Jump City Childcare Center

We fell in love with Jump City Childcare from the moment we met the owner and then had the opportunity to do a tour. I immediately felt the warmth and the love they had for my daughter. My daughter is constantly learning both educational and social skills and loves her teachers and friends. Several other aspects that make it special is the diversity and family feel. We are so very thankful we found this daycare!

After agreeing to an interview here. I pull to the school and see how run down it is . The playground looks like an abandoned park that nobodies played at for weeks .. it looks unsanitary . I sit in the parking lot and notice they have no parking signs that fell out just laying on the grass which in my opinion can be a safety issue if a child runs on the grass at pick up time .. I decided not to interview by just the neglectful looks on the outside .wouldn't suggest this school I wouldn't even send my own kids here.

I would strongly urge people to stay away from Jump City. Yes, the cost is lower than compared to most other centers in the area, but like most things, you get what you pay for. We loved them when we started 9 months ago. However, the last few weeks have been filled with nothing but chaos, pettiness, & my children asking daily to go to a different school. There is no worse stress than wondering if your children are being properly cared for. If I can save someone else the heartache and stress that we have gone through, I am going to do it. Security: The entry to the center has a single code for entry. This code has only been changed once since we started, not randomly as we were told. However, unless you physically pull the door shut, it will not latch and lock, rendering the code useless. Not only can this cause kids to get out into the parking lot, but it can also allow for outsiders to come in. One afternoon, during pickup, a strange man with no children attending the center entered when the door was not latched. The mother who I was with immediately let the director know, however the door still has not been fixed. Food: I've witnessed mornings where "breakfast" consisted of a golf ball size glob of plain oatmeal & half a slice of plain white bread. No fruit, no protein. I've seen "lunch" consist of a tiny portion of pasta, with almost no sauce, 4 saltine crackers, & 1/2 banana. No vegetable and again no protein. When I questioned the portions & the quality of items given the teachers looked embarrassed & responded, "I'm sorry. That is what we were given to serve". At center events, my husband & I witnessed improper handling of the food being served. This caused concern for my husband who is a chef and ServSafe trained. Ratios: I have witnessed them being over state mandated ratios & would not be surprised if it was a common occurrence. I called their attention to it one day, when there were 10 toddlers to 1 teacher (8:1 is max) and was snapped at by the admin saying they "are well aware of their ratios". Childcare: During the Valentine's Day celebration my husband witnessed a staff member grab a child by the arm & yank him hard, pulling him out of the room. My own son has complained about the same staff member & started crying when I said she would be taking over his class when his teacher left. He was scared, started to cry & said "Mommy, I don't like her! She is mean!" Staff Treatment: In the last 60 days, multiple teachers have left & gone to other center; including the lead toddler, pre-school and pre-k teachers. This doesn't include the aids that have come & gone faster than I could even learn their names. Yes, turnover happens but when lead teachers who are well loved leave suddenly you cannot help but question. I inquired from the staff & they shared with me some of the happenings regarding staff management, including a new staff handbook that made them all uncomfortable. I have also witnessed a teacher, who was visibly not well, working with the infants. When I asked why she didn't go home, she said because she was told by management that she couldn't because they didn't have the coverage to meet ratios if she left.Additionally, I was informed that teachers are no longer allowed to text parents. All communication must now go through the director or her admin. When we first started it was encouraged as a way to promote the "family atmosphere" and "open communication". It is unfortunate this communication is now prevented. I believe that it was put into place after teachers started sharing what was happening with parents and parents started finding other care options as a result. Miscellaneous -I was happy that the center has several toilets for the children, as opposed to the single toilet most centers have in each room. However, I learned that one of the toilets in the toddler room, the main potty training room, has been broken for several months. -Some mornings the rooms are so cold in the mornings the kids keep their coats on until it warms up.-There is a $25 fine per child if you drop off after 10am, as all children are to be there by then. I just always thought this odd; like what they don't want parents to see. -I needed to change my son one day before we left the center, since he had pooped and not yet been changed, I found a puddle of bleach on the changing mat. That bleach was then all of over my son and his clothes. -We were told to provide a binder to be used for regular parent teacher conferences, for all of the child's paperwork and assessments. Conferences have never been scheduled, except when the director insisted that the pre-school teacher offered to meet with parents her last day. Parents were given less than 24 hour notice of this option and most timeslots were during the workday. Honestly...I could go on and on. Do yourself a favor and stay far away.

This is hands down the best facility that I have taken my kids to. When I come pick them up they are excited and can't wait to come back. I get a daily report of what our kids were up to for that day, and I also have no problem getting in contact with the employees. If you are looking for childcare in the Dublin area come here!

