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February 2024 by Alyssa Browne
Sending my son to the Bilingual Child Care Center has been an absolute joy, and I am thrilled with the entire experience. The teachers at Bilingual Child Care Center are nothing short of amazing, and my son absolutely loved attending. To put it into perspective, there were no drop-off tears – a remarkable feat considering he cries when I leave the room at home! I witnessed a genuine passion for early childhood education and a sincere interest in the well-being of the kids. It's truly heartwarming to see educators who are not just fulfilling a job but are genuinely devoted to guiding young minds. One standout feature of this center is its unwavering commitment to fostering a fun and educational atmosphere. The availability of classroom cameras was a game-changer for me as a working mom. Being able to watch my son interact with his teachers in real-time was invaluable. The teachers were consistently engaged, playing, and interacting with the kids – a reassuring sight for any parent. Safety is a top priority for me as a parent, and I deeply appreciate the efforts made to maintain a secure environment at Bilingual Child Care Center. From the thoughtfully designed play areas to the well-trained staff, I always felt confident that my child was in good hands. I wholeheartedly recommend the Bilingual Child Care Center to any parent in search of a place where their child can not only thrive and learn but also feel genuinely cared for. My son's overwhelmingly positive experience speaks volumes about the exceptional quality of care and education provided at this center. A heartfelt thank you to the Bilingual Child Care Center for making such a positive impact on my child's early years!
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December 2023 by Diana S.
I like working at Bilingual Child Care & Education Center because it is a community where Latino culture is valued and provides opportunities for all families to interact with Spanish. From the first day I fell in love with the center because of the love of each teacher for the children, since they have the genuine desire to take care of them. More than a job, it feels like being with family! It's inevitable to grow fond of with each little one and to be able to give them our best service.I am so grateful to be a part of BCEC and to continue to have beautiful experiences every day.
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June 2023 by Casey S.
It pains me to have to write an update on our experience at BCEC that ended up with my preschooler being unceremoniously kicked out by the CEO, Leah, while, Tessa, the center director was on vacation. Things at BCEC started out strong and both our kids seemed to be doing really well there. We were happy with the infant and toddler teachers up until the day we left.After a few months at BCEC, my oldest daughter was regularly coming home from the preschool telling us how Ada yelled at her. Then we started getting notes sent home every single day outlining seemingly innocuous 4-year-old behavior. "Didn't want to nap." "Didn't want to sit still during story time." We weren't seeing any of the problem behaviors at home that BCEC was insisting were happening at the daycare.It got to the point where Tessa told us that she thought that our daughter needed to be evaluated for autism. We were shocked. We had no reason to believe that our daughter had autism, but we trusted BCEC because they were spending the whole day with her so we worked with the school district to have her evaluated.This whole time we were in regular communication with Tessa. We were coming in for regular meetings. We were bringing all sorts of tools to school to try to help our daughter follow the rules and schedule. Tessa ASSURED us that if they decided to "refer our daughter out" that they would give us plenty of time to find another daycare for her. When the school district came in to observe our daughter in her class the administrator told us that she spends time in A LOT of schools and she found the BCEC preschool class to be one of the most poorly managed classrooms she's observed. The curriculum was not age appropriate where Ada was expecting 3, 4, and 5 year olds to sit at tables and work on projects for over 30 minutes at a time. And when these poor kids couldn't sit still for that long she would yell at them.The administrator reported that our daughter was actually doing a good job of trying self regulate in a this very loud and chaotic environment, but even when she would try to go off by herself and sit quietly in a corner or under a table, the teaching staff would insist that she sit with the big loud group of kids.The administrator observed our daughter trying to play quietly by herself when a group of boys ran over and started hitting her with pillows which amped her up, but the teacher only yelled at our daughter for running with pillow not the boys who started the interaction. It was so bad that the school district administrator reached out to the executive team at BCEC to offer to provide some training on classroom management. The conclusion was that our daughter does not have autism, probably has ADHD, and the staff in the preschool classroom did not have the skills or desire to accomodate her.It was during this time that Tessa went on a two week vacation and I received an email at 5:30 PM on a Friday night from the CEO, Leah, who we had not interacted with AT ALL on this issue, that they were kicking my daughter out of the daycare and her last day would be the following Friday. Talk about a stressful time scrambling to find another daycare.The whole experience was so traumatic for my eldest daughter that she now refuses to speak Spanish.
