Bambini feedback after selling to Otter

[Anonymous]

Hi. The local internets are filled with glowing reviews for Bambini daycare. I'm wondering if anyone has feedback about what the schools are like now after being sold to Otter Learning compared to when it was run by the founders and got all those rave reviews. Any noticeable changes? Do the teachers seem happy?

It seems pricey. Tuition went up even more this year, now ~$3k for infant and ~$2,800 for toddler. How does that compare with other daycares in the area? Particularly Navy Yard and NoMa areas.

[Anonymous]

Otter recently scared a bunch of teachers into quitting with an extremely rude and confusing letter asking them to verify their paperwork. Parents lost their minds and it appears Otter is course correcting. Beyond this huge blunder, day-to-day operations at the school haven’t notably changed.

[Anonymous]

Wait what. I’m a parent there and saw the notices about what actions they’re taking and thought I missed something — which apparently I did — since the note said something about “in response” to conversations with parents, legal, etc.

That’s terrible that teachers quit. It seems like historically it’s been a decent place to work in this field. Or at least our impressions. At the time we toured daycares, they had many teachers who were there 5+ years including through Covid whereas other daycares had more turnover and we only met teachers and staff who had been there 3 years at most or were with the company longer but relocated to another center.

[Anonymous]

It was likely easy to miss if you aren’t at the Golden Triangle location since Otter Learning tried their best to keep this hush. That’s the first location that was targeted by Otter, and they had multiple teachers quit. They had planned dates they required teachers to resubmit their paperwork at all of the other locations. The letter they gave the teachers was extremely confusing and the teachers quit in fear. I’m hoping the teachers have returned following the parent outrage but I can’t confirm. The parent community really stepped up in support of the amazing teachers.

[Anonymous]

I heard from a friend of friend that there was a recent incident (maybe last summer or fall) where a parent found a 10mg melatonin patch had been placed on their child while at Bambini. An investigation turned up a package of the patches and several were missing. Not sure if it is true as I never heard anything else about it whereas other cases of this happening have ended up on the news.

[Anonymous]

The level of 'obey in advance' out there right now is mind-melting. Good on the parents for not overlooking this.

[Anonymous]

Agree day to day has not changed after the move to Otter. We have been at the Federal Triangle location for 2+ years with 2 kids and have adored it. Hopefully the (very unfortunate) forms situation at Golden Triangle was just a blip.

The teachers are so wonderful and really care about the kids. Every single person at FT knows our kids names and treats the with such care and respect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard from a friend of friend that there was a recent incident (maybe last summer or fall) where a parent found a 10mg melatonin patch had been placed on their child while at Bambini. An investigation turned up a package of the patches and several were missing. Not sure if it is true as I never heard anything else about it whereas other cases of this happening have ended up on the news.

I heard about this too. You can find the mom's Google Review for Bambini Navy Yard.

[Anonymous]

Any feedback along these lines on the Navy Yard location?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any feedback along these lines on the Navy Yard location?

The info above about the melatonin patch is all the rewiew I need about the Navy Yard location.