Gilden Woods Caledonia

"This location is a disaster - when our kids attended full-time, we dealt with erratic staffing, random room closures, billing mistakes, and widely varying teacher quality. The constant teacher turnover makes matters worse. Our kids are school-age now and only use before/after care, but it's more of the same. So, if you feel like rolling the dice and watching your bank account like a hawk, go for it..."

"We lasted one year. Two boys here -ages 2&4 both got sick ALL the time. Place is so dirty. Smells terrible. Staffing closures every two weeks. People do not seem happy who work here. Most of the teachers are nice, felt so bad for them. Management is awful. Would hear the director gossiping about staff as I dropped off my kids. Parents drop their kids off sick all the time and the staff does nothing about it. Get emails almost every day about all the sickness going around. It was like Russian roulette of what my kids were gonna catch next. One of the longest and worst years of my life with this center. When I drive by it I still cringe. I’m so glad I don’t have to take my kids in there ever again. Find another option if you’re looking at centers."

"The email we get EVERY week now is below - this week on FRIDAY at 2pm for the following week. Don't use this place - they have no idea how to run a business. _____________________________ Good Afternoon, In an effort to be as transparent as possible we are providing you with a schedule of classroom closures for next week. These closures are a direct result of lack of staffing in our center. We have a hiring specialist to centralize all school hiring and onboarding. It is our goal to attract and onboard qualified individuals more efficiently and quickly. We also have added a sign on bonus to increase the number of applicants for our Caledonia location. We truly are working very hard to continue to staff our center to provide the highest quality care. You will find a list of Caledonia's room closures below. Please be sure to thoroughly look over the closure list see if/when the classroom that your child is scheduled in is closed. Here are the room closures: • Monday 10/24: Pedal will be closed @ 2pm • Tuesday 10/25: Terance ALL DAY • Wednesday 10/26: Infant 2 All Day • Thursday 10/27: No closures • Friday 10/28: No Closures We apologize for the inconvenience and very much appreciate your understanding as we continue to navigate staffing during this difficult time. We will place a credit on your account to cover the tuition cost from the day of the closure. If you plan on keeping a siblings home because of a siblings classroom closure, please let us know."

"My wife and I brought our newborn son here, from the time my wife went back to work from her maternity leave until yesterday (beginning of Oct. ‘20) The manager Katie is wonderful and is great with keeping parents informed and replying to emails in a timely manner. Sara and Emily were also very kind and took great care of our son. This location was geographically convenient for me because it was close to my work, however due to covid and now working from home we elected to switch to a different location much closer to home. The only thing stopping for them receiving a 5th star is many times the bib we would have our son wear when he was dropped off would be off of him when we picked him up, and never received. Also as he started to have food he would come home with his a strangely significant amount of on his clothing and still on his face."

"I cannot say enough good words about this place. My husband and I were first time parents and both working adults - excellent childcare was extremely important to us from the start. Every interaction we had with Gilden Woods Caledonia was wonderful. The director Katie is amazing-she was so fast and thoughtful in her communication with us and greeted us at the door the first time we came to tour. My son’s teachers knew his name on the first day (Miss Madison is AMAZING!!) and he has grown so much already in just a few months with them. We feel such relief as parents leaving our son with a place that loves the children in their care."