Blue Bird Alexandria
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Anonymous
| Does anyone have experiences (good or bad) to share about the infant room at Blue Bird in Alexandria? I see that someone posted about it in the "day care in Alexandria" post below, but does anyone else have an infant there? |
Anonymous
|
My five month old is there. So far I'm mostly pleased. His class is small and there are always the correct number of teachers on hand. I've stopped by at all kinds of odd hours and always found the teachers to be appropriately interacting with the kids. The room is clean - in fact I always seem to show up for pick-up as they are cleaning (kids outside). My son comes home tired (in a good way) and happy. When my son was ill, I was very happy with how they handled it - it impressed me that the teacher had spent enough time with my son in only two weeks there to notice and describe when he was just not himself.
I say 'mostly' happy because I had read the negative inspection reports of their other center on the state Web site and I feel like I'm always doubting my otherwise good impression because of it. That's probably more a reflection of me than them and I haven't found anything of real concern. I DID walk in on the owner addressing (a bit more loudly than I'd like) what she saw as a lack of engagement by the teachers. I appreciated her quick action - I hadn't noticed a problem myself - but thought she could have handled it more professionally and was a touch concerned that she'd felt she needed intervene at all. (I will say I noticed the staff heeding her direction after that!) She and I discussed the incident immediately and I'm comfortable with how she listened to my concerns and explained the situation. One thing that I do find a little frustrating is that the supporting teachers don't all speak english proficiently. I actually think it's good for my son to hear Spanish often and from a native speaker - but would like to be able to communicate with each of them more easily myself. (The head teacher is proficient if not fluent and does most of the daily reporting.) That said, I see how a couple of his teachers really enjoy my son and communicate with him in non-verbal ways that warm my heart. That is what I hold on to when I drop him off. Which is a very long way to say that I don't think the schools is perfect (I'm not sure any is) but it's good enough for us for now. I believe my son is safe and that his caretakers genuinely care about him - and that's what I need to know most. |
Anonymous
| I'm the OP. Thanks so much for your response! This was basically my impression from my visit, and your response is reassuring. I'm going to start my DD there and then may or may not switch to another center later (when a spot opens for us at the second place), depending on how things go. |
Anonymous
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My kids both went to Tiny tots/ Blue Bird centers. My son went from 18 months through 5 years old. My daughter went from 4 months to 2 years old. We were one of the many families removed from Tiny Tots in the wake of those negative, overcrowding reports.
When my son went there, the care was excellent. Yes, some of the infant room teachers did not have the best english, but they loved the kids, took wonderful care of them, there was a low turnover, great preschool teachers, nice community and my son was well prepared for kindergarten. Around the time DD was 1 year old, things started to slowly change at the center. The ratios were intact but the center started to seem more full, so to speak. The turnover increased and the provider got younger. Then, the sh*t started to hit the fan. First, kid were pulled from there classes and moved to different facilities to address the overcrowding issue at Tiny Tots (parents did not know this was the kids were moved, though). Many of the parents whose kids were moved were pressured to do so. Providers were asked to take the kids on walks at the end of the day in case inspectors came and noted the overcrowding. The center owners were warned on several occassions that the overcrowding was an issue and ignored the warnings. Finally, one day the fire marshall was called in and using the sign in/out rosters, he and the inspector determined that the overcrowding warranted a immediate shutdown of the center. For many parents picking up their kids that night, there was NO prior warnings that the center was in that much trouble. The owners told parents that they would go through their rosters that evening and make cuts to allow the center to reopen the next morning. Parents were told that if the received a call, they were in, otherwise, they could assume they were cut. The center refused to talk to any of the parents whose kids were cut from the center lists. Instead, they posted a message on their website at 9 pm that evening stating that all calls had been made and that if you had not received one, you were not to return to the center the next day. In all, over 30 families were removed from the center - many were long time members of the centers (5+years). Long time teachers were also fired, but were threatened by the owners not to take jobs as nannies from families that were removed. So, that is a quick overview of what actually happened at Tiny Tots/Blue Bird. Sorry for the typos. |
Anonymous
| thanks for sharing your story, pp! |
Anonymous
|
Also, a week before Tiny Tots was closed...they told me that they had an opening for my son who was about 7 months old at the time starting that week. So they would have taken him and then we would have been one of those families who were cut basically as soon as we started.
