Experience with Bright Horizons Crystal City

[Anonymous]

The center is clean and a very convenient location, but after over a year there I would not recommend BHCC to others...very expensive, unresponsive management, high turnover of teachers and the ones that are there do not seem to be very loving/caring/engaged with the kids. I observed several times how they place the infants on the boppy pillows for long periods of time and even with a bottle on their mouth rather than holding them for feeding. Other teachers are clueless when you ask them how the day went and the moving of kids around to comply with room ratios is like a musical chairs game everyday. In addition, during this hot weather kids are taken to long to the playground to roam around while the teachers are seating under the shade talking to each others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The center is clean and a very convenient location, but after over a year there I would not recommend BHCC to others...very expensive, unresponsive management, high turnover of teachers and the ones that are there do not seem to be very loving/caring/engaged with the kids. I observed several times how they place the infants on the boppy pillows for long periods of time and even with a bottle on their mouth rather than holding them for feeding. Other teachers are clueless when you ask them how the day went and the moving of kids around to comply with room ratios is like a musical chairs game everyday. In addition, during this hot weather kids are taken to long to the playground to roam around while the teachers are seating under the shade talking to each others.

you do realize this post was from 2008, right? we're a BHCC family and quite happy. my son has been there since infancy and we haven't noticed the issues you have raised. i do recall he would take his bottle on a boppy, but only when he was older and able to hold it himself, previous to that he was always held in a rocker for feedings. there is a weather policy as well.

[stanley_white]

We just started at Bright Horizons Crystal City and are very impressed thus far.

Their infant room staff are extremely responsive and helpful. They are actively taking steps to assist my child in switching from a bottle to a sippy cup. Additionally, I am pleased that though it is an infant room there is an actual curriculum with activities such as a body part pointing / naming games as well as baby sign language and very basic arts and crafts.

Another great thing about Bright Horizons Crystal City is our infant room has a semi-separate sleep area. This area is darkened and cordoned off. My daughter sleeps much better in this setting then she did at our previous childcare provider.

-Stan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
POSITIVE- I JUST RECEIVED THIS WEBSITE FROM A CO-WORKER AFTER SHE ASK WHAT DAYCARE CENTER MY CHILD ATTENDS AN ONCE I RESPONDED BRIGHT HORIZON SHE GAVE ME THIS WEBSITE IT LOOKS LIKE I'M LATE ON THIS WEBSITE BUT I FEEL ITS ALWAYS GREAT TO EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS.MY INFANT HAS BEEN ATTENDING CRYSTAL CITY BRIGHT HORIZON SINCE SHE WAS 6 MONTHS I REALLY WAS IMPRESS BY THE CARE OF THE TEACHERS THEY WAS VERY HAPPY TO WORK AND CARED FOR MY DAUGHTER AN OTHERS LIKE THERE OWN THE CLASSROOM AT THE TIME ONLY HELD 6 CHILDREN WHICH WAS GREAT COMPARED TO THE OTHER TO INFANT ROOMS EMAILS WAS ALWAYS SENT TO ME PICTURES OF MY LITTLE ONE WHICH HAD MY HEART SMILING.ONCE MY DAUGHTER HAD TURN 2 SHE ENTER A GREAT TODDLER ROOM WITH WELL STRUCTURE AND HAVE THE MOST WONDERFUL ACTIVITES AND THAT CLASS ALSO HOLDS 6 TODDLERS NOTHING I DID ON PURPOSE BUT GLAD IT IS ORGANIZED THAT WAY AND THE ROOM IS VERY SMALL TOO.THE 2 TODDLER TEACHERS ARE GREAT THERE DAILY REPORTS ARE BROUGHT TO ME AS SOON AS I ENTER THE ROOM.

