Preschool Review: Linda Vista Children's Center, Pasadena

So in the long never-ending search for a daycare for #1, I toured Linda Vista Children's Center, which was back then called All Saints Children's Center, based on the fact that they used to be based at All Saints Church in Pasadena. I toured it a long time ago, and I didn't come away with a nice fuzzy feeling.

So here were the pros:

• Beautiful campus - they had rented space from PUSD at a closed down elementary school and they were in the scenic Linda Vista neighborhood of Pasadena.
• They had openings for children under the age of 3, with not absurd child-to-teacher ratios (as in, better than state required minimums).

And here are the cons:

• Huge fundraising requirement. Each family was expected to help raise some absurd amount of money.
• Permanently in temporary classrooms. Since PUSD is going to make no renovations to the closed down campus, the Children's Center is permanently in temporary classrooms. Especially for the younger children who aren't walking yet, the cheap linoleum flooring didn't seem ideals.

I also took issue with the fact that in the Toddler Room, the changing station was so so close to the food preparation area. But it's been years. Maybe they changed that. If you take the tour, be sure to look, and remember, according to state requirements, they need to have a separate sink for diapering and a separate sink for food preparation.

Fancy lady (you know, the one I mentioned in the post about San Marino Montessori) had sent her older son there and absolutely hated it. A good friend of mine also had her first child there, and when I asked her about it, she said, "It was good because they had space for her, but I needed to get her out of there as soon as possible." Yet another friend sent her son there and loved it because the kids got to play a lot outside.  Go figure.