Stepping Stones Day Care 215 Burkhardt Avenue, Dayton, OH 45403

"My grandbaby love going here. She knows all names of her classmates and the teachers. She gets so excited showing me how she checks-in every time I drop her off."

"This is a awesome place so happy to have family in a safe environment to learn and grow the staff is amazing"

"I worked at this daycare for 13 months. I started as a substitute & worked whatever hours or shifts (closing,afternoon,toddlers,infants, head start A or B,school age)that they needed me.Sometimes they'd even call me the day of & I would come in early or to cover lunch breaks.By December the previous gym teacher was fired for putting his hands on a child & I was hired on as part time school age gym teacher.I worked 12 or 2-6 every Monday to Friday.I was told by the School age head teacher that as "gym teacher" I was to watch the kids when they played in the gym, sweep the gym and bleachers 1-2x a week, empty the gym trash can, set up & clean snack, & play with the kids. On days that lunch or snack was eaten in the gym I also cleaned all the tables and chairs & mopped the area they were eating (this happened every day after the daycare opened back up during covid ). At first I tried setting up the gym for kickball, or half the gym basketball and the other half jump ropes, a giant connect four game, free play sitting on the bleachers, or a gym wide dodgeball game. It made no difference what I chose. As soon as the head teacher saw my game set ups she would tear down my activities for the day & not even bother to talk to me about it, even though I was technically gym teacher. My first two hours I always spent picking up bus drop offs from the front of the building.Some days the head teacher or daycare owner would neglect to tell me that a certain child wouldn't be coming, either because the school was closed down or the parents called the daycare. They had this information and often left me standing waiting for 30-45 minutes waiting for a child that never showed up, as I was frantically calling their school or the bus transportation office to discern the child's location. There is a complete lack of communication between the office staff & head teachers to the teachers aids (like myself). There is a classroom in which the 2 teachers pretend a band of gypsies is coming to take a certain boy child away when he is being difficult at nap time. It might sound funny to some, but I am sure it is traumatic for the child. Sadly, there are a few kids that seem to be dubbed "bad or troubled" & these kids don't even get the benefit of the doubt on some days. If they are bad they are treated with short tempers & an impatience with their actions or choices by certain teachers, always. I've seen it with my own eyes in the gym a handful of times. On the other hand the children of daycare employees get special treatment. They get to eat more snacks in the kitchen or walk almost freely through the daycare or they get the lighter side of punishment if they are involved in a squabble with a non employee child. The children at the daycare are wonderful. At others in the area the children physically fight or use profanity at each other. I was at another daycare for a job and a school ager was put in time out in a younger toddler class. He threatened to kill all the kids in that room. I am happy to say the kids at Stepping Stones are not like that. I have never had to pull apart a fight or call a parent due to excessive profanity. It's a great place for your kids, just not a good place to work. When they reopened during covid I went back even after the other teacher working with me quit, & I was alone for weeks with no additional teacher. Just 8-13 kids by myself to feed, clean up after & entertain while keeping up with distancing rules, no touching or sharing property rules on top of my normal gym teacher responsibilities.I saw many employees & substitutes come and go during my time.Some of them were wonderful woman whom the children adored and would ask for weeks after quitting.One lady especially would come & go at the daycare.The office ladies talked about their dislike or her inconsistency and inability to stay on as she finally chose to go help her husband at home.I thought it unprofessional to talk of other employees so callously in front of employees but it wasn't my place to say that."

"I wouldn't recommend this day care due to them being unprofessional and having staff that doesn't care for infants the way they should. They do not respect your wishes when it comes to your child! They also put one of my children out and said the other one could stay with no period of time to find another provider! Just left me hanging after i have done over 6 years of business with them. They also lie to parents and its just not professional. The staff i had issues with is still employed"

"My kids have been going there 6 years now and its a wonderful place for kids I am at peace knowing my kids are with people who care about them."