U-GRO Harrisburg | HACC Harrisburg

To be honest, I am not sure how this facility has as many good reviews as it does. I (thought) I did my research, and thought this location would best suit my kids for where my husband and I were working. I also liked that you could visually see the classrooms 24/7, which I feel hold teachers more accountable. Unfortunately for us, we were living in Colorado, so I never had an actual opportunity to see this facility in person until the Friday before my kids were supposed to start. Since we were living in Colorado and my children needed to be setup for childcare, I was required to put a deposit down to hold their place, which I understood. This was almost a $900 deposit. As soon as we walked into the building to do our first walk through, both my husband and I immediately noticed how dirty it was. You could hear teachers being very strict and raising their voices at children in the other rooms, yet as soon as we opened the doors to observe, demeanors changed right away. You know it's bad, when my 3 year old toddler was clinging to my leg stating, "mommy, these teachers are mad. This school is not good for me." I truly had the worst pit in my stomach being in that place, and I couldn't get out of there fast enough. That evening once we got home, I contacted the school to let them know we were no longer interested in attending, and that we did not feel that their school was the right fit for our family. It was almost as if they knew that call was coming, likely due to the tears in my eyes as we were leaving. What sucks even more - they were not willing to refund me my deposit, since they were able to start my boys on the date they gave me initially. My husband and I both agreed that we'd rather throw away $900 than send our children to that facility. I would steer clear from this location at all costs!

This was our experience... Here is the information you requested. I will be terminating our relationship with U- gro Hacc effective 5/17/2024. Her last day was Monday 5/13/3024. My reasons for doing so are as followed. The incident on Friday, 5/10/2024, at approximately 12:25pm. I felt the teacher was rather rough with her while trying to get her to lay down for a nap. I expressed my concerns with you and you stated you would get the footage from the video to watch it and get back to me IF a follow-up was needed. I never heard anything else about it. Then on Monday, 5/13/2024,  at 11:30am she was given a full cup of cow's milk by a teacher. I messaged you all in the portal letting you know that I had seen what was going on, via video, and that she was not to have milk, dairy or soy because of her allergens. No one messaged me back in the portal until 11:57pm. I called the school twice and got the voicemail both times. I received a call from you stating that you were calling as a courtesy to let me know she drank from another students cup of milk. That she was ok and you administered benadryl. I made you aware that I was watching when it happened and that she did not drink from anyone's cup that she was handed the cup of milk by the teacher. You stated you would speak with the teacher and review the video and get back to me. I never heard back from you for a follow-up. On the same day she also was not served any food for lunch. She was given snacks out of her lunchbag but wasn't able to eat them because she was taken away by you to administer benadryl. When she was brought back to the classroom she was given her Kate farm's meal replacement instead of being offered actual food for lunch. On Tuesday,  5/14/2024, meal activity was added into sprout about for her. She was not in attendance. Her scheduled days were Monday's, Wednesday's, and Friday's. I sent a message via sprout about letting you all know she was not in attendance. I received nothing back. On Wednesday, 5/15/2024, I had to keep her home for the day because she had diarrhea all day, as well as complaints of her belly hurting. On 5/15/2024 at 8:06pm I received a message from you via sprout about the $154.48 account balance and that if it wasn't taken care of we would be disenrolled. I messaged via sprout about asking for more details about the balance and received no response. I received a phone call from you today at 9:25am to discuss the balance and the disenrollment. Given all of these issues in such a short time I have decided that U-gro hacc is not a good/safe fit for our family. I have let you know that I was advised to make a report to the state and I intend to do so. Please if you cherish your children avoid this place like the plague. There isn't an ounce of integrity in the building. They lie on your child and work together to try to cover it up. The assistant director never did reach back out to me about the balance on my account. She was supposed to fix it then reach out to me with the new balance. Instead she sent it to collections. There were bogus charges that needed removed. I.e: I was charged for meals/snacks. I provided all my daughter's food because of her food allergies and her doctors note. I was also charged for diapers/wipes when i also provided our own. I am working on getting the collection account resolved legally. Pitiful people employed at a pitiful place. BEWARE!!! BEWARE!!! BEWARE!!!

