Kids Corral At Savannah

Our son began attending The Kid’s Corral of Savannah at the beginning of May. We knew upon enrolling him that it was not nearly as nice as his previous daycare. However, we told ourselves that we had been spoiled by the previous place, and that our expectations would have to be more realistic for the area. That being said, both locations of The Kid’s Corral enjoy a monopoly along the 380 corridor, so we didn’t have much choice other than enrolling our son there, and hoping that things would be ok.
Things were not ok. After 7-​weeks, we finally made the decision to remove our son from The Kid’s Corral, and drive a bit further to find a suitable place. We had reached a point where we felt guilty leaving him there, and we were also growing concerned with our son’s behavior, which had taken an aggressive turn.
Here is a list of things that I observed, and believe to be lacking at The Kid’s Corral:
* Too many kids in the classroom. The legal ratio always seemed to be maintained, but the teachers always seemed to be run ragged, with kids running around, and many of them crying.
* The overall noise level of the place is too loud. There is no carpet, which is good for keeping the place more sanitary, but there is also no ceiling tile. This means that all sound has absolutely no place for absorption. Instead, all sounds are amplified and echoed off the floor, ceiling, and walls. This means that teachers have to yell to be heard, and when kids are crying, the atmosphere is miserable.
* No evidence of Potty Training. The classroom our son was in was considered a transitional class, where kids enter in diapers, and graduate to the next class once they’ve been potty trained. However, the amount of potty training that actually occurred seemed negligible, and with the amount of kids in the room, I can understand why, as it’s simply unrealistic. We never once received a report of our son using the potty at school. However, after only 2-​days at his new school, our son successfully used the potty.
* Food provided is cheap, processed, and unhealthy. Breakfast never changed, and you had to make a plate for your child during drop off. The choices were cold cereal, donut holes or muffins, yogurt, and orange slices. The worst offender on the menu that I witnessed was what looked like canned chili on Fritos, with a side of canned pineapple. I know kids are picky eaters, but there are plenty of whole food based items that kids will eat, if the effort is put forth to prepare such food. The Kid’s Corral seems perfectly content offering the bare minimum of what the USDA’s requirements are, and that’s not good enough.
* No enrichment programs. The Kid’s Corral offers no extra enrichment in their curriculum. Other schools, including our son’s new school, offer Spanish, Gymnastics, Dancing, Music, etc., all included in the tuition.
* Tiny parking lot. The parking lot at the school is tiny, and is shared by the parents and employees, meaning that there are very few open spots to begin with, not to mention during the hectic drop off and pickup hours. There were numerous times when we had to park in the street and walk.
* No bank auto draft. It’s 2015, and The Kid’s Corral still insists that one pay with check or money order. For us that don’t use checks at all, this is very inconvenient. We set it up with our bank so that a check was sent monthly, paying for the whole month up front. There was once when our check arrived a day late, and we were charged the late fee anyway, besides them getting 3-​extra weeks of tuition upfront.
* Never met the director. In the 7-​weeks that our son went to The Kid’s Corral, we never met the director. All of our dealings were with the assistant director, who was very kind to us, and to all of the children. However, it was odd to us that in all that time, the director was never present. To us, that says she is hands off, simply collecting a check while her subordinates run the place.
Ultimately, we withdrew our son because of the classroom environment. The noise level was so excruciatingly loud at times, it’s no wonder that the teachers always seemed beat, and the kids cried a lot. We felt that this caused a lot of stress to our son, and it carried through to our home at night. We kept hoping it would get better, but it didn’t. It broke our heart that even after a month of attending The Kid’s Corral, our son would still say he wanted to go back to his old school. Well, he may only be 2, but we think he knows what’s good for him, and the Kid’s Corral is not it.
If you’re thinking of putting your kid (s) here, please think hard about all that I have said. There is very little choice for those of us living along 380, but we are beyond happy with the new daycare about 8-​minutes further down the road.
P.S There are reviews online, including some from previous employees of The Kid’s Corral that echo what I have written. We wish we would have seen them before we enrolled our son.

My daughter is now in the 3’s class and loves it! She started as an infant at 9 months. Like all children who attend daycare the first time, she too went through a hard transition until her immune system built up. The center is always clean and the staff is wonderful! I have never in these four years seen as many babies as the previous post states with only one teacher — the maximum ratio is four babies to one teacher. My husband and I love their curriculum — our daughter knows her letters, numbers, shapes and colors and learned it all there! She comes home singing songs she learns and really loves it. I do not agree with the previous post but recommend you see it for yourself and talk to current parents who have been there. Good luck– it is a great community to live in too!

Don’t take your kids to Kid’s Corral. We have had a healthy baby since day 1 and at 8 months old started him here. staff is very friendly and the place looks great when you walk in. The staff in the nursery seem understaffed to handle the number of babies in that room. Every time I drop him off its 1 woman to 6 — 8 babies. The first round was flu, then he got better then strep, then he got better and now we are back at the Dr. This place is a Petri dish of germs and bacteria. Thought about calling the CDC but they have their hands full at the moment.