Bethesda Lynbrook Child Care kids went missing today

[Anonymous]

2244 If you have time to hang out here and post here, but you don't have time to read a thoughtful post from a parent of a child at the center, then you should be careful about who you call an idiot (or "idoit").

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a parent of a child who has been part of the Lynbrook childcare center for many years. I am upset about the incident that occurred two days ago. It was serious, potentially dangerous and unacceptable. I feel sad and concerned for the children and families who were directly involved in this incident. I am following very closely every step that the Lynbrook Center, MCCA and the external government agencies that are investigating are taking. If I am not satisfied with what I learn, I will remove my child from the center.

However, there have been many allegations about the center made on this forum and others, and I would like to share our experiences at Lynbrook. This incident is inconsistent with our previous experiences at this center over several years. My child has had an overwhelmingly positive experience at Lynbrook. He has been cared for by loving, attentive teachers that have played a large role in his development into a happy, curious, creative child. Just one example: when he started at the center in the two-year-old “Kittens” class, he was shy and lacked the confidence to engage in the activities and talk to the other kids. One of the teachers who has been there for many years had an amazing ability to work with him and help him develop his confidence (please note, this teacher had no involvement with the incident two days ago). I have children who have been part of other child care centers and schools, and many of the Lynbrook teachers are as loving, dedicated and child-focused as any staff that I have encountered anywhere.

I have spent a lot of time with my child’s classes at different times of the day and in different settings (indoors, outdoor play, field trips, etc.) and have never felt that there was anything unsafe about the school. Far from being neglected, I always see the teachers engaging with the children. I have never seen teachers talking on their cellphones while with the children or doing any of the other neglectful behaviors that have been suggested on this board. While I can’t speak for any other parent of a child at Lynbrook, my informal conversations over the past few days suggest that many others share this view.

Several posters have criticized the play-based approach at this school. There are many different approaches to early childhood education, and there is little reliable evidence to support the superiority of one approach compared to another. I believe that an educational approach that is a good match for my child and family might not be a good match for another child or their family. For our family, the play-based approach at this and other centers has been wonderful, and has helped our kids to flourish. We think our children have developed intellectual, social and physical skills in a developmentally appropriate way. Our oldest child went to a play-based preschool, and is now an avid reader who is doing well in all subjects at school. Other approaches might very well have produced the same result, but I think it is invalid to criticize the school because it has this educational approach.

Clearly, a terrible error took place two days ago, and in no way am I trying to excuse that. It is not clear how much of this due was due to the neglect and/or incompetence of two teachers at that time, or whether there are other system failures that contributed. I do not know what the ultimate outcome will be, but in my view Lynbrook and MCCA seem to be taking the appropriate steps to deal with this at this time. First, the organization investigated and terminated the two teachers involved the day after the incident. MCCA self-reported this incident to the appropriate government agencies and child-care authorities first thing in the morning after this event, and are fully participating in the investigations. The organization had an open meeting for two hours last night (i.e. the night after this occurred) where the director of Lynbrook, executive director of MCCA and president of the board of MCCA met with parents. They encouraged parents to raise any issue and ask any question they had. In my view, they did their best to answer openly and honestly. I believe that the center is committed to making changes to help prevent this from happening again.

I do not know what will happen next, and I am open to making the decision that it is not in the best interests of my child to stay at this facility. However, I wanted to provide some balance to some of the posts that I have seen about this center by telling about our direct experiences prior to this event.

One final point – I have seen people on other boards criticizing MCCA for consulting with a PR company. This is a small organization facing a huge crisis. They do not have the in-house expertise in how to deal with media that a large corporation would have. With many people talking to the media and posting on boards such as this one, I really do not see that they had any alternative but to seek outside help to manage this in the best possible way.

This sounds like a damage control post. To minimize 4 toddlers leaving the center and wandering in the street because in the past you had a good experience really doesn't make sense. You could find a parent who had a great experience in every single center in the entire city but it doesn't mean they are all great centers. I am not sure if you are from the center or just asked to post on their behalf but it would look better for the center if they didn't just brush this off as a little mistake and that otherwise they have a fantastic team and center. This is significant.

