Day Early Learning State Government Center

**AVOID THIS PLACE, NOW AND FOREVER** That is our recommendation, based on the experiences we had during the extended enrollment of our child, and our own repeated exposure to staff. **Read to the end.** It’s a lot, but you need to understand the reality of what has happened before inside these walls before you make a decision to enroll your child here. The food they feed these kids is disgusting, the timing of food served is bizarre, the way many of the individuals on staff talk to and interact with the kids would SHOCK you, and the way we as parents were spoken to when we took issue with treatment of kids that we overheard and saw, demonstrated total ignorance of quality childcare protocol, complete contempt for us as parents and paying customers, as well as an outright refusal to react to concerns we raised. **These people absolutely do not care what you think about how they do what they do.** We encountered more than one individual whose obvious mental health struggles should not have permitted them to be anywhere near children. We had a unique perspective. We were able to observe operations here more closely than many other parents, as our child’s Mother and I both worked for the state. Most have to drop their children off and leave immediately to go to work, and they do not return until much later in the day. We visited our daughter every single day before lunch. Our opinion, based on what we saw, heard and experienced, is that these are NOT childcare pros. Simply lingering in the hallways sometimes, you will find out a great deal about who these people really are. Teachers have been heard SCREAMING at their kids, at decibels that could be heard through 2” thick wood doors, into the hallways. The BIGGEST incident we faced, which culminated to a serious clash between myself and staff was when we noticed our daughter’s fingernails mysteriously being trimmed without our consent. I attempted to engage our daughter’s teacher to ask her to help us observe who might be doing this (we had brought it up to her before, and she stated that our daughter was chewing her nails, which she does not ever do). I told her that we wanted it stopped, and that DEL was the only place our daughter is not directly supervised by us. The teacher even more aggressively cut me off and told me that “nobody is trimming her nails” (which she cannot even say with such authority because she’s not even on site at all hours). When I attempted to continue to talk to her about it, the teacher put her hand up, flew into emotional hysterics, (highly over dramatic for the situation at hand) walked to the front of the facility to make a huge scene, where she would be surrounded by other staff. It was at that point that the “office manager“ injected herself into the conversation, and said to me, “you know what, you’re not even a DAD.” She SAID those words, with multiple witnesses. While it’s true that I am not our daughters birth father, and her mother and I aren’t married, it is absolutely unacceptable for anyone in a vendor role, who receives money for services to talk this way to the person that the child acknowledges as being her father. I am the only father our daughter has ever known, from the time she was a baby, and it is not the prerogative of a childcare VENDOR to define family dynamics. We engaged the director, who promptly took the employee’s side, without even hearing from us. I then wrote to senior leadership, who could not even be bothered to respond to my email, but engaged in internal discussions, which culminated to me being banned from the daycare. There were no repercussions at all to the office manager for what she said to me: “you’re not even a Dad.” Just think about the audacity of that remark. Staff here IS dismissive, they WILL back each other up, they WILL downplay your concerns, and act as if your input is not broadly relevant. If you engage senior leadership, they will not even acknowledge you. In summary, our evaluation is that these are not people you would choose to care for your children in your absence.

Excellent childcare providers and facility. We were at this center for close to 4 years. The school leader, Tiffany, is very professional and kind. All of the teachers have been good with our children. We sent our second child here starting at 3 months old and this place was home away from home. Any issues or concerns we have had were addressed rapidly. The food here is also balanced and way more healthy than other centers, they ensure there is adequate protein and low sugar offerings. The childcare providers are all well tenured, trustworthy and knowledgable. We were very happy here overall.

I had a very disappointing experience with Tiffany, one of the school leaders at this preschool. As a parent looking to enroll my child in pre-K, I expected a welcoming and informative interaction — especially when it comes to choosing a place that will help shape my child’s early education. Unfortunately, Tiffany was extremely rude and dismissive. She seemed uninterested in answering my questions and was not open to providing more information about the program. Her attitude made me feel unwelcome and as if I was bothering her by even asking. First impressions matter, and this one left me feeling like this is not the right environment for my child. Communication and kindness should be a basic standard in early childhood education — sadly, that wasn’t my experience here.

From the time I had my child I was scared to leave him at alone at any childcare facility. He’s been to 5 different centers and never adjusted to any of them. He would cry all day and wouldn’t eat. It’s safe to say he adjusted within a consecutive 4 days going !! He’s now taking bits of food and even sitting with the children to eat!! For the first time ever I was able to drop him off and he not follow me out crying. They are so nurturing and caring. I was against childcare, until I enrolled my son here. They are amazing!! I highly recommend for children that need a little extra love and comfort. They even have an app where they update you with picture and changing throughout the day.

We started sending our 4 month old during the COVID pandemic. Needless to say we were very cautious and selective when we finally decided to send our child to this daycare. Day early learning state government center helped put our minds at ease by abiding by strict COVID guidelines, making sure that all the children were safe, and being in constant communication. We especially love Ms. Aar-Yana who is in charge of the infant classrooms. She is very caring and very receptive to any concerns that parents may have. The daycare does a great job of keeping the children engaged by having a variety of activities that changes every week. We are now running out of space on our fridge from all the art work he brings back home. We also feel comfortable leaving him at this center as it has very robust security checkpoints since it is a government building. The only downside is that if there is a very plausible threat of riot/protest, the center may close preemptively to keep the children safe.