The Goddard School of Grandview — Local services in Grandview Heights

I strongly discourage anyone from sending their children to the Goddard School at Grandview. Our daughter attended Goddard Grandview for 10 months in 2021-2022, and while we loved some of the teachers, there were several issues that made us feel it is an unsafe and a discriminatory place. Foremost, the school does not notify parents of communicable diseases in their children's classroom (Goddard says they will in their handbook, but they do not). In mid-July 2022, our daughter simultaneously caught six illnesses while at Goddard (including COVID and salmonella), leading to her hospitalization because she was so sick. I reported these illnesses to Goddard, but the salmonella was never reported to parents in her classroom, even though salmonella can be passed to other kids. Additionally, in the 10 months we were there, only 1 COVID case was reported -- ours. Given how widespread COVID was in 2021-2022, it is literally impossible that our daughter is the only person who caught COVID there.

Secondly, I feel that the school and owner in particular are discriminatory. In December 2021, when an employee came out as trans, the owner announced that she would fire teachers/staff who used new pronouns for the employee. These details are in the federal lawsuit against the school (the case is Diaz et al. vs the Academy at Grandview LLC) and are publicly available. The teachers/staff who were fired (and others who quit in solidarity) were outstanding, and the exodus of teachers led to a dramatic turnover where it felt like we had a different teacher (who didn't know our daughter or us) every other week for many months. Several times at pickup, the teachers didn't know which child was mine, and once they even handed me the wrong child to take home!!

I do not want my daughter to be raised in this environment of disregard and bigotry. I feel like Goddard was a serious risk to my daughter's health and well-being. Given all these factors, we left as soon...

We unfortunately had a really horrible experience here recently, and I would STRONGLY DISCOURAGE anyone from going to this daycare. They recently USED OUR ACH INFO WITHOUT OUR PERMISSION to charge us one month's tuition for our infant, who was going to start in August. She was originally suppose to start in April, but we had to delay to August given a health condition she was born with and recently had surgery for. After telling them about the delay, May 1 they withdrew one month's tuition from our account without telling us. They said it's mentioned in the annual enrollment agreement, which I realized it is, but it says it's due with the application (which we filled out in November). We were never charged anything or told there would be a charge from November to May. Yet, after having to delay my daughter's April start date for a situation outside of our control, they withdrew from our account WITHOUT PERMISSION the next month. They said it is their "normal business practice" to use ACH info on file for the older child (our son was in pre-k) to do something like this. We told them that we don't agree with their "normal business practice" and that having our ACH information isn't a blanket approval to withdraw from our account at will.

Additionally, we were told by multiple other families that they did not have to pay a deposit for a second child, yet we did. On top of that, we were told by other families that they were able to take vacation time (pull their kids out for a time without paying). We asked to do this when our second child was born, and were told no. The owner's response below says their policies, "are designed to maintain fairness and consistency for all families enrolled in our program." This is clearly not the case.

We never paid a day late or were anything but kind and generous to the teachers/staff, so the unfair treatment is a mystery to me.

Needless to say, neither of our children will be attending Goddard...

I would just like to say that now that The Goddard School Grandview has received new ownership and new management, it has been IMMENSELY better! It’s almost like a brand new school and honestly a breath of fresh air because I was truly about to take my child out of this school with the last owners.

Crystal, who is the new onsite co-owner has been nothing but professional, caring, and extremely transparent and communicative with us as parents. I never feel like I am misinformed. I get informed about something instantly and not days/weeks later (the old owners were horrible at communication and rude). My child has developed so much here thanks to the staff and leadership. I as a parent feel much more at ease with everything here and can’t thank the new owners/management enough for providing reassurance and better structure and safety precautions for my daughter.

They prioritize safety, better nutrition and snack varieties, more activities and learning experiences for development, and overall a better experience for not only the kids but parents as well. I don’t think I can say enough good things about how much relief and gratitude I feel now that there are new owners. So I highly recommend Goddard Grandview for as long as these...