruised/ bitten. He had diaper rash every other week because they were not changing the diaper in time.
As for curriculum.......there is none. All the kids are kept together. Furthermore I know for sure that for 3 moths the kids were NOT TAKEN OUTSIDE-not even once ( they have red woodchips on the little playground and my son's shoes were always clean, compared to the previous summer, when they were "disgusting").
All teachers & parents left in NO speaking terms with the owner. In our last month, my son was always a problem in the class and all of a sudden he could not be kept long hours, even though I paid extra and in advance for the late hour. The last draw was when, kindly, the director/ owner, ( who has no teaching, babysitting/ early childhood education) suggested that my 20 months old son was somehow abused because he was pinching himself and he flinched when she tried to give him something. Of course I was alarmed, not because of her ridiculous accusations , but by the fact that this might be happening in her daycare. One of the teachers( that I trusted) assured me that nobody does that in school, so since there 2 more weeks left I let it go.
Recently I found out that my son was never liked by the owner and she disliked watching my son ( him being very active and needing entertainment all the time); and because " I have no patience" she put him many times in the highchair for extended periods of time. First of all she is not supposed to watch my child. I do not want to pay $1100 a month for someone with no education to watch my kid. Second of all I wonder if she disliked my checks, given on time also? This is actually the fact that prompted me to change and post this review.
PLEASE DO NOT BE FOOLED. It is a small place, kind of clean, horrible playground, not educational at all, and closes 1 week in June, 1 week in August and 1 week for Christmas and all possible snow days they close- not even half days- all this happening while you pay full tuition.
If this doesn't convince you please ask 2 questions: HOW LONG HAVE BEEN THE TEACHERS THERE ( in the 10months period there were 10, now all of them are new in the past 4 1/2 mths that we left) and HOW LONG HAVE BEEN THE KIDS ATTENDING just imagine academy? These questions, if answered sincerely, will turn you away for sure.
I am not writing this spitefully but I really do not want other parents to feel the guilt that I feel for a bad decision that I took for my innocent, sweet son.
Good luck in finding another daycare.

Great staff and environment for the children. A place I highly recommend in the little falls area its a perfect place.I'm happy my kids are happy!

As a teacher and a very picky new mom I am here to tell you that this place is a MUST SEE! My husband and I can not say enough about how much we love Just Imagine Academy. My daughter just recently started here and I can not begin describe how incredibly happy we are with the care that she is receiving.

I have searched and toured many daycares and schools in the area and I have not found any other place with such a warm, caring and beautiful environment. The building that the day care is in is a commercial building set all the way back away from the business of main street. This is something that I truly appreciate. Being a teacher myself I am constantly worried about the security of a building. Having this daycare facility a little off the main road and in an office building makes me feel like my daughter is safely tucked away in her school having a great time. Once you get up to the day care the first you thing you will notice is that everything is extremely clean. The staff takes excellent care to clean everyday and there is not even a hint of a dirty diaper smell. The rooms are spacious and tailored to the age group that it holds with plenty of toys, learning centers and activities to keep the children busy. The facility has many windows and is extremely bright and there is a cute play area outside.

My daughter is an exclusively breastfed baby. She likes to snuggle and is very much a "Mama's Girl". I was so worried about the transition to daycare. When we began (about a month ago) my baby was barely able to take a bottle! The thought of leaving my daughter with out an easy way to eat and knowing that she only naps well when I am around made me so anxious. The director and teaching staff really worked to meet my needs. They made sure that I was comfortable leaving her there and even gave me the encouragement I needed as a new mom to realize that my baby and I would make it through this transition. Since then my daughter takes bottles like a complete champion and just today she took over a two hour nap! She would not be doing this if she did not feel comfortable being there. The staff has taken the time to get my daughter used to her new surroundings by working with her with the bottle and giving her all of the extra snuggles that she needed. I am so thankful that I have found a place where I know my daughter is not only learning but being comforted and loved in my absence!

My 2-year old daughter has been attending Just Imagine since March, and I could not be happier. She had previously been at another center; there was nothing wrong with it, but it was not a great fit for our family, and my daughter seemed to get lost in the sea of children. By comparison, the small classroom sizes and phenomenal student-to-teach ratios at Just Imagine mean that she always gets lots of attention.
The staff, including the Director, is wonderful. They all seem to genuinely love their jobs and enjoy interacting with the children. As a previous review mentions, the center uses BabyConnect, which allows parents to keep track of what the kids are up to during the day. I appreciate knowing in real-time if my daughter has eaten what we packed for lunch and how long she has napped. In addition, whenever I pick up my daughter, the staff is always happy to spend time with me to talk about how she is doing. Even on the days when I am the last one to pick up, I have never felt that anyone was rushing us out the door so that they could get home. The Director has also been very accommodating with our family’s schedule, which has been an enormous help when coordinating with work. Another plus for our bi-lingual family is that several members of the staff speak Spanish, and so my daughter gets in some practice at school too.
But perhaps most importantly, my daughter is happy there. In 8 months of attending, she has cried only once when she has been dropped off. Sometimes when I pick her up, she is having so much fun that she doesn’t want to leave. Often at night or over the weekends, she will spontaneously tell me “I love Miss Stacy” or that another child is “my best friend.” As a parent who feels more than a little guilt at leaving her child to go to work, it provides peace of mind to know that she is in good hands when I cannot be there. I would enthusiastically recommend Just Imagine to anyone looking for child care.

My son has been attending Just Imagine Academy for the past month. It has been a great experience for him. My son is 4 years old and is the Pre-K class. The class is small and gets lots of individualized attention from his teacher (who is absolutely wonderful). He had some issues with potty training before and I already see huge progress, and I believe it is due to the great staff working with him. They also use a program called baby connect, where I can log on daily and read small reports from his teacher regarding his day. This feature has been great, especially while at work and wondering how my little is doing. I am extremely pleased with their work and would recommend them to anyone with a child, looking for great childcare.