[Anonymous]

I am the poster at 22:11. I have no relationship with the center other than having a child who receives care there, and was not asked to post this or do anything by the center or MCCA.

I totally agree that this is significant, and I do not think that any parents or anyone employed at MCCA is trying to brush this off. It does not get much more serious than this when it comes to childcare issues.

There are alot of accusations about the center on this forum and others from people who have no experience at all with this center. I thought that some people might be interested in the actual experience of a parent with a child in the center.

If it is TLTR, you can just skip it and continue to vent with less information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a parent of a child who has been part of the Lynbrook childcare center for many years. I am upset about the incident that occurred two days ago. It was serious, potentially dangerous and unacceptable. I feel sad and concerned for the children and families who were directly involved in this incident. I am following very closely every step that the Lynbrook Center, MCCA and the external government agencies that are investigating are taking. If I am not satisfied with what I learn, I will remove my child from the center.

However, there have been many allegations about the center made on this forum and others, and I would like to share our experiences at Lynbrook. This incident is inconsistent with our previous experiences at this center over several years. My child has had an overwhelmingly positive experience at Lynbrook. He has been cared for by loving, attentive teachers that have played a large role in his development into a happy, curious, creative child. Just one example: when he started at the center in the two-year-old “Kittens” class, he was shy and lacked the confidence to engage in the activities and talk to the other kids. One of the teachers who has been there for many years had an amazing ability to work with him and help him develop his confidence (please note, this teacher had no involvement with the incident two days ago). I have children who have been part of other child care centers and schools, and many of the Lynbrook teachers are as loving, dedicated and child-focused as any staff that I have encountered anywhere.

I have spent a lot of time with my child’s classes at different times of the day and in different settings (indoors, outdoor play, field trips, etc.) and have never felt that there was anything unsafe about the school. Far from being neglected, I always see the teachers engaging with the children. I have never seen teachers talking on their cellphones while with the children or doing any of the other neglectful behaviors that have been suggested on this board. While I can’t speak for any other parent of a child at Lynbrook, my informal conversations over the past few days suggest that many others share this view.

Several posters have criticized the play-based approach at this school. There are many different approaches to early childhood education, and there is little reliable evidence to support the superiority of one approach compared to another. I believe that an educational approach that is a good match for my child and family might not be a good match for another child or their family. For our family, the play-based approach at this and other centers has been wonderful, and has helped our kids to flourish. We think our children have developed intellectual, social and physical skills in a developmentally appropriate way. Our oldest child went to a play-based preschool, and is now an avid reader who is doing well in all subjects at school. Other approaches might very well have produced the same result, but I think it is invalid to criticize the school because it has this educational approach.

Clearly, a terrible error took place two days ago, and in no way am I trying to excuse that. It is not clear how much of this due was due to the neglect and/or incompetence of two teachers at that time, or whether there are other system failures that contributed. I do not know what the ultimate outcome will be, but in my view Lynbrook and MCCA seem to be taking the appropriate steps to deal with this at this time. First, the organization investigated and terminated the two teachers involved the day after the incident. MCCA self-reported this incident to the appropriate government agencies and child-care authorities first thing in the morning after this event, and are fully participating in the investigations. The organization had an open meeting for two hours last night (i.e. the night after this occurred) where the director of Lynbrook, executive director of MCCA and president of the board of MCCA met with parents. They encouraged parents to raise any issue and ask any question they had. In my view, they did their best to answer openly and honestly. I believe that the center is committed to making changes to help prevent this from happening again.

I do not know what will happen next, and I am open to making the decision that it is not in the best interests of my child to stay at this facility. However, I wanted to provide some balance to some of the posts that I have seen about this center by telling about our direct experiences prior to this event.