NEGATIVE- WHENEVER I DROP MY DAUGHTER OFF THE TODDLER ROOM ACROSS THE ROOM HAS CHILDREN CRYING THERE'S NO INTERACTION WITH THE TEACHERS AND CHILDREN AND THERE'S ENTIRELY TO MANY NEW FACES WORKING IN AN OUT THAT ROOM. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT MANAGEMENT DOESNT PAY ATTENTION TO HOW THAT CLASS IS BEING RUN,BUT ITS NOT MUCH THE DIRECTOR ISNT PRESENT MUCH OF THE TIME AND IF YOU WAS TO BRING THE NEGATIVE TO HER IT'S NO IMPROVEMENT.THERE ARE TIMES WHEN FLOATERS HAVE DONE BETTER WITH THE TODDLERS THEN THERE OWN.WHICH I FEEL MANGEMENT WOULD KNOW IF THEY WAS PAYING ATTENTION TO OBSERVE AN ASSIGN THE MORE STRUTURE TEACHERS TO THAT ROOM.SAD TO SAY MY DAUGHTER JUST MAY GO THROUGH THE SAME THING CONSIDERING THE LEAD IS MOVING OVER TO ANOTHER ROOM BUT SOON THINGS MAY CHANGE ITS SO EXPENSIVE

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the updated postings, I've been considering this location and all this feedback is helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Also, it seems like the staff is not very diverse - is this the case? When I was there, all of the teachers I saw were of the same one race.

It's getting more diverse because some parents complained to center director, who has a strong preferences of hiring people.
Center director is nice to certain parents but very rude to other parents. She has no administrative skills so I have no idea why she can stay as center director for a while.

As other people say, it is VERY expensive and raise fees no matter what. And they have so many "center closed" days. They closed on 12/31/2010 for New Year's day observation, then closed again on 1/4/2011 for New Year's day observation.

[Anonymous]

I found the director quite unhelpful. It took months of repeated calls and emails with no response before we even found out if we had a spot. We should have stopped there. But, naive first time parents we are, we only looked at one spot and were locked in by that time. We tried to look the other way on administrative and rudeness factors but after our child was fed unapproved foods (including solids while only on breast milk), the rudeness plus the safety plus the extreme cost caused us to look elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found the director quite unhelpful. It took months of repeated calls and emails with no response before we even found out if we had a spot. We should have stopped there. But, naive first time parents we are, we only looked at one spot and were locked in by that time. We tried to look the other way on administrative and rudeness factors but after our child was fed unapproved foods (including solids while only on breast milk), the rudeness plus the safety plus the extreme cost caused us to look elsewhere.

how did that happen? what were the circumstances? that is a pretty serious thing for many reasons, not the least of which is allergies. did you report to the state of VA??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found the director quite unhelpful. It took months of repeated calls and emails with no response before we even found out if we had a spot. We should have stopped there. But, naive first time parents we are, we only looked at one spot and were locked in by that time. We tried to look the other way on administrative and rudeness factors but after our child was fed unapproved foods (including solids while only on breast milk), the rudeness plus the safety plus the extreme cost caused us to look elsewhere.

how did that happen? what were the circumstances? that is a pretty serious thing for many reasons, not the least of which is allergies. did you report to the state of VA??

That is indeed a licensing violation and should be reported...... actually, it should be self-reported by BH, but I am guessing that didn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found the director quite unhelpful. It took months of repeated calls and emails with no response before we even found out if we had a spot. We should have stopped there. But, naive first time parents we are, we only looked at one spot and were locked in by that time. We tried to look the other way on administrative and rudeness factors but after our child was fed unapproved foods (including solids while only on breast milk), the rudeness plus the safety plus the extreme cost caused us to look elsewhere.

how did that happen? what were the circumstances? that is a pretty serious thing for many reasons, not the least of which is allergies. did you report to the state of VA??

That is indeed a licensing violation and should be reported...... actually, it should be self-reported by BH, but I am guessing that didn't happen.

