Reply to Feedback on Goddard School Bethesda

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was an original family at Goddard Bethesda. We stuck it out after all our friends but finally left and I am so glad we did.

The good: nice clean facilities, other nice families. We have made many, many close friends at Goddard. Occasionally you get a great teacher. The care in the infant rooms is much better than the care in the 12+ month rooms. The summer camp has good activities and enrichment.

The bad: I could go on and on about tons of specific and concerning incidents, but I don’t want to out myself (sadly, saying we were a long time family who finally left after trying really hard to make it work applies to many families). I will say that I would never recommended Goddard to a friend. Everyone I know who left is much happier at their new school. For those who have stayed, they all complain about the same shit (As those who left): an owner who is only focused on profit, constant staff turnover (much more than is typical in this part of Bethesda), uneven quality of teachers(some quite poor), poor curriculum, and drama with the staff who are there.

I have some minor stuff which I think might matter to some folks: even thought the ratios are the same for all schools, the larger class sizes really mean one teacher is leading the group while the other teachers are peripherally involved. So 1:6 ratio in a class of 12 ends up being more like 1:12. Also while the playground is nice, it too much too small for the number of kids who use it at one time. The curriculum is mostly arts and crafts, and much less academic than my friends and I have found at other preschools for pre-K level. Baby rooms were sometime out of ratio during drop off as I think management was trying to tightly manage staff time. But if I dropped my kid off 20 min early then they didn’t have enough staff to cover in the mornings.

There have been multiple complaints by multiple families to the Goddard franchise, which I don’t think is typical. There have been nasty rumors about the owner and staff (which I hope are not true), there have been rumors about staff being let  go for being physical with the kids (which I believe to be true). The owner is petty and vindictive and so were the directors when I was there (not sure if they are still there).

I know there are happy families at Goddard, but there are many, many more unhappy families and many, many families like mine who left but just stay quiet because the owner and staff are nasty, and frankly, i don’t really want to think about them anymore.

I would also strongly caution anyone who believes positive reviews which are glowing. No one I know at Goddard doesn’t realize it has some major problems, they just think the balance is worth it.

Happy to provide evidence to Jeff we were a longtime family there. [/quote]

Goddard Parent here. This is such a bunch of BS I can’t believe it.  Just an FYI the school is full with like 180 kids! And full of happy parents ( like us )and children with outstanding, professional and certified staff.  We were at a non profit down the street and left due to concerns over academic programming as we wanted our child to go to private K.  We came to Goddard and were blown away by the warm, professional, warm teachers snd outstanding, caring leadership.  Spanish, Chinese, Music and Movement, Piano, Literacy and all of the developmental activities that we needed to reach our high academic goals.  Even now, our kids are learning in Daily Zoom classes, videos, lesson plans and this center also gave a responsible discount to offset the financial burden on families.

This is obviously a competitor who seemed to bring this thread back based on the time stamp or a parent that can’t get over themselves and is trying to do some negative PR for this school.  You should always do your own research and I think you will find this school is top notch.  Stop spreading lies and work with your child during the time it takes to write such BS.[/quote]

You seem more like an ad then the PP seems like a competitor.[/quote]

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