Primrose School in Crystal City

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know why this school was closed? It has been open less than a year.

[Anonymous]

Reviews say they emailed about multiple violations as the reason for closing last week but no major violations are listed on the State site. Recent inspection says only 27 kids enrolled and I doubt 27 kids covers the cost of rent and labor in Crystal City. Corporate may have made a decision to close for profit issues but are using "violations" as a cover to not lose good will with parents and the community.

[Anonymous]

I secured my place in this Primrose location in May of 2023, ahead of my April 2024 enrollment for my 7M infant. About 8 weeks in advance of enrollment, I contacted Primrose regarding any last-minute forms I needed to fill out or anything I needed to do in advance of enrollment. About two weeks later, I still hadn’t heard back so I contacted them again. Four days later I finally heard back from them with enrollment information, which seemed odd but I figured they’re busy and didn’t think much of it. Fast forward to two weeks prior to enrollment they emailed me additional information with the wrong child’s name, which I again found odd but excused by busyness. On his first day, the center was off. When I entered the room, I realized the teacher was with too many infants per teacher—fortunately another teacher joined shortly thereafter although I didn’t feel comfortable leaving until that happened. The entire energy was odd. When I picked him up later in the day, I surprised the teacher at 12 to find my infant on the floor crying, without a toy, while she sat nearby and ignored him. She was not soothing him, interacting with him, making movement to get a toy or anything. It was incredibly peculiar, and I soon learned she was a director. The next day (2 days into our time there) I received an email at 9:30 PM informing parents the County had shut down the center due three code violations. While their email was general, I later visited the DSS Virginia website to find a series of violations including relatively minor issues (i.e., no battery-operated phone) and major ones (staff not having CPR certification) as recently as during their last inspection in March. I received a refund for the remainder of my time which gave me an opportunity to interact one last time with the owner—when I asked what had happened, she explained that the prior center director “had submitted paperwork incorrectly” which is in complete conflict with the County’s assessment and public records. While the closure was the catalyst, I never would have kept my baby at that center having seen what I saw those first two days. I would advise any parent against sending their child there.

[Anonymous]

We also have received no response from the owner but believe we will at least be refunded from talking to other families in the same situation as us. Fortunately, there is a new school in Arlington called Celebree School and they were able to get us right in as soon as we finished all the paperwork. We started there last week and it has been such a positive experience. The 2 year old program has exceeded all our expectations so far.