Pasadena Preschool Academy

Michael Lee _{on Google}

Jan 23rd, 2023

We have been coming here since the pre-pandemic days and so far it has been great. My older son went through PPA until kindergarten and my younger one now is in PPA in the toddler class. The teachers seem like they really care and both my sons love it there. Even my older one goes back and shows the teachers his toys since he remembers all of them. My younger one continually talks about Ms. Ashley and Ms. Flora. He loves them. Today one of the teachers called my son the heart of the class and just the other day one teacher gave my son a Spiderman toy for his birthday. Man... they care. I love it. I can't praise them enough.

Amber R. _{on Yelp}

Jan 19th, 2023

The teachers who have been working with my daughter have been soooo amazing! Her teacher Ms. ViVi is the most patient, sweetest, caring teacher for my daughter. A literal match made in heaven. Between her and Ms. Teresa, my daughter is truly thriving. Ms. Teresa always reassures me every morning that my daughter is okay as mornings are rough for us both. She is always a breath of fresh air in the morning and never fails to make me smile after a rough morning drop off. Everyday they make me so proud with news about my daughter and her successes. I know that when she goes to kindergarten 23-24 she is definitely going to be ready. Still 5 stars for me! Also, Ms. Danni! She was AMAZING and very observant!

Ashley Nguyen _{on Google}

Mar 30th, 2024

After enrolling my daughter, I noticed the classrooms also did not have much for books and toys for the kids. This was sad for me to see, so I voluntarily from time to time donated jumbo crayons, construction paper, air clay, and Melissa and Doug toys as well as books so the children could have more to play with. The kids are usually there for long periods of time, I can't even imagine how bored I would be to have next to nothing for arts and crafts let alone books.
Teachers - My daughter went through 4 teachers in a year and a half. This school has a high turn over rate of teachers and families enrolling and then leaving. I had gone through several issues with the teachers either being dismissive, passive, or extremely unprofessional sharing personal detail about other families and their child being "a menace".
I won't mention names but the one that has stuck with me from the beginning was when my daughters first pre primary teacher cautioned us which kids were autistic and not to have play dates with them in the case the child's parents would reach out to us. The drama between staff is also very apparent, and was openly shared amongst myself and other parents whom I have met during our time at PPA.
My 3 year old daughter was also accused of "telling stories" by her teacher when she had come home to tell us that her teacher told her to be quiet when she got accidentally hurt at this preschool facility. I had asked the teacher about the incident and the teacher, in front of me, asked my daughter why she was lying. I could not believe this teacher has been one of the few longest standing teachers yet she shamed and blamed my daughter out in the open the way she did. How humiliating and discouraging for a toddler!
Another two incidents that was extremely alarming was when I picked up my daughter early during lunch and I overheard a floater tell a child not to spill his water or he wouldn't be given anymore and another time was when I watched another floater let a child scream and cry during nap time and not tend to the child. I brought this up to the director because:
Why are children not allowed to have water after accidentally spilling. Why is this type of communication towards these children normalized? I am still mind blown. They are here to learn about the world we live in.
Why is a "trained" employee who works at a preschool, watching children nap, able to sit back in a chair and let a child wail for her mom and not seem to have any sign of empathy towards the child? (I brought this up and the director said she was still new and training). Trained or not, this was extremely unacceptable and grounds for neglect. How this floater was hired is beyond me.
Overall care - My daughter was neglected here, on all fronts and I find myself to be responsible to have waited this long to take her out of PPA. I take responsibility for choosing this school for her because I was desperate to go back to work and help give her some form of socialization and education after her first two years of life cooped up at home from the pandemic. Because of the high turn over rate and how she was poorly treated, she now displays behavioral issues. This is after being bit many times, scratched, and verbally bullied by other children and it not being corrected in the very beginning even after I emailed multiple times, have had many meetings, and changed teachers. What's strange is that many of the times she was injured, her teachers did not see how it happened. But when she retaliated, it was documented in full detail.
After she started retaliating after growing tired of being constantly picked on, (she is very small, the smallest in her age group). I picked up on their lack of wanting to help us as the year has gone by whenever we would drop her off and pick her up. They branded my child as the child no one wanted to be around, and that they couldn't help us. Side eyed glances, annoyed smiles are all details I pick up on as an extremely intuitive individual.
TRUST your gut when touring this preschool. I wish I did.

T R. _{on Yelp}

Aug 25th, 2022

We absolutely LOVE PPA and are so happy with the learning and care our daughter received there! She started in the toddler class with she was 2.5. She had a hard time at first (as most kids do) but as soon as Ms. Teresa would take her she would stop crying and let us leave. About 6 months later, Covid hit and the school closed down for about 5 months. When they reopened, with many Covid protocols in place (smaller, separated classes, individual supplies so there was no sharing, a check in and out system which included symptom checking, etc.), I thought she'd have a hard time going back, especially because she was going to be in a different class with a different teacher but she thrived. She is very intelligent to begin with (knew all her shapes, colors, numbers to 10, and could sight read the alphabet and some words by age 2) and they were able to continue to advance her skills. She would come home reciting her numbers and colors in Spanish, plus they have a dance teacher come in twice a week (which she loved) and a music teacher once a week. They also have a soccer coach come in and my daughter is very competitive and loves playing soccer so that was another positive for us.She made so many amazing friends at that school that I hope will always be in her life. The teachers are lovely, caring and fun. The staff is positive and easy with whom to communicate. They serve nutritional food for breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack and all this at an extremely reasonable tuition. We can't say enough great things about this school and we are so lucky that we found it. She has now started Kindergarten and though she is learning French at her new school, she will occasional still speak Spanish at home. We continue to have play dates with her friends from PPA because they are all so close and the families are just as lovely. We definitely loved our time at PPA and recommend it wholeheartedly!