I agree with the above poster.
In home day care is better for infants and younger than 2 y/o. When my neighbor toured Merit School Arlington, they woke up the toddlers to show the classroom!
I toured the court house metro Merit and did not like what I saw

Anonymous wrote:NP- Can you tell me the tuition for 5 days in the infant room? Nothing seems to be on the website. It also seems like there are so few daycares with infant rooms in North Arlington. What am I missing? Thanks.

Yes there are not a lot of centers with infant care in north Arlington - many families use homes daycares for that time period and most parents I know in home daycares are very happy with that - something to consider!

Wow. What are the centers in Arlington that still maintain 1:3 and what do they charge? Does anyone know?

Arlington County changed their ratio in July 2019. When we first toured and got on the waitlist the ratio was 1:3. It wasn't until dropping her off for the first time in January 2020--and witnessing a completely overwhelmed worker trying to manage four babies--that I realized the change. Luckily, we were able to switch to a center that is keeping the old ratio of 1:3. Merit was $580 a week for infant care--shocking high considering the care is clearly worse now that they are a 1:4 center instead of a 1:3 center.

NP- Can you tell me the tuition for 5 days in the infant room? Nothing seems to be on the website. It also seems like there are so few daycares with infant rooms in North Arlington. What am I missing? Thanks.

Anonymous wrote:After two weeks in the infant room at the Clarendon location we switched to a different center. The director was not impressive and I did not like that their infant room had a 1:4 ratio.

Did you tell the county? That seems out of ratio.

After two weeks in the infant room at the Clarendon location we switched to a different center. The director was not impressive and I did not like that their infant room had a 1:4 ratio.

I only know people who have taken their kids out. It’s nearly impossible to find an infant spot in Arlington. Ask yourself why Merit has openings.

Anonymous wrote:Reigniting this thread - looking for feedback on the infant program at the Merit School (either location). thank you.

Any update on this? Did you decide to place your child at The Merit School? Any feedback?

We’ve been at the Clarendon location for a while now. Originally we were very happy, however last month or two there have definitely been some issues with management and teacher retention.

They recently hired a new director that seems promising, so we are hoping she will turn it around, which she seems dedicated to doing. Can’t say enough good things about the teachers though!

My impression is the Arlington location is more established and better run.

Reigniting this thread - looking for feedback on the infant program at the Merit School (either location). thank you.

Thank you!

We were there for quite a while. We were basically happy, but left this past summer after the shakeup they did with the administration. (We were big fans of the former principal).
Several families left after this. Those who stuck it out say that things have evened out.
My impression is that the teachers are less happy, which is not great for teacher retention.
It is a nice place. It is vastly superior to most Arlington home daycares, and some other centers. It is not perfect.

Also curious as to current experiences here. We are relocating to Arlington and this school has availability for our kiddos so would like to learn about current experiences. Thanks!!

Hi, does anyone have recent experience here? We were offered a spot in the infant room. We're currently with an in-home nanny, but for a variety of reasons (including her not being supportive of breastfeeding), we're not happy. As I know so many of you can relate, finding perfect child care in this area is so hard. Thanks in advance!