I love Jump City and all it offers to my child. I get pictures everyday showing what she doing and how happy she is and it makes me feel like I am with her. She learns so much like Spanish and sign language and already knows how to write! She cant wait to go back every morning and she her teachers and her friends! I love that place!

I don't typically leave reviews, positive or negative, however if I can stop a family from the negative experiences associated with using this daycare then the time and effort is worth it. When we began with Jump City we loved the family friendly atmosphere but "professional" and licensed daycare setting. The owners were nice and the building, while small, was decorated in children's artwork and learning material. It was cute and looked everything a daycare should be. Over the next few months the initial fondness rapidly deteriorated as all the lead teachers left one after another, in what became a wheelhouse for short term teachers. On top of that, it became obvious the owner's desire to cut corners and save money was her #1 priority. When we started, the daycare owned busses, but they were broken in the parking lot. They were never repaired. Instead, we, as parents, were told they were using a third party to transport the children to field trips. We signed permission forms, I vetted the company, and they did use them. Once. After that they had teachers drive our children in their cars, without letting the parents know. And when I say teachers, we are referring to 19/20 year olds. With our children. In their cars. Without our knowledge or permission. They claim on their website they feed the children food from a company called Wholesome Tummies". These are lies. They cook the food themselves and what they provide is tiny, does not follow any listed menu, and the children are often left hungry. Additionally, they do not allow the children to drink from water bottles in class, and they rarely allow them to use the one and only water fountain in the entire building. Every day when I picked my children up from there, they would beg for water. Despite what they may tell you, they are NOT a nut free facility and they are not good at dealing with allergies. My child's teacher did not even know he had an allergy! The security on the building is ridiculous. Everyone has the same code; and the door does not latch well behind you. People have entered off the streets on multiple occasions. Read the Ohio Department of Jobs And Family Services inspection reports. The center is always over ratio, working their teachers to the bone because the owner is too cheap to hire additional staffing. One child got out of her classroom and was wandering the building while the inspector was present, and the teacher had no clue. It's sad because most of the teachers are trying their best. They truly do their best with what they are given. It is the ownership and management that causes this place to be unsafe for children. The bathrooms for the preschool and pre-k children are located in the coat/cubby room. There are no doors and when a 5 year old is going to the bathroom while you are trying to get your child's coat, it's uncomfortable. Speaking of bathrooms, many times when I picked the children up there has been standing urine and fences in the toilets and on the floors. Again, teachers are so overwhelmed with no help, they did not know. In the few short months we attended Jump City, they updated the handbook no less than 4 times. Though they are sure to tell you it's the exact same handbook you already signed, it's not. They change things to try and nickel and dime you to death. I had become friends with a few teachers who had left, and they began sharing stories of how terribly they were treated. Made to work during their lunches, brought in for meetings after working all day and with no pay, being made to work while sick etc etc.Needless to say our children no longer attend this center. Save yourself the stress, worry and headache and go someplace else.

If i could give zero stars i would. My children went to jump city for 2 years. I caution anyone considering this daycare to find another provider. I had multiple issues over the past year and i am convinced that my kids were neglected the whole time they attended Jump City. The last straw was when I got home and changed my youngest sons diaper, to my horror his whole bottom was raw and bleeding from diaper rash, almost as if they didnt change him all day. Ive had 4 kids and never ever have seen a rash as bad as that was. The turn over rate for Jump City is also despicable. My youngest son started there at 10 weeks old and by the time he was 6 months he had already been through 6 different "teachers". I use the term teachers lightly because I do not believe these people have any form of training or experience in child care. After my youngest son started there he became very pukey, always came home in different clothes due to him puking constantly....at home he kept milk down just fine. My concerns were validated when The first "teacher" he had sent me a picture of him in a baby swing with a pillow on top of him and a propped bottle. I dont think she even realized how unsafe propping bottles was since she sent me a picture of it. I have also spoken with former employees that have come forward admitting that The owner Shakarri would leave babies unattended in the infant class and would even leave them in cribs wide awake and crying, and when they voiced their concerns with Shakarri she would shrug it off. They finally quit Jump City due to her not putting the childrens needs first. The "teachers" there also left my son in a bumbo seat for so long that his legs turned purple and left marks on his thighs. My oldest son told me one day that he didnt eat lunch because he was in trouble. When i called Shakarri she denied this...however I came to find that my son was infact telling me the truth, when i spoke to a former employee she confirmed that Shakarri would do this on a regular basis, if a child wasn't cooperating she wouldnt feed them lunch and essentially starve the child. I have also been shown pictures of the food they serve the children. in one of the pictures they were serving a sandwich and the bread had MOLD on it. My oldest kids were constantly getting hurt and coming home with marks and cuts, but there was RARELY any incident reports. When i finally decided to pull my children from the center and informed Shakarri, instead of showing any type of remorse for my kids leaving after 2 years Shakarri attacked me for not giving her a 2 weeks notice because she "didnt have anyone to fill their spots and she would be now missing $600 from her check due to them being pulled" I would think your relationship with my children should be more important than money. Please do not let Shakarri fool you into thinking Jump City is a place for your child. I always gave her the benefit of the doubt when i shouldnt have, but seeing my baby in pain because of them was the last and final straw for me. SHE SHOULD NOT STILL BE IN BUSINESS. I thank God that i got my children out when i finally did

