"My Daughter started at La Petite at 18-months-old. My daughter adapted quickly and enjoyed it there until shortly after she turned 3 years-old. She suddenly started biting and fighting at school. We were shocked. She never does that at home. It got to a point where we'd have to pick her up at least two or more times per week. We engaged the teachers, we practiced the material they gave us at home as best we could. She didn’t bite or hit at home so we didn’t have opportunities to reinforce the behavioral lessons.
She would whine and cry every time I took her to school. She was adamant that she didn’t want to go. Not even 3.5 years-old and she was already capable of vocalizing that she wasn’t happy there. My husband and I, after months of racking our brain and worrying, decided that it wasn’t her fault she was behaving this way – she's 3 and a product of the environment she was in. I honestly believe that she’d get in trouble on purpose so we'd come get her. Ultimately, we realized that La Petite was not the right fit for our daughter when she didn’t improve no matter what we tried and La Petite proved they were incapable of taking care of our daughter consistently and reliably.
Let’s talk about reliability. Especially during COVID. Don’t get me started on the obscene number of COVID cases they had. In November 2021, they had a full outbreak – at least 2 cases they announced, and at least 1 wasn't - the one where my daughter also got COVID. See attached screenshots. This was the first indication that there was a significant concern about La Petite’s reliability and management.
All that aside, I have very little complaints about how she was cared for, the facilities, or the teachers. My complaint about this facility is about professionalism: The school director, Bianca Wilson, in particular. Recognizing that La Petite wasn't the right fit, we started looking for replacement care facility in the last couple weeks. We fortunately found a replacement school that would have an opening in a month-and-a-half. Simple enough, right?
We picked up our daughter from school on Friday without issues. My husband emailed Bianca to let her know to not charge us for the re-enrollment fee scheduled to be charged that coming week. Our daughter got sick with a cold that weekend, and got us sick, so we stayed home on Monday and Tuesday to recover. On Wednesday (today for me as I write this), I show up like usual to drop my daughter off at daycare and I’m stopped at the door by the receptionist, who tells me that Bianca responded to my husband’s email on Sunday to tell us that our daughter was not welcome back. Of course we hadn’t seen it. Let that sink in for a moment. Had we seen it, that would have been one day notice that we no longer had childcare. But we didn’t see it so I was blindsided. No phone call. No sit-down meeting with the director. No notice. No attempt to negotiate with us so that we could work out a plan. This is the height of unprofessionalism and disrespect in a daycare provider. I can accept that my daughter is not a fit for La Petite, but let’s work out a plan so that we can transition smoothly. Let’s talk about it. An email that was never acknowledged is NOT the way to expel a child from a daycare.
That’s not the half of it. While at daycare, I asked the receptionist to get Bianca on the phone. She wasn’t able to because Bianca was driving. But somehow, Bianca did manage to text the receptionist that we weren’t charged for care this week. If she has speech-to-text, then she has Bluetooth or a speaker phone to take my call. So not only did Bianca not communicate with us directly when expelling our daughter, she avoided confrontation about it. I contacted corporate to file a complaint, but they have yet to return my calls after several hours. So instead, I'm writing our story as a cautionary tale for other parents. If you want professional, reliable, and communicative childcare, then the La Petite on Johns Hopkins Rd in Crofton, MD, is not the right place for you."

"I’ve enjoyed my experience thus far"

"As I stated in a previous comment, Miss Bianca completely turned our experience around. Unlike the last director, she does what she says, and does it quickly! I could tell early on she is a hard worker. We went from having multiple Covid cases d/t lax mask wearing with the last director, to none for quite some time with Bianca. Of course we had a few recently, which is unavoidable during the colder months. Biana is the reason we stayed at this school. We came from La Petite in Columbia, MD, where Miss Martina gave us the best experience and built our loyalty to La Petite. Bianca conducts herself and her school in the same manner."

"So far our experience has been very good. The teachers are so invested in the health and well being of our child! When he is home sick, his teachers will send a message via the app to ask how he is. The teachers work so hard to ensure the kiddos have fantastic and fun days"

"I can imagine the daycare is very busy each day making future leaders of our little kiddos, however, when I find myself calling, e-mailing, messaging on Brightwheel, and doing each of these several times before getting a response, it makes me feel as though the concerns I have for my child, whatever the topic entails, is insignificant and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. I feel that accountability in returning responses can be improved upon. I feel that clearly typed and correct grammatical usage via communications from the teacher on the Brightwheel app can be improved upon. I feel that responding back to an e-mail in a reasonable time (I.e. 48 hours rather than 2 weeks) can be taken into consideration. Just a few examples."

"We have had a great experience so far. Teachers are so knowledgeable, one even helped us figure out an allergy to the centers wipes. Teachers seem to be engaged and just love being with the little dudes and I love that. Seeing them genuinely hug and comfort my child makes me feel like they are in safe hands."

"The staff is warm and friendly! The welcoming vibe I get makes me comfortable leaving my child with them."

"The director and staff are very loving and my child loves it here. She is more outgoing and assertive since starting at La petite. The apps have been a lifesaver during the pandemic because it’s easier to communicate with teachers and also video stream whenever I need to see my child"

"Friendly staff, responsive and communicative teachers"

"We love it. The director is absolutely excellent. Her warm personality and passion for children really makes us feel comfortable bringing our daughter to La Petite. The teachers are great...we are sad she will be moving to a new classroom soon! Overall everything and everyone has been great."

"Overall I really appreciate Ms. Helen. She definitely cares a lot about the kids & made me feel comfortable leaving my daughter with her after having so many issues with our previous daycare prov"

"Teachers are generally capable and Sri g (apart from one horrible experience that took months to be resolved) but aren’t well paid and there is, thus, a lot of turnover. This is unfortunate as the teachers really are the best part of this center. Management, especially the director, does not communicate well and often seems poorly informed about what’s actually happening in the classroom. The attitude seems to be one of leaving it to parents to ask what’s going on, rather than communicating proactively."

"In general my child has a great time at La Petite. Right now my specific concerns with health and safety are more due to external factors with the virus and less with the center itself. But my child has been excited to go to school each morning and very happy each day when I pick him up."

"La patite has been amazing for our daughter. She had learned and developed so much since she started. We love the teachers and staff."

"I love that the teachers in raelynns class take their time and are very patient with her she isn’t always the easiest to deal with and they always try to work with her the last school she was in they would scream at her put their hands on her and this school does none of those they’re very understanding and truly try to help her in that area. I would recommend this school to anyone and I will continue to bring my daughter here. I enjoy raelynns teachers and I know she loves them as well."