therese
I can’t speak to the preschool program at Cottage, but my daughter went to CDSA Highland Park for pre-K, and is now at Gatewood for kindergarten and goes to Cottage School for after school care. She had a good year at CDSA, though there was a lot of staff turnover there during the year. Only one person who started the year was there at the end, and she had gone from teacher to administrator. Our experience at Cottage has been mediocre — it’s not the highlight of our kid’s day, but rather a convenient necessity for us working parents who can’t be home by 3:00 when school gets out. The kids get plenty of time to run around outside and blow off steam, plus indoor activities and reading time. There was a lot of turnover in the Cottage afterschool staff during the first half of the year, but since the Xmas break things have stabilized. A new director also started about that time. The two afterschool teachers are recent college grads who seem to have a good rapport with the kids. I don’t know enough about the preschool to say whether I’d send my younger there when he’s old enough – will have to explore more.
Unfortunately I think staff turnover is a reality at many preschools due to the dismal pay.