Princeton for Preschoolers?

We have seen three preschool options for next year. Today we visited "Woodside," the highly desirable and barely affordable flexible extended day care preschool for children near the old state mental hospital (lovely location). We know several parents who send their kids there, and I can see why. The small building is filled with light; kids are calm and engaged; the muffins they baked for snack were delicious. They take the kids outside on their million dollar natural playground every day. They have artists in residence. Peter preferred "Eastside" which we saw last week. Larger and more affordable, the director who gave us a tour is also the founder and has been growing the school for twenty years. She was obviously passionate about the place. The kids were similarly on task; the activities and schedule seemed very stimulating. Jasper quickly left our side and joined in a learning group to make mashed potato snowmen (he skipped the art step and just started eating). I went to see "Discovery Village," last week as well. The small private preschool just a few blocks from our house accepts 2 1/2 year olds, which, from what I could see, is a really bad idea. The space was small and cluttered. As soon as the kids left the rug where only one third of them were paying any attention to the story, the room erupted into near chaos. There was only one functional teacher for the group of 13. The activity did not seem developmentally appropriate and involved synthetic foam pre-cut mittens. Yuck. Unfortunately, the public preschool near our house is going to be discontinued next year. Where will our Jasper end up? He is super excited about going to "school," but most programs won't accept kids until the fall. For now, I am hoping to get him to go regularly to The Children's Place, a non-profit parent education center (and drop off child care relief) where I have been volunteering. There is usually at least one child crying, but the space is large and well maintained and it's pretty cheap. Even if he is the one crying, I think it would do us both some good if he could spend 2 - 4 hours there a week.