I worked at this center for a year and a half at the beginning it seemed like a well ran center fully staffed and everyone seemed friendly it went on like this for a little bit but eventually everything changed it became seriously understaffed the few of us that worked there were seriously overworked rooms were always out of ratio. food portions become smaller, I was once yelled out for going in the kitchen And giving the kids crackers because they were still hungry and I was told the kids would always expect this. most morning I would show up before The owner there would be absolutely no food in the kitchen eventually she would show up at 9:30 with cereal mind you we had the same thing almost everyday an hour late our breakfast time was at 8:30. I watched food being thrown away of kids who were acting out. let's move past the food and go on to some of the cleaning practices, there's no washer and dryer in the center so at one point we only had a few wash rags we were supposed to re use for the whole week because paper towels were expensive and we were using to much. I would usually stay pretty late to help clean usually I didn't get paid for this and I caught attitude for leaving at 7:30pm after I had opened the center. if they treat their staff like this how do you think the treat your kids? let's move on to the end of my time here I was told daily that I should put in extra work after I was already working 11 to 12 hour days and I should do this for free if they need me "because I'm fighting for my position" I've been In Childcare for almost 10 years there's no position that I need to fight for! let's move passed that on to how I had to cover the toddler room and Shakarri had to take over the infant room and she would put those babies in their cribs for 2 hours and completely leave the building. When and if the room had coverage all staff members were told that the babies needed to stay in their cribs for two hours even if they cried the whole time.The lists goes on but I would be here for days typing. I took my kids here I was stupid and naive I ignored red flags. Bottom line if you care about your kids don't bring them to this center.

The first red flag in our time at Jump City was how quickly the parents who enrolled their children left as well as the high turnover of the teachers. Something was clearly not right. However, it wasn't the turnover, or the small and inadequate food my child was served or even the fact the center was constantly out of ratio. What cause my wife and I to pull my daughter from the facility is when they allowed their teachers (and by teachers I mean the 18 year olds fresh out of high school) to drive our children to and from places without our knowledge.This center goes through every effort to save costs, they inform the parents they are using a daycare transportation service called "Bukkaroo" and then to save money put the children in teacher's cars instead. My wife and I were furious when we discovered this and immediately removed our daughter from their care. It cost us 2 weeks of pay (because she demanded notice despite the safety allegations) but honestly I would pay any amount to have my daughter out of that toxic and unsafe environment.

This is the best daycare! I moved to Columbus in December 2017 and I was very nervous about moving, I had a 2 year old daughter. I went to school at Wright State University and at that time I was using their daycare which I was very happy with. I got a job offer in Feb. of 2019 and therefore I was on a search for childcare. It was a very scary and nerve wrecking search because I wanted to make sure I found a daycare my child and I were comfortable with. I searched around and set up tours with at least 4 daycare locations. Some were close and some were far out from where I was living. At that time, I was living in Grove City at the time and my job was in Hillard. After viewing the couple of day cares I became frustrated because I was not satisfied. The last tour I went on was at JumpCIty Childcare. The owner, Mrs. Hamilton. was very welcoming and she explained in great detail the activities and things she would teach my child. She showed me every classroom/ grade level. Each classroom displayed the activities and things the students were learning. There were tons of work displayed that the children had accomplished. I was very grateful because I could actually see that learning was actually happening there. So I was sold and I have been happy ever since. My daughter is very smart. She is 3 years old and can have a whole conversation with me, count to 20, say her ABC'S,Identify most letters, identify letters in her name,Identify shapes and colors, identify foods. Also she can formulate her own stories, as well as say the months of the year. This is only a few things that my daughter is able to do, that was taught to her while going to Jump city. Honestly I would not move my child from this daycare. They treat my daughter and I like family. They host a lot of events and actually take the students on field trips through out the year. For instance, we have been to Cosi, Columbus zoo, and Get Air. They also do special events such as a back to school bash, a graduation every year and many more activities. Not only are the activities and learning great there but also the staff. The staff is very kind and makes sure you stay in the loop about you child's learning. One teacher in particular worked very close with me and my daughter in helping her become potty trained. The staff is always smiling with the parents and children. They always greet the children with excitement. This day care is great and I am very pleased with their service.