This was my wife's original review that I'll share here. She started with a list of pros and then goes into the reasons why you should never leave your child here.
Pros:
Secure building, strict on SOME important policies (illnesses, food labeling, following adult-to-child ratios), some very caring teachers, nice outdoor facilities and huge indoor gym, webcams in classrooms, fun curriculum for kids, spirit weeks in October, and monthly calendars and daily communications sent home for families.
Cons:
Small classrooms! 12 toddlers and 3 adult teachers in a 15x15 ft room. This is about 50% smaller than the state standard for day care rooms, but this day care is not licensed by the state. Sadly, this was our first day care experience and we did not know what a huge deal room size is. Small spaces with many children leads to rapid spread of illnesses and relational aggression. Our child had bites, scratches, pinches and bruises (from what we were always told were other children & I do not have a reason to believe otherwise) and was sick twice a month with everything from strep to hand, foot, & mouth disease.
Furthermore, the center did NOT follow the meal plan they sent home to families and would serve the children hash browns or poptarts only for breakfast oftentimes, even though something completely different was listed for that day's breakfast.
To continue, these are actual things I witnessed in person more than once: Yelling at children (certain staff members only), children crying while teachers ignored them and just stood around, allowing kids to sit in soiled diapers until it was "time to be changed", sending children home in completely dirty clothes that should have been changed using the spare outfits the parents provided.
One of the absolute worst parts of this daycare is the cold and unwelcoming vibe from front office staff and teachers (especially from the director who was "chummy" with some and acted like she didn't have the time of day for others) with the exception of JoBeth and Ms. Marie who were both always friendly.
One caregiver was always especially "out of it" and even told my husband once that our child was "mean as hell" and that he needed to be picked up early because he had a fever and when we checked it at home he had no fever and was acting completely normal (by this point, we were very close to unenrolling and we didn't want to cause a fuss for fear of repercussions during our child's last days there).
Since leaving the center and enrolling in a licensed in-home daycare with 8 less children, triple the amount of space, and a LOVING caregiver, our son comes home a DIFFERENT CHILD. He is happier, calmer, more well-rested. He does not cry at drop-off or run to me when I arrive in the afternoons to pick him up. The guilt we feel for the 6 months he was in this center is indescribable.
When a parent must leave their most precious possession in the care of others for the majority of the work week, they want to feel that their child will be loved, cared for, and attended to by those caring for their child. Since leaving Second Baptist, I believe that this IS possible to find in a day care, but NOT AT THIS DAY CARE.
When we informed the center we would be leaving to enroll our child in an in-home daycare, they reacted with 0% emotion or interest whatsoever in our child's future. Talk about a crappy feeling. There was always a depressing feeling leaving him there each day.
I am taking the time to write this to prevent another family from going through what we did and/or bring some awareness to those in positions of authority at this facility about the issues that caused us, and so many others, to leave. read more
