Bethesda Child Development Center

We are going on our 3rd year having our children at Bethesda. We started with 1/2 day kindergarten for our middle child in 2022 and moved into part time daycare for our 1 year old in 2023. The teachers are very hands on, actually all the staff are, in the best way. They are very reassuring to timid parents (me) and encouraging to the kiddos. My middle is very shy and cried for the first few days that he didn't want to go. By October he was crying was on Saturday's he loved going so much. He transitioned beautifully into kindergarten thanks to our positive experience here. They follow the appo school schedule so when appo kids are out so are they. This was the only downfall as a working parent.

Our oldest two went to Bethesda years ago. We loved everything about the experience, from the classroom instruction and teacher care to the planned events for families. We sent our younger son to a different daycare and after a not-great experience moved him to Bethesda. It was the best move for us as parents and him as student. He’s so happy, so loved and they teachers and administrators are top-notch. I highly recommend Bethesda for preschool.

UPDATE: My wife and I have decided to find a new preschool for next year. Despite being very happy sending our older child here, we are pulling our younger child. The school is now under new management and we are very upset with how things have changed. The connected church has a new pastor who is significantly more intrusive into how the school is run. The school's primary administrators have been fired and replaced and several of the more experienced teachers have left or are leaving. He has even gone so far as to take over the religious education program from a qualified early childhood educator. My wife went with another mom to discuss our concerns with the new pastor. He was not receptive to feedback and admonished them for discussing our concerns. ======================= Original Post: Our child is in his second year here and we are very pleased. We will be sending our next there in a couple more years. Our son asks us about new things every day and we are amazed that he is learning so much. The staff is very kind and knows nearly all of the parents by the end of the first few weeks. My wife normally takes him, but they still know me from the few times I've been on my days off. A great school and worth every penny.

My experience with the teachers and administration is nothing but excellent. Wendy and Emily have been wonderful in answering all of my questions and making sure we as a family all feel comfortable. The teachers are kind and the school smells like bleach which in my eyes means clean. My daughter is talking better and begs me to go to school. I am happy we chose Bethesda.

We sent our youngest son here after recommendations from friendly peers — he attended full day for Pre-K 3 and Pre-K 4 and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the balance of play and what they’re learning! The children are engaged and love going, and are already learning how to read. We received (a lot) of class videos and pictures daily and are in special group with the other parents! We had two different sets of Ms. Jackie’s for each school year — and both were five stars. It’s amazing the difference of what our youngest son learned from our older son who attended a local school districts Pre-K program. We were very impressed by the school administration led by Lauren Cataldi-May.