readwithem Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 http://www.abc26.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-usreport-us-lawsuit-tre72d7fa-20110314,0,2056857.story A Manhattan mother is suing her 4-year-old daughter's preschool, calling it "one big playroom" that deprived the child of the edge needed to get into an elite elementary school. Imprescia said she heard the school's sales pitch and was hooked by the promise it would help Lucia on her E.R.B, a standardized test used for admission to the city's most competitive public and private kindergartens. But instead of prepping Lucia to nail the test by the time she was four, York Avenue "dumped" her with children as young as two who were learning about shapes and colors, the lawsuit said. "Indeed, the school proved not to be a school at all, but just one big playroom," said the lawsuit, which claims Imprescia was deceived and defrauded. A toddler who takes the wrong first step could ultimately trip up his or her chances for acceptance into an Ivy League college and for earning a higher income, it said. "There is tremendous pressure to choose the right preschool," it said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I don't think it ridiculous at all. Said so in the other xpost. If she paid for a certain level of claimed instruction and that is not what they actually do - then I think her suit is entirely valid. No, I wouldn't even enroll my 4 yr old. But that is not the point of the suit. The point of the suit is that she was told she was paying for a certain level of service and they did not actually provide that to her daughter. And when I did do private preschool way back in the day with my oldest, that is exactly what I looked for in a program. Strong academics suited to his abilities. Which most of the more "elite" programs test before allowing a student to enroll. Iow, if they test your kid and they don't think they can handle the program well enough to meet the claims, they won't accept them for enrollment. I was not paying for daycare or to sit with 2 year olds. I would have been livid to find I paid that much for glorified daycare and playtime with 2 year olds. Why is it wrong for her to file suit for them failing to provide the service they claimed to be offering when they took her money? This is not about prepping the student, but they didn't pass. I would agree there. The mother is saying they flat out did not provide what they claimed. If she is correct, then I think she should get her money back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted March 15, 2011 Author Share Posted March 15, 2011 Nobody can predict Ivy acceptance, particularly at age 4.:001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Nobody can predict Ivy acceptance, particularly at age 4.:001_huh: Ug. I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall. That is not the issue. The question is whether they actually provided a program geared towards passing that exam. The mother is claiming they did not. That her daughter just played with 2 year olds. If they provided a prep program as claimed and for whatever other factors the girl did not pass the exam, then there is no claim. If they sent her to play with 2 year olds most of the time and did not provide the exam prep as promised, then the mother has a valid claim bc the school did not provide what they claimed they would provide. Aside from that, of course it takes more than passing the exam to get into the elite schools. The mother doesn't seem to be claiming otherwise. She is claiming the school did not provide the level of education they said they would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpidarkomama Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I don't disagree that she should get what she was told she would get, but my reaction is still :eek: Let kids play... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 I don't disagree that she should get what she was told she would get, but my reaction is still :eek: Let kids play... I completely agree on that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraQ Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 http://www.abc26.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-usreport-us-lawsuit-tre72d7fa-20110314,0,2056857.story Well, if you live in an area where you have to jump through those kinds of hoops and meet those sorts of expectations at those tender ages to get your kids into a good public school (and the private ones are very pricey, and the rest of the ps schools stink to high heaven) and you couldn't *conceive* of teaching your kids at home instead, then her argument makes sense... to a point. Sure, she can argue that she didn't get what she paid for, that they advertised falsely, and she would be right. But I don't think you could seek damages over & above tuition based on "she might not be able to get into an ivy" when the kid's still 4 or 5. Also, when is she filing this suit? When did she pull her kid from this school? Was she only alerted to the play-only nature of the school after her kid flunked the entrance exam? If so, can you really say that a kid whose mom is THAT uninvolved in their preschool would have passed anyway? And besides, if it was really THAT bad, and she really cares THAT much, why wasn't she vigilant from day one, so that she could pull her child or fill in the gaps BEFORE it was too late and test day was past? Also, who says her kid has to start K THIS year? Couldn't she simply enroll her in another school and have her retested next year? And how is she goign to prove that it was the pre-shool's fault that her kid didn't pass, and not her own for not, say, reading to her at bedtime, or singing the ABC song with her, or making sure she got enough sleep and a good enough breakfast before testing? I don't think she can, so I think her case will be very limited in scope and very hard to win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaLisa Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Oh boy. Poor Lucia. When the school mounts it's defense as to why she didn't get accepted into the elite schools, hope she's wearing good armor. :thumbdown: Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 I looked on the school's website and it didn't guarantee anything. It said that there goals were to get kids to love learning. How is that passing a test? