the wife and i are a few weeks away from putting our son in stepping stone (been on the wait list for the infant room and are good to go).

i've heard second hand information about their 1 year old room not being the best in the world...and i'm wondering if anyone has experience with it, or has any feedback. 1 year old is a bit of an odd time to find day care for a kid, and i want to make sure that i get on a waitlist if necessary ASAP.

ideally we're going to keep him in stepping stone for 2 years then transfer him over to longmire learning center...but i want to make sure i'm doing due diligence.

any feedback would be helpful. thanks!

Our son has been at Stepping Stone since he was 8 weeks old (he's now 4 years old in the Spelunkers room). While the infant room is PHENOMENAL because of Carolyn and the other caretakers, the 1-3 year old rooms have some problems. Mainly high turnover of teachers and thus, lack of consistency. It drove me nuts to leave my child with one teacher in the morning and have him with someone else when I picked him up after work. When asked how his day was, all I usually got was "oh, I've only been with him for ___ minutes/hours today. So I don't know." They have consistently had problems finding stable teachers for these rooms and that drove me nuts. I've written to the owner of the school (Rhonda Paver in Austin) about these problems and while the problems still remain, the administration does listen to parents and is eager to rectify problems that are brought to their attention. Therefore, they usually hire teachers who aren't as attentive and caring as you'd like them to be. Also, there is a very number of kids to teachers.

I've seriously thought of transferring my son to other preschools/day cares over the years and I have toured many of them (including Longmire LC, Becky Gates center at TAMU, Southwood LC, Montessori, etc). I've discovered that all of schools have classrooms(ages 1-3) that suffer from the same problems. High teacher turnover and therefore, lack of consistency. These schools just don't pay their teachers enough. It partly has to do with the age of the kids also. Teachers are overworked and underpaid and it is very hard to find ones that can stick with it.

You will likely never find a daycare/preschool that is perfect. It does not exist. Despite it's problems, we do like Stepping Stone. The infant and 4-5 year old classes are excellent and the teachers have been stable and seem to love what they are doing.

Just my two cents, but after touring Longmire LC, I wasn't thrilled with the idea of the kids watching tv during the day. My child can do that at home. But I've heard lots of good things from others who have their children there. Just go with your instincts. You can never go wrong there.

thanks for the feedback. this is our first, and we're trying to be as cautious as possible.

ideally we'd love to have our little guy be in the same facility the entire time, but i just want to make sure he's in the right environment.

thanks again for the information. what you said makes a lot of sense.

As the previous person mentioned, the infant room is phenomenal.

I am pulling my daughter as of 9/1, we are moving to St. Thomas Aquinas. I have been lucky that the turnover hasn't affected us yet (had the same teachers the entire time in the 9-16 month room) and we just moved into the 17 month-?? room.

There are teachers I like and dislike. One of the teachers in the room up from the infant room is very nice, but not very bright at all (spells happy happi). I guess I never complained because overall she does treat the kids well and at that age, I'm not worried about her teaching my kid how to spell.

I think my main reason for moving is I just do not like the director and I also feel they are not teaching as much as they should be. While she is nice overall, I just do not feel she runs a good daycare.

I did have a lot of issues awhile back, but most have been resolved. (basically they moved my kid up to a 12-18 month room when she was only 9 months). They were in the process of transitioning the room, but they weren't ready for 9 months old when they moved her. They excpected her to sit in a regular chair (not high chair), sleep on the floor and not a pack in play, etc).

If you are moving to St. Thomas Aquinas, you should be aware that it looks like this coming year will be the last for the part-day program.

lhl9844 -

You make some very good comments, especially "These schools just don't pay their teachers enough." and "I wasn't thrilled with the idea of the kids watching tv during the day."

Having worked in a preschool in the past, your comment of pay is completely correct. However, since most preschools pay their teachers from parent payments, and there is a limit to what parents are willing/can pay, there is only so much the teachers can be paid for their work. Until children enroll in a public pre-k or Head Start program, there are NO subsidies from the government for their care.

As for watching tv, the State has limits on that, including NONE for children younger than 2 years, and very strict limits for older children. I, too, would be leery of any school that uses tv as a babysitter!

As I mentioned in another thread, a new preschool for infants to 3 years is opening soon. If you want (another) school to tour, or more information, you can call 693-1419.