Bakersfield, CA
Bakersfield Carden School

Parents' Comments

Parent #1
Strengths: Loving enviroment, Reading program, lots of Field Trips, Small class sizes.
Weakness: Older building, but that is not important to me

Parent #2
Carden deserves "ZERO STARS". If it was an option on this review page, I would enter even lower than one star--Carden deserves the lowest rating possible. I have lived in Bakersfield almost 40 years, and years ago when Carden School was on Niles St., and I was in grade school they had the reputation of a very elite school. Since then, they have lost tons of enrollment; many Carden students have transferred to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The building on Niles St. was lost, and the school was moved to a church not far from our home in the Northeast, near the Alta Vista area. I have heard rumors that Carden School changed owners, but I do not know actual confirmed information about the history of ownership. A neighbor I know briefly, warned us that the academics are horrendous; she sent her daughter there for a few years during junior high and her daughter ended up falling very far behind; she said her daughter learned absolutely nothing in core subjects such as math and English. Although we are not close friends, I do trust my neighbor's opinion since she is also an educator. I ignored all the warning signs, and thought "how can Carden mess up preschool?" I didn't plan to send my daughter to elementary school at Carden, only part-time preschool for three years. We have sent our oldest child to other very good private schools in Bakersfield, but, since Carden moved so close to our home and was small, I liked the convenience and small size, and didn't do my research adequately. Instead I trusted information I heard from when I was an elementary grade student, which was far too long ago to trust. I don't know what is accurate and what is rumor, I only know my bad experience. My child went there for less than a week. The staff seemed very nice when I first signed her up. However, her application was never reviewed and they didn't know anything about her. This is kind of a big deal since preschool children don't communicate a lot. Carden preschool teachers and assistants are "terrified" of toilet accidents and want the children to go on demand. Do we even treat adults this disrespectfully? Our child had zero toilet accidents, but I did hear about them trying to force her to potty. On her second day, the secretary said it was normal when she cried for a few minutes as I left the school, but then called me later to un-enroll her. She was at school less than half a day; most of the day was a field trip where I waited to drive her back to school due to the school not having adequate amounts of car seats. As I watched the school children on the field trip, my child seemed content and was not making any fuss or crying, yet the staff kept carrying her and not letting her participate. I believe this was due to her slowing them down since she was the youngest. The school says they take 2 year old students, but aren't equipped for them, and don't seem to have any knowledge of preschoolers. When my child was first signed up, the school should have sated that they did not accept 2 year olds, because although they say they do, all their 2 year old children are actually almost 3 years old. What exactly happened at the school on her second day, I don't know. She was there less than an hour after I dropped her back at school after the field trip. But, it was a little weird that the owner was physically in my face as well as my husbands, as if she wanted to fight, and kept trying to start an actual physical fight. She refused to give a refund, and the next day when I went to calmly ask for it, she again was physically ready to attack me.Yet, what brought this about confounds me; there was never any major disagreements from us and no yelling occurred before this attitude from the owner. So what is really going on at this school and what are they trying to hide? I know I should have trusted my intuition when I showed up a few weeks before my child's start date to turn in forms and heard the preschool teacher YELLING at the class, ordering them to sit straight and get their hands out of their mouths. At this point, I thought this wouldn't be her teacher, and sadly questioned my own doubts. Later, on her first day, I discovered this was her teacher. Not a good sign, but I decided to be open-minded since maybe I didn't know the whole story. All 2, 3, and 4 year old preschoolers are together in one class. They do not do developmentally appropriate work and require the children to sit at desks all day. Discipline seems to be more important that nurturing and developing the children. Staff seems very angry and rigid, and as I searched for a new preschool and relayed the information to others trying to decipher what each school meant by "structured" so I didn't repeat this mistake, people stated that Carden had a reputation for being "rigid", not structured. So the school and our child were not "a fit", that is one thing, but to come to the point of acting physical: very unprofessional for an owner. As an educator, one has to deal with parents and children all the time, and if we aggravated her this much without any actual arguments, you have to worry about their patience level with children. My oldest daughter is 15 years old and went to preschool at Cal State Bakersfield (amazing program back then) for ages 2, 3, and 4 and never had an issue. In my ignorance, I didn't realize any schools in town had such a backwards philosophy on education and discipline. Upon enrolling her, there was a form that was supposed to be signed about allowing discipline. I signed it but modified it to say no physical punishment, and any punishment that occurred I would need to be informed about. I think this was the real issue. My enrollment forms were reviewed on the day they decided they wanted her to be removed from the program. I believe they were planning to or wanted to "discipline" her (or already did) and went to make sure that they had my signed permission, and upon seeing my notes chose to try to get my child out of the school. I have my doubts about what actually happened to my child that day. I know in all other preschools, it is normal to be informed about behavioral issues, and any injuries a child gets, along with an incident report, so my modifications and requests were definitely not out of line.The staff sends body language as if they will "discipline" your children. I very clearly stated that my child was not to be touched because I thought the wording was odd and primitive. Every preschool I have researched since has a more progressive attitude toward educating preschoolers, and it doesn't call for yelling and forcing the children into desks all day. When my oldest went to preschool 13 years ago, programs weren't this rigid even back then. I had all the warning signs about Carden School, but ignored myself. With hindsight, I am posting this review in every location for other parents. If you choose to send your child to Carden: beware. And no matter where you choose, be diligent about your research. I usually research everything when it comes to my children, so I am kicking myself that I was so trusting of a staple name in Bakersfield. Just because a business has been around a long time, doesn't guarantee that they are a good business. I am thankful that my child only attended less than two days; I seriously would be worried about her physical, emotional, and educational safety if she had continued. The front desk greeter/receptionist is very nice, but don't take this as an overall indicator of the school. Beware Carden School in Bakersfield.

Montessori? Waldorf? Play-based?

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Trace around your child's foot, with shoe on, on a piece of white construction paper or card stock. Have child cut out the shoe print and add a spooky face. Glue it to a popsicle stick and you have a ghost stick puppet!

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