Arthur M. Blank Family Youth YMCA — Local services in Atlanta

I was truly livid with the front desk individual (older, gray-haired lady) when I came to the preschool to pick up my grandson on yesterday 4/6/16. She refused to listen to me and as we later found out failed to fully review the application indicating that I was listed as a pick-up for my 5 year old grandson who was just attending for the week of SpringBreak. As a retired educator, I realize the importance of security at a daycare. But the problem I had is that the individual refused to talk to me or allow me to explain the unusual situation. She said I was not listed on the application and at best the only way to get the child would be if she received a fax from the dad. She watched me call the dad, and mom. She could have called either or spoken with either to verify who they were based on information on the application. I know the problem was that my first name was not on the application. I go by my middle name but the licence has both my first name and the middle name. My 3-year attend regularly and he was not in attendance on that day due to illness. I had just come from the pediatrician with him (Pediatrian on Piedmont) and was just quickly going to pick up his brother. I took the coughing child in with me for what I thought was going to be at least a 5-min. in and out pickup which turned out to be over an hour. I talked with the 3-year olds teacher, showed the other front desk my YMCA membership card (photo and with my middle name and last name), recent emails indicating receipt payments for both children's attendance. I even had the daughter-in-law on the phone saying she knew she wrote my name down and requested the individual check again. The original lady (gray haired) left the desk went into the office sat down and refused to come out and further discuss the situation. I was not rude but frantically trying to figure out how to verify who I was and get out to get the prescription filled for the 3-year old and get the 5-year old to Karate practice in downtown Decatur by 4:40. It was not until I demanded that the other front office person let her know I had someone on the phone from the home office that she came back, reviewed the application and discovered that I was indeed listed. Has she worked with me, it would not have taken as long to verify the information. The father was even frantically sending a fax indicating that I was okay to pick the child up, the mother on the phone was requesting the lady look again. I even presented my YMCA membership card with my middle name and photo. All of this to support this unusual situation that could have been easily resolved with a little more understanding and support from the front office person. What an awful experience! If it were up to me I would take my 3-year old out of that center because of this one person. I felt like dirt after dealing with that individual rather than the 35-years retired teacher/administrator and part-time university instructor after dealing with that person! Whew! (Kudos to the one other lady who was sent to the desk after the rude one went to the office and watched.) It never hurts to just listen and ask a...

My son attended the preschool program for a total of six months. As a teacher my son frequently visited my school and possessed a pure joy towards the idea of school. However, after six months of attending this preschool, he began to tell me that he "hated school" and would beg and plead for me not to leave him there. No this was not first day jitters, this attitude towards his experience with school began to change after a few months of attending this school. In the handbook, this school does parade around the fact that they "suspend" children even as young as three years of age. Although this was quite alarming to me given the widespread data of the adverse effects that suspensions can have on children, I still did not think that my son would have to experience being suspended.

As a 3 year old only child, my son had quite a bit of adjustments to make in this new environment, however weekly he was making progress. Shortly after enrolling him he was suspended for 2 days for biting another classmate. Although this action was hurtful and not the proper way to solve a dispute, suspension should not be an answer. especially for a three year old. Developmentally, there are some actions that are expected from that particular age group due to the many changes that are happening within that child during that age. Would it not have been more beneficial to take that moment as a teachable moment to teach empathy and compassion? Within six months, my son had been suspended for similar "offenses" or "behaviors" several times following the first suspension. The last suspension was for an entire week, in which one of the directors deemed is "preparing him for when he transitions into elementary." ALARMING!

Prior to this last lengthy suspension my sons father, his grandfather, grandmother and I had all scheduled class room visits on different occasions to observe. After the observation, we all shared that we noticed my son was getting very board. He was often times the first one finished with his snack and with his work and was asked to "sit quietly" and wait on his other three year old classmates to finish. No, he was not giving tracing sheets, a book, coloring and pasting activities to keep his young active mind engage. He was asked to sit.....and wait. And it was after about 3 minutes of sitting, that I noticed that my son would become anxious and began to get very curious, But what three year old would not?

After the 5th suspension, I picked my son up to discuss what was going on. His reply was "Mommy, I'm a bad boy." This response concerned me for two reasons. 1. What adult had he heard that from and was now internalizing. 2. Things of this nature can become a self-fulfilling prophecy for children.

Since I removed my son from the school, I am having to undue the damage that was caused by this school. I have to rebuild that love for school and build my son back up and constantly help him realize that sometimes we all make bad choices, however "he" is not bad. Please do not send your children here. The location might be convenient and the updated infrastructure might even be convincing, but...

Please be warned! If you have gone to other YMCA locations like Carl Sanders, Arthur Blanks YMCA will be a GREAT disappointment. I read the reviews related to this location and should have followed my gut instinct on this one. My son has previously attended the Carl Sanders YMCA summer camps for 3 years straight but thought trying the Arthur Blank Camp for LIT (Leaders in Training) might be a good switch. It was not. Months leading up to the camp I could get no information on what the camp entailed. I called weekly and could never get in contact with the director. No literature was presented, no orientation was given--all things done at Carl Sanders PRIOR to camp starting. On the first day of camp I still had not received any documentation. The nice gentleman at the front was my only source for any information (i.e. drop off and pick up procedures, items to bring, activities that were planned, etc). The first week of camp was so disorganized. We had to come in to sign our kids in and out though I had been told we would be able to drop off on day one. When I inquired about the schedule for camp I was told a gentleman had it and they didn't know where he was. My son did not like the camp at all save for a few of the male counselors that were nice and "funny" as he termed it. He mentioned that at times they did not provide snacks for the kids which they should have done. But no big deal I provided money for my son so he could "buy" snacks but other kids complained they were hungry because not enough snacks were given or none at all. As a result my son would sometimes share his snacks with the kids. On one occasion they could not find the key to the snack cabinet. Later the individual with the key was found to have hidden themselves in the snack room and was watching NETFLIX! The final straw was when my son called me to tell me that after a recent trip to Main Event the kids were dropped off at the mall. They were either unsupervised or more shocking allowed to go into an adult store (likely Spencer's). In there some of the girl campers took pictures with sex toys and posted them on Instagram. Luckily my son did not go on this trip, but unluckily he is on Instagram. When he brought this to my attention I immediately called the camp. Naturally the director was not available and the assistant director was not in. I ended up speaking to the driver about the incident. Not 10 minutes later my son calls to inform me that kids were asking why his mother called to tell on them about the pictures. That is ridiculous. Never did I think for a moment that they would talk to the kids and identify me and my son as the ones having brought this issue up. Luckily its his LAST day because I can't imagine what would happen to him having been identified as a "snitch". This place is horrible. My son has not learned anything about leadership. His sole responsibility is to set up and break down tables each day for activities. There is no added value. Steer clear of this location at all costs for your sake...