KidsZone Preschool Academy, Pasadena | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

I was thrilled to find a preschool just a few minutes away from our home, and my son seemed to enjoy his time there. However, my experience with the daycare quickly became a nightmare, and I regretted enrolling my son. While Ms. Emani was a wonderful teacher who deserved better than this facility, the preschool fell short in several ways.

Despite witnessing a teacher countless times in the Red room (Ms. Maegan) on camera aggressively snatching up children and pinning them to the floor out of frustration (I have the dates and times documented for camera footage review to ensure I’m not making this up) I did not report it to the owner, Ms. Yvonne. Additionally, my son’s belongings were constantly being used on other children, and I would bring a box of diapers and wipes that should have lasted at least a month, but they would be gone within a week. To make matters worse, I was forced to pay an annual fee in December (in which my son was enrolled) and another annual fee in January, (can’t remember the exact amount but I paid two payments ranging from $300-500 each month plus a week of childcare) only for a teacher from the Blue room (Joy) to wrongfully allow my 1 y/o son over to be detained by a DCFS worker. I asked her, “did she provide you with a court order?” Joy’s response was “no she didn’t but she told me everything and she said you knew who she was! She told me I wasn’t allowed to contact you while it was happening or she would shut our daycare down.” HUH?!? Joy was so excited that she had just received some gossip for the day. I told Ms. Yvonne prior to enrolling my son that unfortunately, my family was being targeted by DCFS due to an ongoing investigation with the state that my family and many other mothers who gave birth at a birthing center two years ago filed about discrimination, retaliation and racism from the Pasadena office in which she ensured me–my son would be safe. Unfortunately due to abuse and neglect, some parents need DCFS intervention in their lives—anyone can look at my son and know WE obviously don’t. She did ask me, “what happens if they find out where he goes to school?”. Clearly the staff here are not knowledgeable on the laws of the land and will allow anyone to come into their center with a DCFS badge to take a child!! My son also attended another daycare in the area who knew the law and refused to allow DCFS to detain my son and failed to provide any information to them about my family, so they simply came to Kidszone and took him.
Once my son was released from DCFS, Ms. Yvonne refused to give me back any of the annual fees I paid and claimed that my son’s spot had been taken, which shocked me. No one from this preschool even called me to ask what was going on or if he would be returning before filling his spot. I have to admit my husband strongly advised me not to enroll him here and did not support my decision to do so. This saddened me, because again Ms. Yvonne appeared to be an integral woman. I would never try to tear down another black woman! But obviously my husband was right.

I had hoped to support another black woman with Ms. Yvonne’s business, but her lack of ethics and integrity was disappointing. Ms. Yvonne only seemed to care about money, and it was evident in her decision to allow a drop-in program for random children to come in and out shortly after accepting the annual fee from her regular FT parents. Her teachers looked stressed and overwhelmed on camera with the increase in the number of children in the classroom. I would not recommend this daycare to anyone. There are other schools in the area with more competent, qualified teachers that also use a streaming service and allow children to go outside and play in nature throughout the day. I’m happy that I ended up enrolling my son in a much better preschool nearby, where he is now learning Spanish and Mandarin from experienced educators.

My daughter is currently attending this preschool, she started at her 20 months and this is her first experience. First of all the school is new, opened in April 2019. It’s very clean, all the toys, carpets and furniture are new too and selected with heart and mind. Comparing to other daycares I visited, all of these were a bit worn-out. The staff is keen on cleaningness. Kids are shoes off in the rooms. Teachers wear shoe covers.
Staff is very friendly, greatly patient and devoted to their job. (I don’t possess the patience they have to pick up toys and put them on their place again and again, so I end up with the floor full of toys mess, and they don’t) and I think my kid became more organized too. She comes home and plays herself a lot, when before that she constantly needed my attention and involvement. I like how they care about kids, how they do artworks, learn and play with them. I think my kid likes this preschool too, though she can’t say it herself yet. I understood it from the first visit, when she happily entered the room and started playing with the teacher and stayed with her, while I was touring other rooms. It has never been in any other daycare we visited, she either cried or sticked to me.
Due to their opening they had great deals on tuition. I also liked that they are available for a tour almost anytime unlike others where you are on a wait list just for a tour.
They also have a good web site, with all the information and options. And based on this informations seems like they have big plans on further growth and enhancements. Most daycare websites I’ve seen are outdated and don’t have online services, like schedule a tour, so you need to call. Here I also received quick reply on any request.
And what helped me a lot to adapt to the absence of my kid at home was online video streaming from the daycare. So you can see your kid any time. Perfect.
I am happy so far with my choice and recommend this preschool to anyone who is in search.
My Big Thanks to the staff.