So it looks like they would have kept taking kids despite the over crowding until they got caught. When I looked at the center in march 2006, it seemed fine...but I am glad we decided not to go there. Honestly, I would stay away from these centers owned by people who treat children and their staff this way. |
Anonymous
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We are planning on putting our son in Blue Bird in Nov/Dec timeframe. I have visited a number of times and always find the infants to be well cared for. The caretakers are responsive and engaging with the infants. That isn’t to say I don’t have some concerns.
1. I have to say I wish they spoke more English, not for my son, but for me so I could communicate with all the caretakers not just the lead teacher. 2. Also, they don't encourage the staff to get flu shots, which isn't surprising, but is disappointing to me because it is recommended and especially considering that many in there care are under 6 months of age and can not be vaccinated themselves. 3. The biggest red flag for me has been some inconsistency. One person said the children are assigned a caregiver the other person said they are assigned a caregiver on a given day but it changes day to day. They also told me the first time I was there that they don't take the infants outside. Every other time they have stated they do take them outside. ??? That is a big difference. Also the first time I checked it out they said their infant room has a max of 10 infants (although there are only 9 cribs) then they corrected themselves and said there is a total limit of (now I am forgetting) I think 24 for the whole room downstairs so it could be 12 and 12 or 14 and 10. But that the key is 3 to one ratio, which I have always seen them adhere to. I called the inspector regarding the infractions and she explained them in more detailed and talked about past reports at Tiny Tots. She indicated things have improved over the past year or so at Tiny Tots. When I asked the Director at BlueBird about what had happened at Tiny Tots she stated that the owners had some health issues at the time and that they were not as involved as they should have been and they have hired her to be more directly involved at Blue bird. I guess the fact that the problems happened when there were health issues gives me some comfort, but not a lot. We want the care to be top notch all the time. Was anyone there when they had the overcrowding issues at Tiny Tots? I think maybe the BlueBird parents should get together and agree to serve as extra eyes for each other. I have to say the caregivers in the infant room do seem to truly love the babies. If any Blue Bird parents with infants want to get together let me know. |
Anonymous
With all due respect, the health problems referred to occcurred more than a year before the warnings of infractions were ignored. The owners were present at the centers on a regular basis in the months prior to the infractions. The caregivers at TT often do a great job with the kids, but please do not allow the owners or administrators to excuse their actions. They were deplorable. |
Anonymous
| Worst Schools Ever. Now under a name change to avoid the negative the insepctors found. |
Anonymous
Care to elaborate? |
Anonymous
| Bad place to send your kids. Dont be fooled by the new name. They changed it and the administrator from the wife susan to the Husband to protect their image due to complaints and shocking inspection reports. |
Anonymous
| What was the name changed to? |
Anonymous
it used to be called Tiny Tots about 4-5 years ago and now it is called Blue Bird. Under Tiny Tots is where they had all of the overcrowding problems. |
Anonymous
| Actually Tiny Tots is a totally different center. There are three centers and Blue Bird is the newest. Tiny Tots is in a different location |
Anonymous
| It's still Blue Bird of Alexandria but the license name has changed to Blue Bird of Alexandria B.B.A.,I.,LLC. And as a result of adding the BBA,I,LLC and changing the administrator from the wife, Susan Pnevatikatos to the husband, Jerry Pnevatikatos, The entire inspection history at the Virginia Dept. of Social Services gets erased. Its their tricky way of hidding past horrible inspections by the State. The seem very unethical. |