we LOVE LOVE LOVE this center! The teachers are all very friendly and great in communicating how my daughter is doing. It's so nice to be able to enter the center and speak directly to my daughter's teachers (we were not able to with our previous center during COVID). Everyone there is always happy and welcoming. I feel very comfortable leaving my daughter here while I go to work. They actually practice what they state on their website and stick to their lesson plans, which are AWESOME! My daughter was so happy from day 1 at this center because they're actually working their brains! I cannot say enough good things about this center and I will be sad when my daughter ages out. Thank you U-Gro for all that you are doing and for all your hard work!

I was so excited to put my son in this center. I thought wow this is place is awesome!! This has got to be too good to be true. As a new college student right on campus it was comforting to have my child nearby. I also liked that they had the live video so I could check on my child during our breaks and at lunch. My son was only there 2 days a week and that lasted about 3 weeks. He was sick for those ENTIRE 3 weeks. He couldn’t shake whatever it was. !!!! THIS you must read. I was at lunch and was checking the video and admiring my son and I said to my friend “aww there he is!! oh, I guess it’s nap time!” And my friend leaned in and we’re watching the video. We saw my son lay down on the floor because he saw everyone else laying on their cots. Obviously, I understand he cannot lay on the floor at nap time, but what I saw next absolutely shocked me and turned my stomach into knots. My son was not crying, visibly he looked a-ok. The teacher came and scooped him up quickly and roughly under his arms and turned around with him, then tossed him onto the cot pretty hard. He bounced on the cot onto his back and began to SCREAM his little head off. Now with the video they don’t allow you to hear, but I could see my child actively crying, tears streaming down his face. I immediately was shocked and looked at my friend and said “did that just happen!!? Did you just see what I just saw?” And she said “yes, what the heck, why did she toss him like that?” I went over there to talk to someone and began crying so they took me into a room to speak to me. I went to checkup in the room he was in and she said “oh he just fell asleep!” And because I’m young they easily made me feel like I was overreacting. The director wasn’t there so I went back to class and had the footage up the entire time. I went back to get him at the end of the day. The director and I had a conversation and again, I started crying. She told me they cannot bring up footage because it’s only live, but that they would keep an extra eye on him and that room. I was baffled. I gave them a two weeks notice and never took him back. I still paid for the time he wasn’t there so I never had to deal with those people again. If I could go back to my younger self I absolutely would’ve had a few more words with them. I would’ve immediately taken my baby, sleeping or not. There was only one red flag I caught prior to this incident and that was during snack time. He brought a toy to the table which he was not allowed to do. Instead of the (same) teacher communicating with him and telling him that he could play with the toy after snack, she ripped it out of his hand and then placed a plate in front of him and walked away. i did not see the teachers mouth open once. There was no communication with those kids. My son was two years old at the time, but he could talk. He understood way more than he could speak. This was almost two years ago now and I’ve let it go, but it would feel wrong of me not to atleast make it aware for other mamas. I wish I had posted this sooner. Because of this, my son has never gone to daycare since. I would imagine that worker is still there. Indeed, too good to be true.

My daughter has been at this daycare since she was 13 weeks old and will be “graduating” to kindergarten this spring. I have loved this place since the day I stepped foot in the door. In our 5 years we’ve survived a director change, an ownership change, and COVID. The teachers have been loving and supportive through it all and my daughter adores all of them. The changes certainly had to be difficult on the staff but they never showed it to us parents or the kids. The fact that the teacher STAYED through all of this was testament to me that this was a place worth staying at. Now that things are settled, they all seem to be thriving professionally. It’s always clean and I felt supported as a working mother. I’m not sure if it’s the facility or a tough immune system but my daughter is almost never sick with the regular “daycare illnesses” - even as a baby. I can’t say enough good things and I’ll be sad to be leaving.