One final point – I have seen people on other boards criticizing MCCA for consulting with a PR company. This is a small organization facing a huge crisis. They do not have the in-house expertise in how to deal with media that a large corporation would have. With many people talking to the media and posting on boards such as this one, I really do not see that they had any alternative but to seek outside help to manage this in the best possible way.

Thank you for taking the time to write this. I think that in a public forum, the random commenters have no sense of the situation, the people, the organizations, the families involved. We as a community need to support these centers rather than criticize them. They are a very important part of our community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child was at Family Academy when this happened too and it's shocking that there was no formal acknowledgement of the incident nor was there any repurcussion for the teachers involved. Does anybody know how to check to see if this incident was reported formally?

This Family Academy incident happened Summer of 2008. I'm going to check the licensing records and report back. I doubt they reported it to licensing or the state authorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to make sure that what happened today to my child doesn't happen to anyone else's.

Today I arrived at the Bethesda Lynbrook Child Care Center to pick up my son and saw him and 3 of his classmates (all 2-3 year olds) DOWN THE STREET. They had somehow left the fenced in playground and walked almost 2 blocks into the neighborhood surrounding the center in Bethesda. A man walking his dog found them and was bringing them back. The teacher never knew they were missing. She literally had misplaced, LOST, half the class.

The center director wasn't there, the program manager didn't know what the procedure was when "things like this" happen, but I was assured that "there would be consequences."

However, several hours later, no formal notice has been made to the class or the list serve and they let the teacher stay in the classroom for the rest of the evening.

I am literally sick to my stomach over the possibilities of what could have happened to these 4 2-year olds who were walking amid parked cars, as a storm was rolling in, and were only identified as Lynbrook kids because they had their pennies on. How anyone could lose track of 4 little kids for such a long enough period of time that it would take those little legs to walk that far away, AND BACK, is unfathomably irresponsible to me.

If you are a Lynbrook parent, please, be aware that this has happened and that the school hardly seems to be concerned. If you are considering this placement for your child, don't. I don't believe they can keep the littlest among them safe.

Wendy,

I left you a message this morning and would encourage you to call me directly at the number I provided.

Thank you very much.

Michelle Green
Executive Director

Dear executive director, The ONLY appropriate message to the families who were involved and to your community is your immediate resignation!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2244 If you have time to hang out here and post here, but you don't have time to read a thoughtful post from a parent of a child at the center, then you should be careful about who you call an idiot (or "idoit").

Idiot was obviously a typo.
You referred to the event as an error. It is not an error it is a breach of law for which the persons responsible should be charged.
The END.
-was that clear enough for ya?

[Anonymous]

I am another parent wth a child in the toddler class at Lynbrook. I've posted to the list serve, but some of these comments are quite disturbing and I feel like this is worth repeating. BTW, what happened was one teacher went inside and somehow the other teacher thought she had taken the 4 children with her for a potty break. Each teacher thought the other had the children. That is why they did not know they were gone and whey they were not looking for them. These are not evil people. They simply made a mistake that could have had terrible consequences, but did not. Anyway, here is what I posted:

Many of you have heard about the incident at my kids' daycare, Lynbrook MCCA, on Monday afternoon. Four toddlers wandered away from the playground and it appears that the teachers did not know the children were missing until a neighbor brought them back. My son was not among the 4 missing kids, but he is in that classroom. My daughter also attends the before and aftercare program at Lynbrook. Those of us who are parents are rightfully sickened about the thought of what could have happened. We are also so, so grateful that no harm came to the children.
I have seen a lot of list serve traffic and even media attention to this incident, and I feel the compelled to speak out in defense of Lynbrook. This is the third daycare my children have attended, and, unfortunately, a child has gone missing for a period at each one. It is a terrible, inexcusable thing, but it does happen. In my opinion, Lynbrook responded appropriately. The school self-reported to the licensing board and Child Protective Services. The teachers on duty at the time of the incident were fired. Officials from the school and MCCA were at the school yesterday evening to respond to parental concerns. Today the school is holding staff meetings to review safety procedures and consider other measures that would prevent something like this from ever happening again. Monday's incident, of course, should not and could not have happened if school policies and procedures were being followed correctly.
Lynbrook is not perfect- I don't think any childcare facility is. But, it is a warm and loving place. My children are happy there and I have never felt them to be in danger. The teachers are wonderful people. One of my son's teachers has been there taking care of the community's children for over forty years! I understand that parents and other members of the community are rightfully upset, but I have had a positive experience at the school. I have not felt that my children were neglected, but rather that they are being cared for by responsible and loving individuals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am another parent wth a child in the toddler class at Lynbrook. I've posted to the list serve, but some of these comments are quite disturbing and I feel like this is worth repeating. BTW, what happened was one teacher went inside and somehow the other teacher thought she had taken the 4 children with her for a potty break. Each teacher thought the other had the children. That is why they did not know they were gone and whey they were not looking for them. These are not evil people. They simply made a mistake that could have had terrible consequences, but did not. Anyway, here is what I posted:

