Fair Lakes Children's Center

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any experience with this center?

http://www.childsplayinc.com/childrensCentersGroup/LocationsAndTuitions/FairLakes.aspx

[Anonymous]

My kids were there - one just one year (age 4) and the other for two years (ages 2-4) - in Fairlakes. Are you considering sending your child there? Do you want my opinion?

[Anonymous]

Yes..my little one is 16mos old and i need more info about the center. i walked thru and liked what i saw but that was before he was born.

[Anonymous]

While I don't know specifics, I remember have not heard great things about this one. I live in Chantilly near Fair Lakes. Sorry I don't have any specific info for you.

[Anonymous]

Should you decide not to go with this one, or if you are still looking around and are looking near Fair Lakes, I live about 1 mile or less up the road from that center. I am re-opening my in-home daycare in the Fall after a 3 year break. (We adopted and wanted to take some time with our new daughter.) I don't know what time frame you are looking at, but I plan to open back up in mid-September.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids were there - one just one year (age 4) and the other for two years (ages 2-4) - in Fairlakes. Are you considering sending your child there? Do you want my opinion?

This is me. My youngest was last a Fairlakes the Spring of 2008. Since you are looking for feedback on the center, I'll give you my observations. I was never very happy with the center overall, but it was okay for the most part and I didn't think it was worth it to take my youngest out for just one year. If he had had several years to go, I would have changed centers.

There were some pluses:

* Center had nice, neat, relatively clean facilities
* Staff was always friendly
* Staff turn over was not too high
* You can "reserve" a slot over the summer without paying tuition (beneficial if you are a teacher) - although I think at this age most centers would have openings for the following year, so I was never certain how much of a benefit this really was.

Minuses:

* Nothing going on academically. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they should have the kids lined up in rows and having tests, but there was no real curricula there. I had to teach my child the letter sounds the summer between Fairlakes and Kindergarten, for instance. There were no real projects or artwork - my kids generally came home with coloring pages. I thought it was mostly babysitting-style childcare.
* As a follow up to that, I though that with the "supply fee" paid twice a year, they might actually buy some supplies. If they did, I never saw them. It would have been nice to have better art supplies, more books, newer toys, etc. Ask about the "supply fee" if you don't know about it already -- it is equal to one week of tuition twice a year - paid in Fall and Spring. I always thought of this as a disingenuous way to collect more tuition - a "hidden fee" of sorts.
* At least during the time I was there, (just over 2 years) - there were three different directors -- the last one was very young. Although she was very nice, it seemed to me that she did not take much initiative to manage her particular center -- everything was handled by the higher-ups at the corp. headquarters. She was more of a figure-head.
* Several times a year the center would call and "invite you" to pick up your child early because the weather was bad and the teachers would like to go home (nothing like a good guilt trip, apparently). I never much appreciated this as I work in the District (it takes about 1.5 hours to get home) and DH is a teacher and could not leave school until his students were released. I thought the policy should have been that the daycare followed the public school closings (which it does, but it additionally shuts down early without following the school district's lead). I brought this up to the director, who referred me to management (see above complaint) who basically told me they could do what they wanted.
* Although you can remove your child without paying tuition for the summer, they will not pro-rate your "supply fee" for the spring (despite the fact that your child will be out for at least 2 of the 6 month period). This might be seen as nit-picky, but I list it as a minus, personally.

My children had been in a top notch (and I don't mean expensive/fancy, I just mean good care, low turn-over, great staff, academic, involved and good use of space) facility before we moved to this area, so I was expecting a lot more. I wouldn't recommend this center overall, unless your choices were limited. And then know that it is okay, but not great.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Hi All!
07/23/2009 14:12 Thank you so much for your response. Wow..I really thought the center had curriculum and activities available because thats what the brochure states. The minuses make me nervous especially since I work in the district as well and the getting back is a journey.

Again..thank you all!

[Anonymous]

I don't have experience with this center, but I do send my son to an excellent in-home daycare that is just up the street from there.

There are 3 (very warm and loving) caregivers. My son has been there for over a year and he is very happy there. It is a very clean and well run operation and I feel lucky to have found it.

Call Shashi at [phone] to make an appointment to see her. I'm positive once you meet her and see how clean and wonderful her daycare is you'll be happy you did. All of the children currently at the daycare come from referrals.

Good luck with your search!