St Thomas Aquinas Child Development Center

Despite the criticism I’ve read, St. Thomas CDC is hands down one of the most affordable and reliable childcare centers in town. They truly understand the needs of families, offering CCMS acceptance and great sibling discounts that make quality care more accessible. What really sets them apart, though, are the amazing teachers. You can tell they genuinely care for and love their students. It feels more like than just a daycare! My children are not only safe but also thriving in their care. Highly recommend St. Thomas CDC to any parent looking for trustworthy, compassionate, and affordable childcare. We absolutely LOVE St. Thomas CDC 🩵🙏🏼

St. Thomas is truly an amazing center! From the moment you walk through the doors, you can feel the warmth and care that fills the space. Each teacher goes above and beyond to create a safe, nurturing, and joyful environment for every child. Their compassion and genuine love for what they do is evident in the way they interact with the kids—patiently guiding them, celebrating their progress, and always making sure they feel seen and supported. What stands out most is how personal and attentive the staff are. They take the time to really get to know each child and their unique needs, creating a strong sense of community and trust. It's comforting as a parent to know that your child is not only learning and growing but also being truly cared for by people who are deeply dedicated to their well-being. St. Thomas is more than just a center—it’s a second home. We are so grateful to be part of this incredible community.

I have used St. Thomas Aquinas for childcare for the last six years, since my oldest was an infant. My two youngest just graduated the pre-K program and will be starting kindergarten in the fall. The teachers there are very caring and you can tell that they really love the kids. Many of them have been there for years and have watched my kids grow. My kids adore their teachers and my oldest always loved getting to go back and see her teachers when we would pick up her brother and sister. They have a program where the museum will come visit - my kids always enjoyed getting to see the different things the museum staff would bring. They also have a “lunchbox break” program where the kids get a fun pizza day twice a month and it gives the parent a break from having to prepare a lunch. They occasionally host a parents night out where the kids get to have dinner and watch a movie on a Friday night, I think it went from 6-10pm. They had a soccer program where the soccer lessons were given during school time. All the programs offered were very affordable. The tuition is reasonable when compared to other childcare centers in the area. The teachers use an app to update the parents with pictures throughout the day, which is always fun to see when you’re at work. The teachers in pre-K always came up with creative and educational projects for the kids to do. They have two fenced playgrounds, and then when it would rain they have a large gym the kids could play in. Now that my kids have graduated from pre-K it’s very bittersweet because St. Thomas played such a big role in caring for them. I know my kids always felt loved and safe there. I will always be grateful for the people there!

Back in January my husband looked up one of the teachers, who was potentially going to be responsible of my daughter, on the Brazos portal website. The teacher appeared on the Brazos County mugshots and arrests Facebook page as well, so I wanted more information directly from the source. I talked to the Director, Ms. Garret, and she told me that this specific teacher can’t be close to kids by law, so she wasn’t going to be the teacher of my daughter’s class. I had all but forgotten about this matter since it wasn’t relevant to me. Since then, the teacher became the curriculum coordinator of St. Thomas Aquinas CDC. Some weeks later the human Resources/Business Administrator sent an email through the daycare platform saying that “As a Catholic Childcare center, we are saddened that any teacher or parent would participate in gossip, speaking negatively of an employee’s character and violating their right to privacy. For a staff member to make derogatory statements and classify another staff member as a criminal, or as someone with a criminal record, is defamatory.” I’m not sure if other parents looked over this information on the internet but since it is public information and fact, it is not considered defamation. Every parent should have the right to know about a caregiver’s criminal history and if they are apt for the job. Since I am in the army, I decided to enroll my baby there because I prefer both kids going to the same daycare. I complained about the changes to the curriculum where my almost 3-year-old, instead learning how to write or other topics appropriate for his age, started “learning” a color each day. Even though the Director claimed that the new curriculum was implemented last year, the changes were not seen until this year. I complained that the things they were learning were not for my son’s age group but for younger kids. I understand that they have to follow the Texas recommendation especially now that they have CCMS - Child Care Management Services. However, with these changes, the quality of education has dramatically decreased in quality. Our correspondence with the daycare lasted over the course of several weeks and not one of our concerns about the safety and well-being of our kids was addressed; our concerns were simply dismissed. Later, when I was in Military training, we decided to pull our kids out and by policy we had to give a 30-day notice. However, the director sent a message through the Daycare platform at 11am informing us that that same day will be the last day for our kids. The reason that my almost 1 year old was enrolled was because I would be in military training for a long time and only my husband would be in charge of both of them, which was communicated many times by me to the director because I know my absence would be rough on the kids and my husband, who works full time. My husband questioned if this was a threat and would be breaching the contract all parties signed for the daycare, and the administrator backpedaled saying the statement she gave was, in-fact, an “option” to leave the daycare. Shortly after, an incident report involving our daughter being injured was made. The director had no right to use my kids as a weapon to prove a point that she had the power to make our lives difficult, especially because it is associated with the very Catholic church that I am a parishioner of. Even though we have disagreements I never thought that this daycare would give me an ultimatum like this, jeopardizing my kid’s safety. St. Thomas Aquinas used to be a good daycare, but management recently has become incorrigible, and some of the teachers are not taking care of the kids how they are supposed to. We have recordings of kids being screamed at for having accidents that can be heard from across the school, by staff in charge of children. If you want a quality daycare for your children, I suggest to stay far away from this one.

We used to love this place but is no longer beneficial for our kids. Our son was singled out and bullied by certain teacher(s) and when brought up to director it was swept under the rug. Our son was coming home with scratches and bruises that were not being reported to us and when we asked what happened no one knew. He said certain kids we hitting or scratching him. Brought it up to director again and nothing happened. Director actually yelled a my wife and insulted her when my wife called again to bring up concerns after the director called out our son about issues and cut off my wife from talking in the hallway infront of parents. Heard from other parents their children were coming home with marks and these injuries were not being reported and there was no disciplinary actions taken. Lots of good teachers have left since we started and we no longer felt safe keeping our son here. Once removed our son has had such a huge improvement in his behavior, and has started enjoying learning at another school. Sad because we are Catholic and wanted to keep our son in a Catholic childcare environment but this cdc is not being ran appropriately. Yes the price is mostly cheaper then other places but is not beneficial for children. We have contacted the church but no one is reaching out to us so we feel we are being ignored and problems are being swept under the rug so they can continue their financial gain. Our advice, spend the extra money somewhere else.