My youngest daughter went here from 6-8 grades. It was a wonderful experience that she owes so much…read moreto. The administration is wonderful and it really put her on the path to success. Her classmates and she are off to college this year and this reunion brings them all together one last time before matriculation. They're all wearing T-shirts and other paraphernalia from their new schools. Timber Pizza is catering the event and it's a really nice family environment Weather is beautiful.

Here is the nomination I submitted for Teacher of the Year:…read more Nomination for Teacher of the Year: Ms. Danielle Smith Ms. Danielle Smith is the epitome of an educator, caregiver, and professional. Our daughter has been in Ms. Danielle's class since she was 15 months old and will soon be turning two. In that time, I've witnessed the profound impact Ms. Danielle has had on her development. It's clear to see that Ms. Danielle's deep love for teaching shines through in everything she does with our child. Our daughter has flourished under Ms. Danielle's guidance: learning letters, shapes, colors, numbers (in both English and Spanish), new sign language words, songs, dances, and so much more. But beyond just the educational milestones, Ms. Danielle has inspired a curiosity and love for learning in our daughter that will last a lifetime. As parents, we place an immense level of trust in our children's teachers-not only to help them grow but also to keep them safe. With Ms. Danielle, I never worry. She is always attentive, nurturing, thoughtful, creative, and approachable. Both my husband and I feel completely comfortable reaching out to her with any questions or concerns regarding our child. I greatly admire the level of communication she maintains with families and how she always partners with us in the care, growth, and development of our daughter. Although our daughter will soon be moving on to a new class, our family will forever be grateful for the love and dedication Ms. Danielle has shown to her. She is a truly exceptional teacher, and we feel lucky to have had her in our child's life. With sincere gratitude, The Stevens Family Waldorf, MD

Had a SCHEDULED tour from 10-11 , arrive at the school and was sitting in the lobby for about 20…read moreminutes. We asked the front desk assistant if we needed to reschedule (since we did leave work for the tour) and she said "well today is pizza Friday and it will be a few more minutes (but couldn't tell us how many more minutes). First impressions are super important...if we are scheduling a tour to potentially place our children in this school, things should have been organized and prepared. Not to mention this tour was scheduled three weeks ago. This was totally unprofessional and frustrating as my husband and I both left work to attend this "tour". Also, I could understand had she said take a seat in the lobby we'll be with you in a moment, we are taking care of something but she didn't and then mentioned the tour was only 30 minutes and that we were the only tour for this day....as if our scheduled tour wasn't important. I am most definitely not sending my children here if the tour alone was unprofessional.

After 2 years at the school and 2 children enrolled, we ultimately withdrew both of our children…read morebecause we no longer felt confident in the school management's ability to provide a safe, stable, and well-managed environment. The root cause of nearly every concern we experienced was the same: poor leadership and management by the owners. During our time at the school, we experienced: * Every single teacher except one since the school started 2 years ago has left. * ~6 new lead teachers across our two children's classrooms since October 2025 alone. Not counting all the one offs they brought in and out that lasted only days / weeks. * 3 principals in two years, with the school still lacking permanent leadership. * Frequent classroom shuffling for students and teachers, and staffing changes to maintain ratios to the point where our kids would sometimes have lunch in one room, sleep in another. * Repeated injuries and biting incidents in understaffed classrooms. After one incident involving our child, we were told that "at least it didn't break the skin." * Multiple illness outbreaks, reports that classrooms went without soap for an extended period, prolonged HVAC issues, and rodent activity. * A consistent lack of transparency. Parents often learned about significant issues only after repeated questioning, conversations with teachers, violations posted to the DSS website, and after problems had already escalated. * A recurring disconnect between what teachers reported and what management communicated. Teachers frequently shared concerns about staffing and classroom support, while management often claimed they were unaware of the same issues. Consistently the management blamed teachers, and refused to take accountability. * Repeated billing discrepancies and incorrectly charged fees that required us to carefully review statements and request corrections. The school's licensing reports ultimately confirmed many of the concerns parents had been raising. Recent inspections cite repeat violations and systemic deficiencies involving background checks, staff qualifications, CPR requirements, classroom supervision, medication administration, and safety procedures. Particularly alarming was a finding that an employee had worked at the school for 19 months without a completed criminal background check, along with findings that staff lacking required documentation were sometimes working alone with children. Most of the teachers genuinely cared about the children and worked hard under difficult circumstances. Our concerns are not with them. Often the lack of management support drove them to leave. Our concerns are with the owners. These are not first-time childcare operators. They know what stable staffing, strong compliance, transparent communication, and adequate classroom support should look like. Yet many of the same concerns persisted despite repeated feedback from families and staff. What was most frustrating was not that problems existed, but that meaningful action often seemed to occur only after repeated parent complaints or licensing involvement. It felt like business and operational considerations were being prioritized over investing in the staffing, support, communication, and resources necessary to provide the quality of care families were paying for. We ultimately felt safer keeping our children at home than leaving them at a school we were paying thousands of dollars each month to trust. We gave it enough time, but felt there wasn't a real path to improvement, with more problems cropping before prior ones were resolved. In good faith, we cannot recommend this location. Parents should review the Virginia DSS reports, ask detailed questions about staff retention and leadership turnover, and speak directly with current teachers, not just management. Virginia DSS licensing reports: https://legacy.dss.virginia.gov/facility/search/cc2.cgi?rm=Details;ID=50753;search_keywords_name=goddard%20old%20town%20alexandria

