What Happened to Little Legends?

When I went back to work, I placed my baby in Little Legends daycare/preschool.  It was the first one I toured. I liked the owner, and felt comfortable leaving my three month old baby in her capable hands. After a few months it became clear to me that I wouldn't be able to keep my boy there.  I work five days a week, and I have to be at the office to do my job. Working from home is not an option in my position.  Little Legends (like many preschools, I'm sure) had a strict vacation policy.  You pay for your kid to be there, even if it's a holiday.  So when the place closed for the winter holidays, I was paying them LOTS of money for my kid NOT to be there. I also had to take the time off to take care of him.  Luckily, I found another daycare through the recommendation of a coworker. The lady works out of her home, there are only a few kids, and it's right next to my work.  Also, it was a fraction of what I was paying to Little Legends, and her holiday schedule was MUCH more relaxed.  I jumped through the necessary hoops, and transferred my baby.  After that, I tried to get my deposit back from Little Legends.  Strangely, my emails and phone calls were never returned.  Being the anxious and non-confrontational personality that I am, I didn't press the issue.  It was just a couple hundred dollars, but I kept trying because...broke.  After a couple of months, I gave up.  Yesterday I drove by there on a whim.  The place was empty.  And I don't just mean there weren't people.  There was no furniture. The place was completely bare. The play structure in the front yard was gone, and the yard itself was ripped up.  The whole thing was an empty shell.

I don't know why this stunned me.  Maybe it's because I remember how optimistic the owner was when I talked to her.  She said that they were always full and the business was going really well.  It made me wonder if it wasn't really going that well, or if something really awful happened.  I know I was one of the only full-time customers. Most of the other people only had their kids in school a few days out of the week. Maybe the school just couldn't pay for itself. Maybe the owner was a wonderful teacher, but not a very savvy businesswoman. I guess I'll never know. R.I.P. Little Legends Preschool.  No hard feelings, right?

My boy at his first daycare - December 2014