Stay FAR FAR AWAY from this preschool!!!! I was not impressed with the campus when I toured it. It was very dog-eared compared to other preschools in central Phoenix, but I decided to put my 2 children in for the summer due to location and having a friend whose child also attended there and would be in the same classroom as my oldest. However, a dog-eared campus was apparently the LEAST of my concerns.
Two months before their scheduled start date I filled out the application and put down a deposit/application fee for each. I was given the option to only pay that amount, or put a little more up front towards the future registration/licensing fees/etc. I chose to pay a little more ($90) to lessen the amount we would pay when they actually started. I asked for registration packets and was told they would be mailed to me in May (my kids were scheduled to start May 31).
Circumstances changed and we were potentially going to be unable to register/enroll them for the summer as we planned. I realized on May 24th - a WEEK before our supposed start date - that we had not even gotten registration packets in the mail. I called and queried about where those were, and also, should we not be able to financially swing enrolling them, about how to get that $90 back (I understood that the deposit/application fee was non-refundable as it held my kids' spots). After a little phone tag, the upshot was that (in a voicemail) I was told that the director made her decision that none of the $90 could be refunded. I was advised that we contact the director herself should we have further questions.
How could this be? My kids WERE NEVER REGISTERED!!! We never received the paperwork to have even registered them (this is reflective of really poor school operations - other schools we have attended have registration/vaccination deadlines far in advance of start dates). What boggled my mind was that I COULD HAVE just paid the $100 two months prior. They rendered no more services, did no more work, processed no more paperwork to earn that $90. Nothing.
The final nail in the Shepherd of the Valley Preschool's coffin of awfulness was that we DID call the director, as instructed, to specifically discuss what was occurring. No call back. Despite doing what we were told we could do to further discuss the situation, the director did not us back.
Ironically, too little too late, Friday midday before a 3 day weekend, we get an EMAILED copy of registration paperwork, saying that it would be too late to mail us one in time. Um, yeah, duh! There's no way we could have registered our kids, and to put it on us on the eve of a holiday weekend, before they're scheduled to start the following Tuesday morning is absurd.
So basically, if you have gotten this far, this school not only is inept, but they have unethical business practices - taking money for services they have not performed. Stay far away from this place.