Red Apple Child Development Center

Sending your child to a bilingual preschool is a great idea. Sending them to Red Apple or Preschool of America (owned by same crooks) is a bad idea. Both our children went to Red Apple from age 3 to 4 to expose them to Chinese before they attended the nearby Chinese elementary school. They learned to speak Chinese even though we don’t speak it. While they attended, two children were killed due to poor staff choices while walking on a busy street. Just after we left the owners were convicted of stealing millions of dollars from the federal government nutrition program for poor children. The school was consistently grimy, especially the bathrooms, which never had hand soap and rarely had toilet paper. The teachers had some interesting projects. There are way better bilingual preschools. Don’t give these thieves any more money.

My daughter has been going to this center since she was 2 years old. She is now 4.5 and in their after school program. My daughter really enjoys her time there. She loves her teachers and have fun with her peers. I feel the center equally focuses on early education and creative playtime. I especially like how there is both a Chinese and English speaking teacher in the classroom. it is a great environment for any young child.

Parents and Job-​seekers beware!
I went on an interview for Red Apple back in February and the first thing the woman («Ms Michelle») said when she saw me was «You don’t look like a [my name].» I got the impression that she thought I was a different ethnicity than what I am. I felt uncomfortable but I brushed it off. She didn’t really interview me, but instead proceeded to hard-​sell me the job. She then asked about my age. She had asked about that on the phone a few days before, but she brushed it off and didn’t seem to mind. But for some reason, she had me pretty much working the whole day (I wasn’t hired yet), teaching kids, lifting them up and feeding them, etc. Then at the end of the day she proceeds to tell me how I’m too young for the job because I’m 23, and how the parents would expect someone much older and more experienced. Understandable, but I told her my age over the phone a few days before, so why tell me that now AFTER I worked an entire day? I guess 23 doesn’t sound young on the phone, but I’m also vertically challenged (at 4’10″ I am much shorter than my peers) so appearance likely had something to do with it (well, that, and cost-​cutting with free slave labor). Finally, she asks for me to come back several more times during the week to «observe» and then on Thursday for a full-​fledged teaching day — without pay and no guarantee of being hired. She’s saving several hundred dollars by having me do this. I don’t mind volunteering, I mean I have volunteered at different organizations in the past, but I felt as if she’s playing me for a fool because I’m unemployed and she’s taking advantage of the fact that I’m young, inexperienced, and desperate. I also didn’t feel comfortable by her constantly commenting on race and age. She also had at least one other person in for an «interview» that day. Plus I noticed on a chart on the wall that the previous teacher had left at least a month before. I was under the impression that she’s been calling in people for «test runs» for a while now so she wouldn’t have to hire anyone right away. Saves the company money — thousands of dollars in fact.
And a note to parents: do you think they really screen these people before they’re put in the classroom for these «test runs?» For all you know, some of the candidates that this woman places unsupervised in the classrooms could have been sex offenders! What a foolish thing to do.
Another note! This company was in the news a few years back because two of the children got run over and killed by a truck outside while on one of their «field trips.» Honestly, who in their right mind would take a bunch of preschoolers on a walk through Chinatown? Seriously? I wouldn’t trust a stray dog to be cared for by these people. This place is just plain corrupt. The owner was also busted for stealing $ 2.7 million in the children’s lunch money. Come on people!
Lesson learned: Be careful when you’re applying to jobs. In these hard times, some of us desperate job seekers will be quick the grab anything that seems too good to be true.