Bright Start Childcare & Preschool

Our son attends and loves it. It is a super warm, loving environment. They feed them very healthy food (included in tuition) – different from many other daycares where you either have to provide food or they feed unhealthy stuff like chicken nuggets.
They have a video camera that you can check in on – I trust the caretakers but it’s nice to know there’s that accountability. I check in every so often when I miss my little guy and it’s great, I’ll catch his caretakers singing and dancing, being silly and genuinely warm and loving with the little ones.
Also, I had a hard time getting my son to nap when on maternity leave unless I was holding him or wearing him in a carrier. It’s been great that they not only got him on a regular nap routine, they got him to nap with others. They’ve got some baby whisperers.
He’s 15 months now and I’m amazed at all the things they’ve taught him (so many words, he eats on his own with a spoon and fork, little songs he tries to sing/​hum). It’s also surprised me that when I go to visit at mealtime all the toddlers will be calmly eating together – it’s incredible to see all the toddlers so well behaved and in a room that actually feels… calm! I’m glad I have a place I trust where he’s happy to go when I drop him off.

Our daughter has attend Bright Start since she was 4 months old. (She is now 3). I cannot say enough about the caring, nurturing teachers. I could not have asked for better to care for our child. As she has gotten older, it has been wonderful to see how much she is also learning at daycare (and how much she enjoys learning!). In addition to the normal letters and numbers, she has been learning about famous African-​Americans during Black History Month. It’s pretty amazing to have your 3 year old come home talking excitedly about George Washington Carver! Bright Start also has some extra activities that our daughter loves — yoga twice a month, Baba Ras D once a month, librarian story time once a month, plus a weekly music class for the older kids. We have had a few communication frustrations in our 3 years there, which is why I am giving 4 instead of 5 stars, but nothing too major. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a high quality daycare in Petworth.

We really had high hopes for Bright Start. Our 3 yr old son attended Bright Start (16^th St location) for about three months this year. Shortly after starting we received reports from his teacher that he was acting out in class. Initially we were not sure if this was a serious issue or part of his transition to a new school. A few weeks after he started Bright Start changed both the primary and assistant teacher in his class; this change did not help with our son’s adjustment to the school. When we received additional reports of poor behavior, we took the matter very seriously and consulted with our son’s pediatrician. We told her about the incidents that the school reported to us. While she was not alarmed by the behavior, calling it normal, she did give us the name of a developmental specialist in the event that we wanted to pursue the matter further. We felt that it was important to look into this issue because the behavior that the school was reporting was significant different than we had ever observed from our son. We consulted with the specialist and arrange for a school observation. Unfortunately, the same day I notified the owner, Ms. St. Hilaire-​Finn, she immediately removed our son from the school. I do not believe the timing of this was a coincidence. I believe that they (the owner and teachers) did not want to be observed by a specialist. Ms. St. Hilaire-​Finn never met with us nor offered any resources or suggestions for addressing the issues that they supposedly experienced with our son.
I contacted DCPS who called me immediately and expressed their concern with the way Ms. St. Hilaire-​Finn handled the situation. They apologized for my experience and conducted an investigation. At the conclusion of the investigation DCPS again contacted me and apologized stating that after speaking with Ms. St. Hilaire-​Finn they have determined that Bright Start «failed» our family with the way they handled this situation. Since Bright Start participates in the OSSE grant program they have several resources available to them that they could have used if there were indeed an issue. Bright Start never offered nor discussed any of these resources with us. The DCPS representative was shocked to learn that they did not use any of the resources available to them. In addition, the school did not take into consideration that their changes to the teaching staff might have an impact on some of the students (some children deal with change better than others). Which calls in to question either the seriousness of the behavior issues that they reported or their ability to adequately address issues that arise.
I feel that Bright Start’s owner and the teachers (for my son’s class) were unprofessional and, frankly, lazy. Fortunately, our son did not have any serious issues, but we feel sorry for any child who attends that school who actually has an issue. It will either not be recognized/​addressed or they’ll just remove the child from the school.
We have enrolled our son in a more professional private school where the teachers have degrees and training in early childhood education and he is doing very well.