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April 2023 by Bradley Johnson
I've waited a year to write this review in order to make sure I could be clear-headed about it and stick to facts as much as possible. My family had two children enrolled during 2021 and parts of 2022.Right off the bat, I will point out that our younger child had a great experience at BCEC. We saw that all her needs were met there and the women that were caring for her showered her with affection and attention. No complaints here and I hope they know than any ill will described further on does not apply to them.Our older child was moved to a preschool classroom and the wheels came off here. We were received frequent incident reports that as a rule described normal preschool child behavior. We had trust in the center and so worked with our child in good faith to redirect and adapt to the concerns of the teacher. At some point we were called into the center for a meeting and discussed these issues at length with teachers and center staff.At this meeting it was agreed that we would start a semi-formal 6 week period where we would work with our child to fit into the teacher's plans better and if at the end of this period we would agree that it was best for the child to look at a different location. It was also suggested to us that we have our child evaluated for an IEP during this period. We were told by the center director that, "whatever happens, we'll make sure you have a month to make arrangements."So we work with our kid and bring them to the evaluators office as well as have the evaluator at BCEC for observation and this is where I get angry. We were told this list of takeaways from the district evaluator:- She could not recall a class that was more out of control than what she observed.- She said our child may have some slight sensory processing issues but was adapting reasonably to the chaos in the room and was not interfering with the teacher's ability to teach.- She said the curriculum being forced on these students was completely age-inappropriate and again felt that the teacher's concerns with our child were unreasonable.- She was so concerned with how this classroom was being managed that she reached out to center staff to offer some support. We have no idea if this help was accepted.- She ultimately concluded that no IEP was necessary for our kidA short while after the results of the evaluation were shared with us we were informed at 4PM on a Friday that the next Friday would be our child's last day at the center. So now, on top of being gaslit about our kid's behavior they went back on the verbal promise to make sure we had sufficient time to find a new care center.Our child attended a new care center short term while we looked for a longer term solution which we eventually found. At BOTH of these locations the staff were absolutely enamored with our "problem child".Take what conclusions from this what you will but in our experience the center leadership ownership will 100% focus on bad retaining teachers at the cost of your child.
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January 2023 by Kyle Manley
Our little one started a month ago, they do an amazing job all around
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June 2022 by Maria C. G.
It is a center where your children will speak Spanish very well because all the teachers are Hispanic. The culture is rich in this center. The energy is nice. I love that my daughter always comes singing to the house :) Her Spanish has improved a lot. She loves her teachers and me too!:)
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January 2022 by Casey Shultz
I can’t describe how good it feels to know that the teachers at BCEC are genuinely so happy to see my kids each morning and to see how excited my kids are to go to daycare each morning.My preschooler has thrived in her class. She loves her friends, the activities, and the amount of time they spend outside playing on the playground. She comes home tired and enriched with stories of the games they played and her friends.My infant lights up every morning when I drop her off in her class and she’s immediately showered with love and affection from her teacher.The facility is clean and well organized. The communication from the teachers and center directors, Tessa and Alexandra, are top notch. They do a great job keeping us in the loop.The center is taking Covid very seriously and taking all the necessary precautions to keep the students and staff safe.I can’t recommend BCEC enough if you’re looking for a high quality center for your kids.
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July 2021 by Yvette Hurt
My daughter loves this place and her Spanish has grow so much, proud as a parent to be able to give this opportunity her. The teachers are so loving and the curricula is amazingly rich!
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July 2021 by Monica Loes
We (our infant son) attended BCEC in Mahtomedi from January to March of 2020. We initially chose BCEC because it was Spanish Immersion, location was great for us, and they offered all day live camera access. Our experience was unfortunately not good.
Communication with our infant's teacher Nadia was difficult and we never felt we were listened to even for myself as a fluent Spanish speaker so it wasn't an issue of translation. When we made simple requests like feeding our baby upright due to reflux, we witnessed this request being ignored more than a few times via cameras and in person. When addressed directly to the teacher it was acknowledged but still ignored. We also emailed the director about this and were told it would be addressed, but there was no follow up.
We intentionally did NOT sign the document to allow swaddling. We caught it twice on camera and addressed it immediately. When we asked the teacher about it she did not acknowledge it until we bluntly told her we saw it happen. She admitted it then and said it had been done only once. She also acknowledged that she knew we hadn't signed the consent. We were lied to and it caused a lot of distrust.
On more than several occasions via cameras we saw the teacher and aids rest burp clothes or blankets over babies's heads or over the bassinets (including a baby that was swaddled). You can find this serious sleep-safety violation cited on the MN DHS public records.
On Wed March 18th with only 4 hours of communication to parents, the owner Leah decided to close the centers due to the start of the pandemic even though the Gov. had recommended centers remain open. I know we weren't the only ones affected and in shock. It was mid week and we had to come up with a plan for childcare for the rest of the week and beyond.
We encountered billing issues in the end when we were not invoiced for the last two weeks after closure without childcare. We were told if we did not return when they reopened at the end of April we could remain on the waiting-list but lose our deposit. As of August are attending a new center however no one has ever reached out to us to see if we are coming back.
Given our experience we would not recommend or go back to BCEC.
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July 2020 by Gina Brama
We toured a lot of centers and enrolling our son here was an easy decision. The teachers here are incredible and we can see the growth in our son's cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development since enrollment. Additionally, the building is new, clean, colorful, and welcoming. Amazing center all the way around.
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July 2020 by Andrea Lyons
My son loves this place.
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July 2019 by Anderson Nascimento
Awesome daycare. Our kid loves it !
