Sand Preschool, Decatur | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

This school really needs a lot of work. The only enjoyable things about SAND were the awesome kids, three or four great teachers and the hours. Other than that, there were way too many issues going on that range from miscommunication, favoritism, and cultural biases as well as teachers that would walk pass you and not even say hello.

The Admin team always spoke about the Reggio Emilia philosophy but some of the things in that place did not reflect that philosophy, especially when one of the main keys of Reggio is to be anti-bias and that itself was an issue since they seem to not want to acknowledge that. They could greatly benefit from racial and cultural sensitivity training.

For example, One time, right before we had a meeting, one of the Admins asked a teacher, who was black, about her hair as though her hair was exotic or some kind of anomaly and had the audacity to press on and asked said teacher if black people have different curl patterns, as though black people aren’t individuals. The teacher was clearly uncomfortable with this conversation but this is just one of MANY ignorant and distasteful statements I’ve heard.

In November, one classroom had the children dressed up as Native Americans and Pilgrims and “riding” the Mayflower ship made of paper and later had them singing an archaic song “I Want Be An Indian” (which the song refers to Native Americans and a list of stereotypes). To say that it was awkward and disrespectful to not only the parents but the innocent children who were taught to sing this, is an understatement. Yet, the school never addressed this issue among the teachers even though it should have been because parents, unsurprisingly, did complain.

I could get into all the other stuff but then it’ll take me hours to type so I’ll just wrap it up and say this. Overall, like I said before, the hours are good since it’s a half day school and the kids and some teachers are wonderful but if you’re a teacher looking for something long term, this isn’t the place for you.