La Petite Academy of Madison - Madison, Alabama

Crystal M.

Lord where do I even start …...Inconsistent, and unclean even one of my son’s teachers told me if I want to see my son grow then remove him from this facility as a parent that alarmed me. The only people I really trusted at this facility was Mrs. Erica if she wasn’t there I did not want to send my child there . I believe they are overcrowded and it’s not enough teachers to even watch the kids. My son is two and the inly thing they do here is baby sit the kids are not learning much of anything. They use too, but I guess the shortage of staff really made the teachers overwhelmed and just slack off on teaching the kids. In the two year old class I was promised that they sit them on the potty, but they just let them pee in there diaper and change it , when at home I take my son to the potty. Idk if you have no other option and all else fails go for it but you can find cheaper daycares with better curriculum and amenities to help your child grow. Idk why it’s called an academy at this point.

Alyssa K.

It’s been a week since we pulled our son out of La Petite so I’ve had time to get my thoughts together. We had our son enrolled in the infant room for a month. He’s our first so we didn’t know what to expect with daycares. Drop offs were rough and only got harder each day when he screamed but I chalked this up to an adjustment period for a 13 month old. By week 3, I had a pit in my stomach at drop off everyday. I started to closely watch the cameras figuring it would give me peace of mind because if a daycare allows live camera access to parents all day, it must be because they trust that their employees are giving excellent care to the children, right?

What should have eased my mind almost made me sick. I started writing things done and within two days of keeping a closer eye on the cameras, I had a list of over 20 concerns ranging anywhere from never being placed in a crib for nap time (or being placed in a crib after another child slept there without changing the sheets first) to drinks being served in sippy cups that looked like they hadn’t been cleaned for days to kids of all ages running throughout the infant room while the infants are sleeping face down on the floor.

The final straw came on day 3 of watching the cameras when I watched one of the teachers place my son outside with no jacket (despite him having a jacket in his cubby) and only one shoe. It was 59 degrees that day. Obviously alarmed, I continued to watch and witnessed the same teacher lift two different babies up by one arm and plop them outside like it was nothing. We dropped everything and were at daycare within 15 minutes to pickup our son for the last time.

When I went in the next day to collect all of his belongings, I spoke with Ericca and went through my entire list of concerns and even gave specific times to watch the cameras and put extra emphasis on watching how the teacher handled those poor babies the day before.

A week later, we were charged a week of tuition. He was marked as withdrawn in the app so I called and spoke with Candace to get clarification as to why we were still getting charged for our withdrawn child. While speaking with her, I asked if they had a chance to review the video footage I mentioned and she wasn’t even sure what day I was talking about. Clearly, my concerns were not heard and nothing is being done to address them. It’s no longer my business as my child no longer goes there and will never be back, but for the sake of the children still enrolled, I truly hope something is done.

All this to say, if your child is enrolled, I’m begging you to watch the cameras a little closer. If your child isn’t enrolled and you’re looking for care, please do yourself a favor and look elsewhere.

Edit - As expected, I got the generic “please reach out to customer service to provide more information” response. I provided a detailed list of concerns to the Madison staff when I collected my son’s belongings and they swept everything under the rug. They don’t care about making things right.

Alexis O.

Pros: There are some staff here that genuinely care about your children; their hours are suitable for working families; they have a nice outdoor play area for the children; they use the SproutAbout app which has live video and direct messaging capabilities; they offer competitive pricing and sibling discount; they welcome regular feedback so that your input and concerns are acknowledged and discussed.

Cons: the facility is poorly cleaned and sanitized properly allowing frequent illnesses to spread; poor hand hygiene observed by the staff; high touch areas in the center appear unclean; irregular staffing issues at times puts other children in classrooms where the likelihood of injuries and accidents among the children is increased; if/when infant items are lost or misplaced by the staff, there is no thorough means of recovering the items for you; babies roam freely on the floor in the infant room without proper gates or security as people can come freely in and out of the rooms.

Joel T.

Our little one went to La Petite and really enjoyed her experience there. My favorite part was how consistently the staff enforced standards with teachers and parents. I think it creates a great atmosphere for the kids and teachers where they can all thrive. I would highly recommend to anyone seeking childcare in the Madison area.

Janae M.

Well I will start off saying that I love La Petite. I'm a very protective parent. It was important that wherever my child attended was as close to home as possible. My daughter has been there for the last 8 months and I have never had an issue. Each teacher treats her as if she is their own. Most days my toddler doesn't even tell me goodbye when I drop her off because she's in the arms of her teacher. When I pick her up each day she is clean and laughing. There have been days she has spilled food on her clothes and the daycare actually washes her clothes for me. I always receive photos of her via email and seeing her smiling face assures me she is okay. As a working mom you need peace of mind while your children are out of sight and La Petite gives me that peace! She isn't two yet and she is singing songs and teaching me something knew that she has learned in school each week. Great daycare and great management.

Jessica G.

We started off really liking this daycare a lot, but over time things changed. Some staff are genuinely very friendly and lovely, but overall there are too many cons to the center to keep me from recommending it to another parents. Kids are tossed around from classroom to classroom frequently throughout the day. I can name at least one time that a teacher lost track of my son -- I walked in to see him sitting by himself at the front of the building with no supervision. The staff turnover there is really bad, except for the genuinely kind staff that I previously mentioned. Additionally, parents are not informed about extra charges and classroom changes. The video and app that they provide is nice, but overall, more consistent communication about my child from the teacher and director is what I was looking for. Overall, the center isn't a bad place (and it's "reasonable" for childcare in the area), but it's definitely not the best.

Jennifer S.

My four year old daughter has been attending La Petite for 2 1/2 years and she and I both LOVE this daycare!!! Every class my daughter has transitioned into has always been an easy transition and each set of teachers in each class loved my daughter as their own. I have not ever felt concerned or worried that my daughter was not getting the appropriate care that she needed.
Another great resource La Petite offers is 'The Bright Wheel' app, where the teachers send you the activities they do throughout the day, what they eat, at younger ages, the potty training or diaper changing information, pictures and videos of the activities and lessons for each day, messages and reminders about various activities. You are free to message the teacher in your Childs room at any time and they get back to you fast! I feel in constant communication with La Petite and my daughter and I love that! I could be having a challenging day at work and I get that sweet picture or video of my daughter and that rough day fades away.

La Petite just launched the newest app called ' Watch Me Grow ', where you can see a live video feed of your child's class and see what is going on in their class room in real time.
That says so much about the confidence and integrity of the daycare that they want you to see what they are doing all day with your child. I love it!

You will not be disappointed choosing La Petite to care for your child or children. They will be so loved and so well taken care of. They will learn so much academically. They will be so well behaved; there have been times, I tease some of the teachers that I want to take them home with me because my daughter listens to them so much better than me! LOL! 😉 It's GREAT!

Chloe S.

Came here to tour the facility for our 9am appointment for our son to possibly join, but we were barely greeted and then left at the front office for 30 minutes. What’s the point of scheduling an appointment if you won’t honor the appointment? We were treated like we didn’t matter nor did they care to have our son join.