The Academy at Craig Ranch — Local services in McKinney

Our family was at The Academy for 3 years and I now feel obligated to write this review so that other parents are aware of what has occurred at The Academy over the past year and particularly in the past few months. Over the past year there has been a significant decline in leadership to the point of worry. In the 3 years we were at The Academy we had 9 different directors and in the 2023-2024 school year alone, 4 different teachers in my son’s classroom. There is an expected amount of turnover with daycares…and then there is The Academy. There have been many incidents that have raised red flags over the past year but we continued to try to work through “growing pains” with constant new management. 3 weeks ago we finally decided we needed to leave because of safety concerns. We had an incident of child neglect with my son that was reported. We met with the two new directors after the incident and no longer felt comfortable with the direction it was going. We pulled our son out of school that same week because we felt it was that serious and he may be in danger. The Academy needs MAJOR changes to bring it back to where it used to be, but we could not stick around to wait and see because we have heard that story before. If you notice, almost all of the positive reviews are over 1 year old before things got bad. The recent reviews speak for themselves. I am glad people are making the situation at The Academy known and reporting it because there is virtually zero communication with the parents and a lot of parents are left out of the loop and they’re trying to keep everything very hush-hush. Hence the reason for this...

We were charged on 8/1 and 8/8 both charges $570. I immediately notified Nelson of the errors after each charge and gave him the benefit of the doubt to correct. After 2 weeks and lack of communication I filed a dispute with my bank. The next business day, we got a check in the mail for $240 saying we were made whole. I called Nelson to inform him of the shorted refund and he said that’s all we are owed with no other justification. I said well I did a dispute with the bank and if I’m not made whole from that I’ll see you in small claims court (I had both email and voicemail evidence from him of the charge errors). He then informed me “that the board made the decision to notify him, he is out”. I then emailed the pastor and board chair for the school to open a line of communication to get the matter resolved. Neither ever responded. I’m glad that after 60 days we are finally refunded and done with The Academy once and for all! Good luck to anyone who wishes to work for Jordan and to parents who chose to enroll your kids under her leadership. She is a horrible director who has sucked the fun out of learning for children. These hall walls use to be full of colorful bulletin boards displaying children’s work....

I had heard great reviews of the Academy from some friends so we started this summer. I enrolled my 3 year old in pre school, 4 year old in pre K and 6 year old in the school age summer program and they have been so happy! They wake up and beg to go early! The first day my 3 year old was nervous as change is hard but the amazing teachers were so patient and gave us updates throughout the day. By the 3rd day there she felt at home. She knew all the kids in her class names, and came home talking how much she loves her teachers! My four year old has done the most creative art projects all summer. It is actually amazing how thoughtful these teachers are and it shows how much they care about the students and curriculum. My school age daughter has had so much fun on the field trips! She has raved about a recent one to Pinstack where she went bowling, did bumper cars, rock wall, ropes course and laser tag! She said it was her favorite day ever! We are so thankful for The Academy and highly recommend it to families. This is more than a daycare, it’s truly a place I can feel proud my kids are learning lesson in academics...