Many of you have heard about the incident at my kids' daycare, Lynbrook MCCA, on Monday afternoon. Four toddlers wandered away from the playground and it appears that the teachers did not know the children were missing until a neighbor brought them back. My son was not among the 4 missing kids, but he is in that classroom. My daughter also attends the before and aftercare program at Lynbrook. Those of us who are parents are rightfully sickened about the thought of what could have happened. We are also so, so grateful that no harm came to the children.
I have seen a lot of list serve traffic and even media attention to this incident, and I feel the compelled to speak out in defense of Lynbrook. This is the third daycare my children have attended, and, unfortunately, a child has gone missing for a period at each one. It is a terrible, inexcusable thing, but it does happen. In my opinion, Lynbrook responded appropriately. The school self-reported to the licensing board and Child Protective Services. The teachers on duty at the time of the incident were fired. Officials from the school and MCCA were at the school yesterday evening to respond to parental concerns. Today the school is holding staff meetings to review safety procedures and consider other measures that would prevent something like this from ever happening again. Monday's incident, of course, should not and could not have happened if school policies and procedures were being followed correctly.
Lynbrook is not perfect- I don't think any childcare facility is. But, it is a warm and loving place. My children are happy there and I have never felt them to be in danger. The teachers are wonderful people. One of my son's teachers has been there taking care of the community's children for over forty years! I understand that parents and other members of the community are rightfully upset, but I have had a positive experience at the school. I have not felt that my children were neglected, but rather that they are being cared for by responsible and loving individuals.

What I don't get is this - there were only two teachers responsible for 8 kids? Our daycare has 4 teachers for 9 children. Second - toddlers don't exactly make a beeline for two blocks - they dawdle, they wander, they turn and walk back and then walk forward again, etc. So how long did this take? How long was the teacher inside? How did no teacher SEE the children leaving the premises?

[Anonymous]

Childcare worker here.... I am saddened by the poster calling us teachers monkeys. Sure we do not get paid a lot, maybe peanuts to you, but we love what we do. Very rude of you.

Secondly, to the lynbrook parent basically saying this was a mistake is wrong. When you take children away from one location to another, playground to class to go to the bathroom, you sign those children out and let your coworker know. If you run inside quickly, leaving one teacher to 8 kids, it breaks ratio. This was not a mistake or an "oops." I am sure you would not defend Lynbrook had a child gotten hit by a car. Did Lynbrook follow proper procedures after the incident? No! Teachers should be removed immediately from the classroom upon such an incident and placed on admin leave until further notice. In this case, termination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am another parent wth a child in the toddler class at Lynbrook. I've posted to the list serve, but some of these comments are quite disturbing and I feel like this is worth repeating. BTW, what happened was one teacher went inside and somehow the other teacher thought she had taken the 4 children with her for a potty break. Each teacher thought the other had the children. That is why they did not know they were gone and whey they were not looking for them. These are not evil people. They simply made a mistake that could have had terrible consequences, but did not. Anyway, here is what I posted:

