Building a community that supports children and their caregivers - Anonymous employee Urban Sprouts Child Development Center Employee Review

Urban Sprouts is an exceptionally loving and innovative childcare center that truly lives up to it's values of providing children with agency, instilling curiosity and a love of learning. The Reggio Emilia-inspired pedagogy is one of my preferences for exceptional educational and social-emotional benefits for children and teachers. Being innovative, inspired, and curious about the children you care for and how they learn is essential to this learning philosophy. Management believes in and stays true to their word in carrying out the values and practices they advertise: providing equitable and inclusive education to all students, building community and providing access to any resources needed for families, and growing and caring for their employees. You can feel the love, thought and care that is placed into each decision. As a teacher, I was given exceptional training through weekly reflective meetings to discuss curriculum with my colleagues and higher-ups, as well as professional development opportunities on trauma-informed care, CPR certification, and communication development. When I experienced some personal hardships with my health, I was supported in taking the rest I needed and was never made to feel guilty. If you are part of Urban Sprouts and love learning while showing care for your students, you will love it here.

No place is perfect, and being in early childcare can be challenging. To no fault of this company, the nature of early childcare can mean high turnover and, at times, a variety of levels of experience, meaning there can be a lot of training of new staff and adjusting to new teaching styles. However, this is true at any childcare center. I see this as an opportunity to grow in my professional experience, as I learned how to collaborate with folks with different personalities and strengths from mine.

On the surface, the benefits and compensation package appeared competitive and attractive. However, I learned very quickly that these perks were not worth the immense, ongoing psychological stress and unprofessional treatment I was forced to endure.

The reality of working there was vastly different from the public-facing image. The owner maintained a carefully curated persona for the public and prospective clients, but behind closed doors, the environment was toxic, controlling, and deeply demoralizing. Management relied on micromanagement and intimidation rather than support. I was personally subjected to—and witnessed others endure—highly unprofessional behavior. It was not uncommon for staff to be belittled, cursed at, and subjected to demeaning language. The owner was obsessed with optics and perception above all else. The most significant source of stress was the frequent, staged tours. We were expected to maintain an impossible standard of perfection at all times to satisfy the owner’s need for an impressive narrative. If a classroom was not "show-ready"—even due to natural, expected occurrences like a child having an accident—the reaction from leadership was explosive and unprofessional. The expectations were consistently unrealistic and overbearing, which created a climate of fear rather than a positive educational environment.