Good afternoon families, I would like to share my experience…read morewith The Goddard School in Old Town Alexandria. While some members of the management team were helpful, I had ongoing concerns during my time there. Communication from the enrollment specialist, Anu, was inconsistent. I was told my calls would be returned, but they often were not. I also experienced serious billing issues, including unexplained charges to my account. My balance reportedly exceeded $5,000, yet my caseworker stated my actual co-pay should for DSS have only been around $200. Despite multiple attempts, no one could clearly explain the charges. I was also concerned about the classroom environment. On several occasions, the food portions appeared inadequate, and I noticed milk that smelled expired. I reported seeing mice in the building to the Operations Director, Ms. Mack, and she addressed the issue immediately. She consistently went above and beyond to support the staff and ensure classrooms remained in ratio. However, there was a constant turnover of staff, with new employees appearing almost daily. As a parent, this instability did not make me feel comfortable or secure leaving my son there. I was also told that the curriculum was not consistently being followed, which became another reason we decided to withdraw our child from the school. Additionally, I witnessed concerning behavior from the owner, who often appeared angry and was overheard yelling at staff members. The environment seemed stressful for employees, many of whom looked unhappy and underpaid. One of my biggest concerns involved safety and medication procedures. I was told children were receiving medication even though no properly certified medication staff appeared to be available in the building at the time. I also became aware of multiple child injury incidents that are reportedly under investigation. I do want to acknowledge Ms. Mack and Ms. Mahdu, who were the only individuals in the office I personally felt I could trust and who consistently treated families with professionalism and care.One day I went in the classroom and I saw Rebecca taking some pills in a pillow box and left it outside the countertop you are saying that I do not like the rough dirty filthy in the classroom Miss miss Trinity is Olivia. They all get rid of all the good staff members all they have right now is young lady who do not know what they're doing. They need to be trained. I saw two new people at the front desk Normal Mack where's Mack? No one can answer what is the height about then Mr Ray no mystery. No one know where is mystery. Ultimately, due to concerns about safety, staffing instability, billing practices, and communication, we decided to remove our son from the school.

Shoutout to my instructor Mr. Patrick for teaching me for all three drives! He showed me how to…read morebackup park, pull-in, and parallel park. We went and ran through the route for the driving test as well! I would definitely recommend Greg's with him as a driving instructor! Update: Passed taking the driving test for the first time! PTL (:

Driving instructor (Patrick) was great with our daughter, who was learning how to drive. He…read moreprovided solid instruction, which built her confidence so she can be a good and cautious driver. She passed her driver's test with flying colors. Scheduling was easy and we got feedback on how she did with each of her driving sessions. She learned a lot in the online classroom portion and aced all of her tests. Would highly recommend Patrick.

Faith Lutheran Preschool is an absolutely wonderful program in every way. We're in our fifth year…read morethere, with our third (and last) child in the three year old program as a member of the "Caterpillar" class this fall (just like his two older brothers, now 5 and 7, did before him). He loves it and asks if he can go every day. Just like his older brothers did as students there. It's important to note that our children are all very different from each other--in almost every respect--and FLP has been perfect for each one. It's a warm, bright, magical place, with bright open classrooms, excellent teachers, happy students, and innovative programs (including science, art, yoga, music, and a full outdoor classroom for hands on nature exploration). The teachers and staff are incredible, and go above and beyond to truly get to know their students and embrace them all as unique individuals and as valued members of their class. They meet the students where they are and work with them to get where they need and want to be. And it works extremely well. My two graduates still talk about their teachers and the things they did there. They clearly loved it. Neither wanted to leave. But both were extremely well prepared and fully ready to move on and thrive in kindergarten and beyond. If you're looking for a half-day preschool in Arlington, this is a fantastic choice.

