I'm surprised no one has yet posted about Flagstone losing a child during the transition to the playground. Apparently the teacher counted the kids but didn't know how many there were supposed to be so the count was meaningless. A parent eventually found the toddler standing alone and tried to locate his class. The teachers hadn't even realized he was missing! It's in the latest inspection report, along with lots of missing documentation from teachers' records (no background checks, no reference checks, no negative tuberculosis screenings, no CRC or CPS checks, etc.). Wow.

Can anyone provide any perspective on the toddler room activities - do you feel the children are being read to, exposed to new activities, etc.? Also the teachers - are they attentive, kind, etc.? We are looking possibly to switch from another child care facility and are really looking for a stimulating environment - so hard to find for toddlers around here!

PP, thank you

It's $775 every 2 weeks.

Does anyone have any information on infant tuition at Flagstone? I don't see any information on the website.

I have 2 children at Flagstone and both have been there since they were infants. We have been consistently happy with the staff and have always felt that our children are well cared for. Any frustrations I've had have been with the administration due to a lack of communication and an unwillingness to upgrade to a more modern/digital platform, but they have a new director in place and it's getting better.

The building feels like a cozy school and is the perfect size for all of the kids to get to know each other. No other daycare in the area has an outdoor space that is as large and nice and I appreciate that the kids are able to spend a lot of time outdoors. They allow for a lot of independent play/growth, but also have enough structure to prepare them for formal education. I especially appreciate how easy they have made the stages of child growth on us as parents - weening off bottles and pacifiers, potty training and speech development have been a breeze!

We have two kids (2.5 and 6mo) at Flagstone and are very happy. The teachers are kind, generous and helpful and our kids are incredibly comfortable there. The building is older, but I love that about it - there are high ceilings, lots of natural light, plenty of room inside and incredible grassy play areas outside. I love that it feels like a little school, and I've never seen anything in the building that functions poorly.

The many-to-one communications from the management are not perfect but have become dramatically better with the new director coming in and are getting better still. Unlike the old director, clarification is only a quick call or email away, and all parents are quickly updated if something is unclear. And they are becoming more responsive to parent needs - for example adding Spanish after a trial in the summer and adjusting the snow day policy based on our feedback. All of this for us is very much secondary to feeling that our kids are safe and developing quickly - the oldest has learned so much - potty training been a breeze, alphabets, numbers, crafts and reading are heavily emphasized, and there's noone I trust more with our new baby than the infant room teachers - I dont need a camera to know they will take great care of him with lots of hugs, smiles and love.

We are in the toddlers room now and are liking it. We also were in the infant room and adore Ms. Keisha, the lead teacher. The new Director is great but yes, sometimes her emails area a bit unclear. Sometimes you simply have to email her to clarify and she is always very responsive. I have learned to look past that as our daughter is happy, the teachers are nice, and the outdoor space is hands down better than any day care in Old Town. In addition, in the winter months when kids are trapped in doors, Flagstone's classrooms are much bigger than the other center's we looked at. Happy to answer any further questions. You can email me directly at akarlsons at gmail.com

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Any feedback on the classroom experiences for infants and toddlers - the teachers, the daily activities?

I think the new director came into a daycare that had a really absent and incompetent previous director, and it took a while to address a lot of long-term lingering problems. Is it perfect? No. But my kid is happy there and and I have no qualms about leaving her there every morning.

Anonymous wrote:We're happy there. The teachers are great, the new director is very communicative, and I still think they have the best outdoor space of any daycare in Alexandria.

20:25 again. This just shows how perspectives/opinions can differ, because I found the new director did not communicate well at all. A couple of examples from our time there:

-- Like many other daycares in the area Flagstone uses Jeffrey's catering. By regulation they must post the menu, which they did. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to most (all?) of the parents, on Fridays they were going to the grocery store and making lunches, not serving the posted catered lunch. I believe Fridays are blacked out on the menu.

-- A teacher was let go, and this was not communicated to the parents. I'm not saying the reason she was terminated was not communicated, which is understandable; I'm saying her termination was not communicated. Her photo was removed the bulletin board, and the lock code was changed, but that was it. When parents asked directly if she'd been let go, they were not given a straight answer.

On the positive side, both of these issues were addressed in a parents' meeting with the owner back in the late fall/early winter.

I also found the emails from the director nearly unintelligible.

We're happy there. The teachers are great, the new director is very communicative, and I still think they have the best outdoor space of any daycare in Alexandria.

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Flagstone got a new director about a year ago. Fwiw, our experience was that she in a bit over her head, and we ended up pulling our child and switching to another daycare.

Any recent feedback on Flagstone daycare in Alexandria?