BCDC or St Albans for infants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had an infant at St. Albans this past year and really liked it. She had no problem sleeping, and the teachers were caring and great. We never felt like she had too much container time. There were small things from time to time that we didn't love, but nothing egregious or beyond what you're going to see in any daycare. I would recommend it.

I toured BCDC when I was pregnant and decided against it because the teachers were all on Facebook on their phones when I toured, and that was WHEN A TOUR WAS THERE. They didn't even look up. I literally never once in a year saw an SAECC teacher on her cell phone, which I found really amazing.

Are you sure it was Facebook? The BCDC teachers we've had are all extremely attentive. They use an app where they provide updates on the activities the kids are doing throughout the day (lots of enrichment activities for my 2.5YO: music with Lilo, Spanish lessons, yoga, and now soccer), including pictures, so they may have been uploading pictures at the time. I know they try to do those things when the kids are sleeping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had an infant at St. Albans this past year and really liked it. She had no problem sleeping, and the teachers were caring and great. We never felt like she had too much container time. There were small things from time to time that we didn't love, but nothing egregious or beyond what you're going to see in any daycare. I would recommend it.

I toured BCDC when I was pregnant and decided against it because the teachers were all on Facebook on their phones when I toured, and that was WHEN A TOUR WAS THERE. They didn't even look up. I literally never once in a year saw an SAECC teacher on her cell phone, which I found really amazing.

Are you sure it was Facebook? The BCDC teachers we've had are all extremely attentive. They use an app where they provide updates on the activities the kids are doing throughout the day (lots of enrichment activities for my 2.5YO: music with Lilo, Spanish lessons, yoga, and now soccer), including pictures, so they may have been uploading pictures at the time. I know they try to do those things when the kids are sleeping.

+1

We are also BCDC parents. The center uses the Tadpoles app to send multiple videos, photos, and status updates throughout the day. They send a ton of content everyday - sometimes its a bit overwhelming. I've never seen any of our kid's caretakers playing with their personal phones.

BCDC vs. SAECC: I'm thinking SAECC is cheaper because they have a sweetheart deal on the real estate, which is owned by another church. BCDC has to pay market rate commercial rent for their new facility, plus they just spend a lot of money building out the new facility. A newly built daycare is going to cost more than an older facility that has a long term lease; this is just basic common sense. In our opinion, for the money SAECC has more amenities than BCDC. However, good luck getting off the SAECC waitlist without a sibling preference (we've been on for 18 months now...)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a previous part of an infant at SAECC- in Dec 2019 there was an accident of negligence where the staff did not strap our baby into the buggy and when they went outside down the driveway to the gym and over a speedbump, our baby flew out and landed on his head. The staff were careless; video footage watched by CPS/detective afterward showed the staff taking selfies when our son wasn't buckled in. After a trip to the ED and a CT scan we learned our son was luckily fine. However SAECC administration were not contrite and continued to minimize and misrepresent the event. I would avoid this place at all costs, I had a bad feeling from the start but did not trust my gut.

I am so sorry this happened to your child! Were their repercussions for the staff? We are on the wait-list for SAECC to get into the infant room, I'm not sure how I would feel about my DS going into a classroom with staff that have shown that kind of negligence.

[Anonymous]

Current SAECC mom. The December incident PP is referring to was unfortunate and VERY uncharacteristic for the school. The parent body received communication from the Director alerting us of the incident and a staff member was terminated. A staff training reviewing the buggy procedures was held the Monday morning after the incident. We were very impressed with how it was handled. It is a warm, engaging environment for infants and toddlers to thrive! I hope you are able to join our community!