StarChild Academy, Apopka | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

We are extremely disappointed with the level of “care” received in the infant classroom at StarChild. The academy as a whole seems impressive during the tour w/ its clean facility & all the promises that were made during the tour. However, most of the information received during the tour is a lie.
Overall, this is a terrible place. My child was neglected & did not receive proper care & nutrition while here. I reminded teachers various times that the main source of nutrition for infants is breastmilk/formula & not solids, but they continuously offered solids first. On one occasion, I came to pick up my child & she had not been fed a bottle in 5+ hours. Instead of feeding her a bottle when she woke up from a nap, the teacher fed her a snack. When similar happened again, I brought it to the attention of the director & they tried to tell me that if I have specific dietary needs for my daughter, I would need a pediatrician note. I reiterated that this is not just for my daughter, but that it is a general rule that all infants receive their main nutrition from milk & they said they’d add it to my notes. I feel sorry for any parents w/ infants here who may not know that there is better care out there, at a more affordable rate. The only good thing about this place was one teacher – Raelynn. She should find a job elsewhere so she’s no longer on a sinking ship.
Below are a some of our concerns (too lengthy to list them all, this is not even half of them).
-Advertise having 2 cameras & “two different angles in each classroom”. Camera quality is SO BAD you cannot identify your child. Key areas in the room are not visible such as half of the play area, & the camera that “shows” the high chairs is so fuzzy & far away that I stared at an empty highchair for an hour thinking my child was in it. The closer camera does not show the highchairs, so you can never see your child eating.
-Application where they send you live updates w/ feedings, diaper changes, & naps. However, they do not tell you how many ounces of milk your child is eating (& I asked several times to plz do so). When updating app for solid food feedings, they always put child ate ALL of their food & update happens before the meal even starts. Then teachers verbally tell you that your child didn’t eat XXX food that day. They also say they will send pictures but I had to ask three different days if that was ever going to happen before I finally saw the first picture.
-They have a monthly food menu where you circle food items your child is allowed to eat. One teacher fed my child food that we did not circle & that we had specified she was not allowed to eat. When brought to their attention, instead of apologizing for the mix up, director said, “well she didn’t eat very much of it, she just picked at it”, even tho the app again said she ate ALL of it.
-Day after above occurred, teacher went out of her way to show me that they had printed a list of allergies & included my daughter as being allergic to eggs. This took place the second week of her being in attendance & they had fed my daughter eggs twice the previous week. Thank god she’s not actually allergic to eggs.
-Various teachers grab the children & pick them up by their arms instead of their chest cavity/torso area.
-Consistently placed my child in a bouncer/jumper even when other babies were getting floor time w/ a teacher at the playmat. They would place my daughter in a bouncer for the allowed 20 mins, take her out for 5 mins & place her back in a different jumper for another 20 mins.
-Security is non existent. Front door requires pin to access, but is always held open by other parents coming & going so anyone can walk in or out. The second door inside the building is always propped open.
-On a day w/ a sub, we arrived to pickup, sub told us our child only drank 1oz of her milk. I had watched on camera that sub provided bottle to child in highchair for 15mins w/ no assistance even tho child’s notes state she cannot hold her bottle. After 15min, sub took bottle away. No wonder daughter was not gaining weight here.

My two sons attended StarChild since June of 2022. When I went in to pick up our kids yesterday (12/21/22), I received a booboo report to sign that Ms. Zuly scratched my 3 yo’s arm causing him to bleed in classroom Preschool C. He had a bandaid over it so I didn’t see the extent of the damage while there. Removing his bandaid for his bath showed my husband and I both a gouged out section that is not just a scratch. It is a clear scar of a full curved thumbnail from her digging so hard and deep into his skin to draw blood and leave behind such a wound. She claims she was hugging him but that would not result in the purposefully caused laceration she has inflicted the inner portion of such a small child’s forearm. I have pictures to document the physical harm and the center had camera recordings of the room. They refused to let me see the footage from what she did and what other actions she may have taken against my son. StarChild claimed they didn’t have video but calling th actual camera provider proved that all plans included cloud storage.

StarChild refused to provide contact information until I spoke with the regional director – Liz Reece. I left a voicemail at 8am. Then called back at 9am. I finally spoke with her at 10:19am. She then drove to the location and said she spoke with the teacher and others who may have been in the room yesterday. Ms. Zuly claimed to have no idea that she caused this injury despite it being such a deep wound to draw blood. Ms. Liz “provided coaching” and when the location director got back from vacation at the end of the next week, more “coaching” occurred. This is absolutely unacceptable. For a teacher to cause injuries to a child and for a company to then pretend that “coaching” of a few minutes was sufficient is ridiculous. The only repercussion for the teacher was that she got a letter in her file stating that she needs to build stronger relationships with parents.

DCF got involved and even the worker said an injury, such as the one inflicted on my son, was not possible accidentally. If you send your child to this facility, be aware they don’t care about your child or their safety.

See the attached pictures from the wound upon opening it for bath time and then again when putting a new bandaid on this morning.