Many of you have heard about the incident at my kids' daycare, Lynbrook MCCA, on Monday afternoon. Four toddlers wandered away from the playground and it appears that the teachers did not know the children were missing until a neighbor brought them back. My son was not among the 4 missing kids, but he is in that classroom. My daughter also attends the before and aftercare program at Lynbrook. Those of us who are parents are rightfully sickened about the thought of what could have happened. We are also so, so grateful that no harm came to the children.
I have seen a lot of list serve traffic and even media attention to this incident, and I feel the compelled to speak out in defense of Lynbrook. This is the third daycare my children have attended, and, unfortunately, a child has gone missing for a period at each one. It is a terrible, inexcusable thing, but it does happen. In my opinion, Lynbrook responded appropriately. The school self-reported to the licensing board and Child Protective Services. The teachers on duty at the time of the incident were fired. Officials from the school and MCCA were at the school yesterday evening to respond to parental concerns. Today the school is holding staff meetings to review safety procedures and consider other measures that would prevent something like this from ever happening again. Monday's incident, of course, should not and could not have happened if school policies and procedures were being followed correctly.
Lynbrook is not perfect- I don't think any childcare facility is. But, it is a warm and loving place. My children are happy there and I have never felt them to be in danger. The teachers are wonderful people. One of my son's teachers has been there taking care of the community's children for over forty years! I understand that parents and other members of the community are rightfully upset, but I have had a positive experience at the school. I have not felt that my children were neglected, but rather that they are being cared for by responsible and loving individuals.

I cannot believe the people that are chiming in talking about how great Lynbrook is. They have no excuse!!

In my LO's daycare, if one teacher needs to go to the bathroom, they call the front desk and a floater is sent to take the place of that teacher. There is NO reason that a teacher should go inside and assume that the other teacher has her eye on 8 toddlers. There is NO reason that one teacher should take a break inside when the other teacher doesn't know.

The only reason you are coming to the defense of this place is because your child wasn't one of the ones lost. If you knew that your 2 year old was wandering around the streets without anyone knowing, you would be pretty sickened. Sickened to the point of not coming to the defense of these teachers!

And you say that all of the daycares have had kids missing. What kind of daycares are you sending your kids to??? Sure, there may be an instance where a kid wanders away for a minute. But there is NO way that our teachers would be unaware of a kid missing for the amount of time it would take for a toddler to walk 2 blocks. Further, how can you be so unaware that you don't know that FOUR KIDS are missing.

This is not just simple human error. This is negligence. I don't care if you are one of the lucky ones to not have a problem. The center was NEGLIGENT!

[Anonymous]

I agree with previous poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What I don't get is this - there were only two teachers responsible for 8 kids? Our daycare has 4 teachers for 9 children. Second - toddlers don't exactly make a beeline for two blocks - they dawdle, they wander, they turn and walk back and then walk forward again, etc. So how long did this take? How long was the teacher inside? How did no teacher SEE the children leaving the premises?

I think you are very lucky to have such a great ratio! It is not common to have 4 teachers for 9 two year olds. Maybe someone else can chime in on what the law requires in Maryland? I'm thinking 2 teachers for 10 two-year olds?

My DS was at a Montessori school in Montgomery County and there were 30 kids and 3 teachers. But, it was mixed age (age 3-5).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am another parent wth a child in the toddler class at Lynbrook. I've posted to the list serve, but some of these comments are quite disturbing and I feel like this is worth repeating. BTW, what happened was one teacher went inside and somehow the other teacher thought she had taken the 4 children with her for a potty break. Each teacher thought the other had the children. That is why they did not know they were gone and whey they were not looking for them. These are not evil people. They simply made a mistake that could have had terrible consequences, but did not. Anyway, here is what I posted:

