Nist Child Care Center

The NIST CCC is a hidden gem. The staff, the teachers, the large(r) classrooms, and the playground (unmatched compared to any other center), are so so wonderful. The halls are filled with all sorts of creativity, the staff put a lot of effort into building the community within, and it is a really great place and IS worth waiting for if you’re on the waitlist. The teachers, the parents, the front office, and the board of directors, make this a really great community for our kids. Probably the best communication you could ever ask for with the current operation. We are so grateful for this center and all that it offers.

My 2.5-year-old son attended this childcare center for three weeks, and we had some nightmare experiences during his time there. On two separate occasions, we discovered nail scratches all over on his upper body and scratches and bruises on his face. When we inquired about these incidents, the director failed to provide satisfactory explanations and offered little assistance in resolving the issues. Despite the director's initial assertion that video footage showed nothing unusual, we decided to review it after withdrawing our child from the center. We found evidence that one of the teachers had pushed our child's head multiple times, which was deeply concerning. In light of these distressing incidents, we took the matter seriously and reported it to Child Protective Services (CPS). The director, who eventually watched the video footage with us, also reported the incident. Our child has continued to share distressing stories, such as a teacher throwing away his teddy bear when he tried to move during nap time. This has left us deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of the children under their care at this childcare center. We sincerely hope that our experience serves as a warning to other parents. Childcare centers should prioritize the safety and well-being of children, and it’s evident that NIST CCC is not doing so.

NIST CCC is a truly wonderful place. If you are a Fed in the Maryland suburbs of DC, I highly recommend you try to get your child in here (FYI, any Fed can register their child; I work for a different agency than NIST). The center was built recently, so it is large, airy, and everything is clean and new. We have only been there for two years (switched to NIST when our second was four, due to a job change), but all the teachers and staff are lovely. They know their stuff and really care about the kids. There is a lot of extra enrichment and activities for the kids, and they get a healthy lunch every day and snacks (included), so no need to pack unless you really want to. There is also a GREAT community of parents, which is important to us. We go to a lot of parties and play dates, and some parents organize weekend outings at the park, etc. My daughter has also made such wonderful friends here, friends I think she will be in touch with for a long time even though they will go to different elementary schools. If you want beautiful and educational surroundings for your child, peace of mind for yourself, and a strong feeling of community for the entire family, this is a great place to send your child!!

sent my kid there for about 4 months this year. kid is happy for the first 3 months. then become reluctant to go there. then things getting worse and worse. cry every time when sent to daycare. I later on eye-witnessed my kid is abused by a class teacher. reported to director, not helpful. then reported to Maryland department of education. requested report from them. found out more abuse report. stay away from them if you love your kids! ***************************** I just saw the owner of NIST CCC's response. Let's see how they handle this issue base on facts that they can't deny: my kid was there for 4 months. he is happy for the first 3 months. This reflected that my son has successfully passed the transition period. Then at about the beginning of the 4th month, i noted the issue and then reported to the director. But things just getting worse and worse. One day when i came to pick up my son, i saw him sitting on the ground crying. The teacher was pointing her fingers to him and said something to him. Later on the teacher told me that my son was not doing something right and she was teaching him. I reported again to the director. Just as the owner's response here, the director start to questioning me that the issue is due to the kid. The director does not trust parent, does not care about the kid, does not want solve the issue from discipline her staff. Then she chose to neglect the truth and starting blaming the kid, the transition. If transition is the issue, we would have the issue from the very beginning. I talked with other parents and heard that there were multiple complains against the same teacher previously. But for some reason, the director never address these complains successfully. My son was 4 years old at that time. Now he is 7 years old. He never have any similar issue after that. Nowadays, every time we pass by NIST CCC, my son often point to the playground and says: this is my old daycare, i remember there was a very scary teacher, she often push me to the corner of the wall and punish me, make me cry..... I think my son will never forget about this teacher. Let's look at the owner's response again: he/she admitted that there was complain about a teacher. He/She did investigation. He/she concluded that they don't have any problem. Then he/she seems indicate that the kid has issue with "transition" and the customer may have "inappropriate behavior". Let's be reasonable: if our issue is due to "transition", how can the kid be happy for the first three month, and then became crying every morning before going to your daycare from a later time? If you want to say that some customer has "inappropriate behavior", can you speak it out clearly? Who are those customers? what did they do?

Stay away from this daycare. I sent my son to this daycare about 3 years ago. Now my son still have bad memory about one teacher there who treated him very badly. He said the teacher often punish him for no reason. We submitted complains to the daycare director. She not only do nothing to help solve the issue, but also started to blame the kid and parents. We have to withdraw after about 4 months.