Kiddie Academy Educational Child Care, Ashburn

Hello Teecie, The only way for us to continue to grow and excel is to listen to our families and friends. With that said, I would like to provide a context around your review : Transparency & Accessibility: We are one of the few centers that provides direct camera access to all of our families, so that they can log on at any given time, and observe the learning and care that their young ones receive. Our camera not only provide a piece of mind for our moms and dads at work for viewing, but it is also a tool to showcase the daily dedication and hard work of our staff. Our camera system was implemented from Day 1, and that is a strong commitment to transparency and Accessibility. Nurturing: We understand that transitions from one classroom to another can be hard on some children. Often time the change of classrooms may result in a change of behavior in children, accompanied by physical development such as teething, which may result in biting; the biting behavior falters after few weeks, and we have to work with all the children, and be inclusive to help them go through that stage. Also, out of respect for the privacy of the child biting or hitting, we can't disclose their information even when one makes several attempt to request that information. We do however work with their family to ease the transition, and alleviate the impact on the classroom through positive reinforcement; our families appreciate and expect that, since we are a learning facility. Hygiene: We have a professional cleaning crew that comes and clean/sanitize the school every night and on weekends. In addition to that, we have invested this year in hospital grade sanitizing equipment to reduce illnesses in the classrooms. This equipment is used nightly in sensitive classroom areas to reduce and/or prevent spread of illness to other classrooms. We take a proactive approach to help provide a clean and a safe environment for our children, and for our staff. Facility: We are very proud of our facility and its craftsmanship. We often get complimented on our layout and our classrooms design. There are a lot of safety features that are very subtle throughout the facility. All of our doors have a safety finger hinge-side to prevent or lessen the severity of the accidents if they happen. I understand that part of your review was regarding putting slowing mechanism to the door. We did listen to your feedback when you approached us with it; we inquired about various options. We bought hardware to see if we can mimic the slowing mechanism, and even consulted with professionals for a workaround. As you know, we don't have full doors in the preschool, and pre-K classrooms. All of our doors are half-doors, and this ties with our concept and design that provides a transparent, and a warm school environment. It also allows us to work together as a team, in case someone is in need of help, and they can't get out of their classrooms. The install of the hardware would have caused the door, and hardware to lose its integrity; also as a reference, we are compliant with more than 165 Kiddie Academy centers nationwide and our respective state requirements. Last but not least, our management team is committed to go above and beyond what is required, and that is why 97% of our families in our most recent survey said they will recommend us to their friends. We also have one of the highest parent employee to child ratio in our area (i.e. 20% of our staff that work in our preschool have their children in our center). In their own rights, they believe in our mission and care. With that said, we appreciate the trust that all our families and community continue to put in us. [Karim B. Owner]