Many of you have heard about the incident at my kids' daycare, Lynbrook MCCA, on Monday afternoon. Four toddlers wandered away from the playground and it appears that the teachers did not know the children were missing until a neighbor brought them back. My son was not among the 4 missing kids, but he is in that classroom. My daughter also attends the before and aftercare program at Lynbrook. Those of us who are parents are rightfully sickened about the thought of what could have happened. We are also so, so grateful that no harm came to the children.
I have seen a lot of list serve traffic and even media attention to this incident, and I feel the compelled to speak out in defense of Lynbrook. This is the third daycare my children have attended, and, unfortunately, a child has gone missing for a period at each one. It is a terrible, inexcusable thing, but it does happen. In my opinion, Lynbrook responded appropriately. The school self-reported to the licensing board and Child Protective Services. The teachers on duty at the time of the incident were fired. Officials from the school and MCCA were at the school yesterday evening to respond to parental concerns. Today the school is holding staff meetings to review safety procedures and consider other measures that would prevent something like this from ever happening again. Monday's incident, of course, should not and could not have happened if school policies and procedures were being followed correctly.
Lynbrook is not perfect- I don't think any childcare facility is. But, it is a warm and loving place. My children are happy there and I have never felt them to be in danger. The teachers are wonderful people. One of my son's teachers has been there taking care of the community's children for over forty years! I understand that parents and other members of the community are rightfully upset, but I have had a positive experience at the school. I have not felt that my children were neglected, but rather that they are being cared for by responsible and loving individuals.

If you don't work for the center than you as a parent need to worry about what other judgement calls and lapses exist in the daycare procedures. The fact that teachers don't communicate to each other enough to know who has who??? really that's a BIG DEAL!!!! I agree you would not be so non-chalant if kids were never found or hurt. Just by luck they were found by a nice person who knew where to bring them back to is the reason you can say....'well it alls well that ends well'.

NO!!!! if teachers can't even communicate well enough what else are they letting slip. If I were the parents of these centers I would be questioning the quality of the school. Not making excuses for them by saying 'so far it's been all good'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am another parent wth a child in the toddler class at Lynbrook. I've posted to the list serve, but some of these comments are quite disturbing and I feel like this is worth repeating. BTW, what happened was one teacher went inside and somehow the other teacher thought she had taken the 4 children with her for a potty break. Each teacher thought the other had the children. That is why they did not know they were gone and whey they were not looking for them. These are not evil people. They simply made a mistake that could have had terrible consequences, but did not. Anyway, here is what I posted:

Many of you have heard about the incident at my kids' daycare, Lynbrook MCCA, on Monday afternoon. Four toddlers wandered away from the playground and it appears that the teachers did not know the children were missing until a neighbor brought them back. My son was not among the 4 missing kids, but he is in that classroom. My daughter also attends the before and aftercare program at Lynbrook. Those of us who are parents are rightfully sickened about the thought of what could have happened. We are also so, so grateful that no harm came to the children.
I have seen a lot of list serve traffic and even media attention to this incident, and I feel the compelled to speak out in defense of Lynbrook. This is the third daycare my children have attended, and, unfortunately, a child has gone missing for a period at each one. It is a terrible, inexcusable thing, but it does happen. In my opinion, Lynbrook responded appropriately. The school self-reported to the licensing board and Child Protective Services. The teachers on duty at the time of the incident were fired. Officials from the school and MCCA were at the school yesterday evening to respond to parental concerns. Today the school is holding staff meetings to review safety procedures and consider other measures that would prevent something like this from ever happening again. Monday's incident, of course, should not and could not have happened if school policies and procedures were being followed correctly.
Lynbrook is not perfect- I don't think any childcare facility is. But, it is a warm and loving place. My children are happy there and I have never felt them to be in danger. The teachers are wonderful people. One of my son's teachers has been there taking care of the community's children for over forty years! I understand that parents and other members of the community are rightfully upset, but I have had a positive experience at the school. I have not felt that my children were neglected, but rather that they are being cared for by responsible and loving individuals.

I am a parent at Bethesda Lynbrook and I had NO IDEA what happened to cause this. I am wondering how you know and I do not. I have asked teachers, met the administrators, read their dispatches, and I am still waiting for the answer you apparently got. Not good Lynbrook. Let EVERYONE know what happened.