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[quote=Anonymous]While we went in with high hopes, we had a disappointing experience at Adas Israel.  Our son started when he was two years old.

We were very impressed with the school's leadership -- particularly director Noah Hichenberg, who has a PhD in early childhood education -- and were told great things about the Child Development director, Stephanie Slater. Both were very accessible, warm and highly informed during our experience.

Alas, that caliber of professional did not translate to the classroom. Both of our son's teachers were first-time preschool teachers who seemed to "fly by the seat of their parents" every day.  One did seem genuinely suited for working with children, but the other seemed to be there for a paycheck. We felt the long-time floater, substitute teachers were more qualified than the core teachers assigned to our son's class.

Communication with parents was spotty; we got an email every 2-3 days from his teachers, and we'd get a phone call when he got injured at school. The school leadership sent great, philosophical biweekly emails -- which were motivational though lacked the sort of logistical information that parents really would rather get.

In short, Adas felt like a glorified Jewish daycare, lacking intentional programming for child development, with teachers who were there for the paycheck rather than the love of teaching and being with toddlers.  The preschool is also quite expensive, at ~$25k per year for five-day-per-week, 8-5 care, for 9 months of the year.  The facilities are mediocre at best (dilapidated building and playground), which we were glad to overlook in exchange for teacher quality, building safety, and the wonderful community we hoped would await us.

That said, Adas does have some positive attributes, for sure. The school's leadership are terrific with parents. It's an extremely inclusive culture. Diversity of discussed and encouraged. Class sizes are small, drop-off is laid back, and parents are able to arrive within a 30-minute window every day as well as welcomed to hang out in the classroom for a few minutes before heading off to work. No potty training required, no Kosher food required (though the school is pareve). Uniquely, the school has an in-house child evaluation center with some of the city's best pediatric specialists on retainer. Security is strong (sadly, living in America requires this); doors are locked except during drop off, and there is security to get into the parking lot as well as into the school.

When our son started his next preschool, we realized the full extent of what we were missing. 
We are now at a school that is pro-active in letting parents know about programming in advance, where teachers are very experienced and clearly love young children, where teachers communicate with parents daily, and where the school hosts numerous back-to-school events for families to meet each other and identify common activities/needs in the first month of school. The playground is modern and lovely, each classroom has lots of space and is well-decorated, the school has ample administrative staff, and the school really facilitates families getting to know each other and building community.

I'm afraid the reputation of Adas of being hit-or-miss depending on teacher quality was our experience. [/quote]

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