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwg Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Confidence, ability to express themselves, in addition the knowledge of the alphabet and number correlations are all mastered in the Fours/Pre-K class. Our students have consistently tested well on the E.R.B, which is given on site, along with the Board of Education Gifted and Talented tests. We are very proud of our Kindergarten placement record and work closely with the ongoing school directors. http://www.yorkavenuepreschool.org/site/learning_for_tomorrow/ A whole different world... I am thankful not to be in it :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
distancia Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Doesn't anyone else have a few alarms go off after looking at the website for the preschool? I am not at all impressed. This is a preschool for age 2-4. All I see for facilities is a room with hard wooden chairs, a rooms with foam play-toys, a room with books (library), and a glimpse of a plastic slide ??? They say they ahve a state-of-the-art playground. Well, where is it? They talk about having a French chef. Where is the kitchen? Where is the room where the children eat? They mention French language classes.. Who is teaching these classes, the French chef? They mention music classes. Where are the instruments? The site says nothing about their method of education: British Primary, Montessori, whatever. Personally I think this particular mom (suing) looked for an easy dumping ground for her child and she was expecting big results. Any knowledgable parent could see the deficits in this preschool just by looking at the photos and reading the blurbs. There is no mention of accreditation nor is there any guarantee, express or implied. Here is a school which conveys its sense of purpose and concern for the child http://www.cofpreschool.com/index.cfm The mom/parents should have done better research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyforlatin Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Well, if you live in an area where you have to jump through those kinds of hoops and meet those sorts of expectations at those tender ages to get your kids into a good public school (and the private ones are very pricey, and the rest of the ps schools stink to high heaven) and you couldn't *conceive* of teaching your kids at home instead, then her argument makes sense... to a point. Sure, she can argue that she didn't get what she paid for, that they advertised falsely, and she would be right. But I don't think you could seek damages over & above tuition based on "she might not be able to get into an ivy" when the kid's still 4 or 5. Also, when is she filing this suit? When did she pull her kid from this school? Was she only alerted to the play-only nature of the school after her kid flunked the entrance exam? If so, can you really say that a kid whose mom is THAT uninvolved in their preschool would have passed anyway? And besides, if it was really THAT bad, and she really cares THAT much, why wasn't she vigilant from day one, so that she could pull her child or fill in the gaps BEFORE it was too late and test day was past? Also, who says her kid has to start K THIS year? Couldn't she simply enroll her in another school and have her retested next year? And how is she goign to prove that it was the pre-shool's fault that her kid didn't pass, and not her own for not, say, reading to her at bedtime, or singing the ABC song with her, or making sure she got enough sleep and a good enough breakfast before testing? I don't think she can, so I think her case will be very limited in scope and very hard to win. Apparently the mother pulled out her child in October 2010, shortly after the semester started, and is asking for a full refund (or close to that). In New York, parents do pay a lot for tutors to help their children pass those exams. It's a big deal there, so as sad as it sounds, a child who is not prepped (unless gifted perhaps) and is just playing with other kids without any kind of academics, may not do as well as other kids who have been prepared rigorously. So there is a certain level of expectation of the school to provide the kind of services that would prepare a child for the exam and in return, the school gets an enormous sum of money. If she has evidence that the school was no more than a daycare facility, it's not a frivolous lawsuit because she can show what the damages are (and it's not about getting into Dalton or an Ivy League since she would not win on that argument; it's about what they said they would do but didn't). She probably decided to homeschool after her daughter dropped out :001_smile:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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