Truly a special place for a child to start their schooling!…read more Both my children spent 2 years here and I am so grateful for their experiences. The teachers are so caring and most have been at the school for many years. Communications are strong -with nearly daily emails and picture postings of what the children are doing to spark conversation with your little ones. Their learning methods focus the children to explore their environments (with an outdoor playground and classroom) and learn to play with others. Also, i believe they handled COVID amazingly well - except on super rainy days and when it got freezing, they spent most of the days outside painting, playing, gardening,etc. when my older child was learning at home, my daughter was able to interact safely with kids.

Veronica and the staff at this location have been so welcoming and helpful with our transition to…read moredaycare! We love the multiple updates we receive and the activities the kids engage in!

Please read the reviews at the Complaint Board site before enrolling your child at this center:…read more http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/kindercare-gum-street-unprofessional-c651515.html

My child has attended the Ft Washington Kindercare for over 4 years - before and after the…read morepandemic. The care and education she has received has been outstanding. The talented staff, including Ms. Johnice, Ms. Sheree, and Ms. Raynita (and former employees including Ms. Tiffany), have consistently provided quality education, a safe environment and clear communication. This isn't to say that everything has been perfect, but when there were challenges the staff rose to the occasion and ensured that our children were safe and well-looked after. Recently, students have been engaged in optional sports, arts and crafts, etc. opportunities facilitated by outside companies. Parents are also encouraged to be active participants in the Fort community. Overall, this has been a great experience.

My son have been attending Kindercare Fort Washington since he was a infant. He's currently in…read morepreschool class, he has learned so much and still learning. All his instructors over the years have been awesome. With the current director, Ms. Sherae, i love how she keep us up to date with what's going on through the app.

Wow, with a caboose outside one's door I'd want to go to school. You've got the Duncan Library…read moreacross the alley and a fun park on the side.

My child went here. There are some happy memories, and some decidedly very unhappy ones. I have…read moreto give more than one star, because some of the teachers here are dedicated to their jobs, and they are good teachers and decent human beings. I pity them, because they are in the company of some others who are cynical, burned out, going through the motions, and heavy handed in dealing with the children. If you're not happy teaching, choose another profession, and don't inflict yourself on innocent little ones. My child used to love going to the school until entering the class of one teacher, who turned going to school into an ordeal for many of the students. If this is the crystallization of what a teacher achieves -- making children hate school -- then they are a failure and they need to look for a different line of work. This school needs to move such teachers out the door -- and in our experience, it doesn't. The school held lots of meetings with parents about policy changes. Whenever they went about changing the dress code, the attendance schedule, etc., they'd go through the motions of seeking input from the parents. In retrospect, in my perception, whatever decisions this school's administrator(s) had come to were inevitably actualized, making the meetings a mere pretense, a hoop the school had to jump through so it could check off the box that it had held such meetings. I had better things to do with my time than attend "input meetings" that I don't believe ever really respected or wanted my input. The school leans hard Left, getting the littles ones initiated in the "Diversity Agenda," the "Social Justice Agenda," equity training, etc. If there are different facets for some of these issues, you'd never know it from the messaging posted on the hallways, fencing and bulletin boards. This propagandizing, presented as "The Truth," sits comfortably in the perches provided by Alexandria and similarly "progressive" cities across the country. Some of the instruction provided was "Good Touch, Bad Touch" training, which was promptly actualized when my child -- who resembles nothing so much as a Teletubby -- tugged on another child's clothing. This resulted in accusations, hysteria, denunciations, outrage, phone calls, meetings, and lots of similarly horrifying tumult. When this ordeal first began, I came running, to find my child had been ejected into a hallway and was sitting there alone, sobbing, devastated, thoroughly traumatized. Aside from the teacher, who certainly handled this situation idiotically, the school office staff, which had known my child even as a toddler, did little to nothing to intervene and stop what was happening. In the midst of it all, seven words kept coming into my mind: "This is some kind of political theater." It did not matter that we all knew we were witnessing and participating in foolishness; despite the school's advertised maxims about altruism and fairness, the machinery grinding up my innocent child had to be allowed to run its course. I was thoroughly appalled. And I was further appalled that there was no shame in them for doing this. Such things happen in a lifetime, and you deal with them as best you're able, and then move on. But you don't forget. The other actors in such events forget them, but you don't. And neither does your child.