It actually was self-reported by the center, but discouragingly was not written up as a state violation because the center staff flat out lied to the investigator, despite the fact that we had text messages from the caregiver detailing what she'd fed our child. It was pretty disappointing and the center's reaction to the incident confirmed that our decision to leave was the right one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found the director quite unhelpful. It took months of repeated calls and emails with no response before we even found out if we had a spot. We should have stopped there. But, naive first time parents we are, we only looked at one spot and were locked in by that time. We tried to look the other way on administrative and rudeness factors but after our child was fed unapproved foods (including solids while only on breast milk), the rudeness plus the safety plus the extreme cost caused us to look elsewhere.

how did that happen? what were the circumstances? that is a pretty serious thing for many reasons, not the least of which is allergies. did you report to the state of VA??

That is indeed a licensing violation and should be reported...... actually, it should be self-reported by BH, but I am guessing that didn't happen.

It actually was self-reported by the center, but discouragingly was not written up as a state violation because the center staff flat out lied to the investigator, despite the fact that we had text messages from the caregiver detailing what she'd fed our child. It was pretty disappointing and the center's reaction to the incident confirmed that our decision to leave was the right one.

I'm confused - how could they self report and then lie? Wouldn't self reporting necessitate well, umm, reporting the violation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found the director quite unhelpful. It took months of repeated calls and emails with no response before we even found out if we had a spot. We should have stopped there. But, naive first time parents we are, we only looked at one spot and were locked in by that time. We tried to look the other way on administrative and rudeness factors but after our child was fed unapproved foods (including solids while only on breast milk), the rudeness plus the safety plus the extreme cost caused us to look elsewhere.

how did that happen? what were the circumstances? that is a pretty serious thing for many reasons, not the least of which is allergies. did you report to the state of VA??

That is indeed a licensing violation and should be reported...... actually, it should be self-reported by BH, but I am guessing that didn't happen.

It actually was self-reported by the center, but discouragingly was not written up as a state violation because the center staff flat out lied to the investigator, despite the fact that we had text messages from the caregiver detailing what she'd fed our child. It was pretty disappointing and the center's reaction to the incident confirmed that our decision to leave was the right one.

I'm confused - how could they self report and then lie? Wouldn't self reporting necessitate well, umm, reporting the violation?

Wonderful question. As far as we can tell, they reported to the state that our child had food that hadn't been discussed with us. This was done at the admin level, above the level of the center. But, when the state investigator spoke with the caregivers, they told the same story that our son had gotten a hold of the food and that they'd immediately swooped in to remove it from his mouth. This flies in the face of (1) logic, since he was 6 months old and not mobile and therefore would not have just happened upon some food and (2) the text messages we had from the caregiver saying that she'd fed him the food, that he liked it, and asking whether he had allergies after the fact. We only found out that this was not ultimately documented as a violation when we checked the website several weeks later and since we weren't at the center anymore, had no incentive to follow up on why this didn't constitute a violation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found the director quite unhelpful. It took months of repeated calls and emails with no response before we even found out if we had a spot. We should have stopped there. But, naive first time parents we are, we only looked at one spot and were locked in by that time. We tried to look the other way on administrative and rudeness factors but after our child was fed unapproved foods (including solids while only on breast milk), the rudeness plus the safety plus the extreme cost caused us to look elsewhere.

Yes, center director is terribly incompetent, unhelpful, unresponsive, irresponsible, and rude. She needs to go. Seriously.
You have to wear booties to enter Infant / Toddler room, although teachers are walking around the center, even to the bathroom, with the same booties on. How does it make sense to wear it and walking around ?

A lot of things have been misplaced, lost, and damaged. One teacher, who got fired already, didn't pay attention to children playing and didn't care when my child got hurt.

If you are government employee with ALL federal holidays off, then you may not feel inconvenience that much with center's ALL federal holidays closing PLUS extra closing days.

[Anonymous]

What are they closing for on the extra days?

[Anonymous]

as a BH Crystal City parent, I haven't known them to close on extra days besides the fed holidays....? not sure what previous poster was referring to.