Description: Welcome to Potomac Early Learning Center. Our goal is to provide a safe, secure environment for your child that fosters physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development. Parents, as a child’s first and most important teachers, are a crucial part of our program. We hope to develop a partnership between home and school which benefits the development and growth of each child. Potomac Early Learning Center is located in the heart of downtown La Plata. It is convenient to the district court and government buildings surrounding it, and is easily accessible from Routes 6 and 301. Although located downtown, our children enjoy a huge, entirely fenced, half-acre playground with green grass, a huge shade tree, slides, swings, and picnic tables. Our hours are 6:30 am through 6:00 pm, Monday thru Friday, with minimal closings throughout the year. Our ample parking lot is convenient for drop-offs and pick-ups. Our on-site notary makes the introductory paperwork a breeze for busy working parents. We accept VISA and MasterCard debit and credit cards for easy tuition payments as well as traditional payments by check, money order or cash. Detailed year-end statements will be provided for your tax preparation needs. For the convenience of busy, working families, Potomac Early Learning Center provides all meals and snacks with the price of tuition—breakfast, lunch, and two snacks each day. And parents can rest assured their children are getting their daily nutritional requirements in the form of healthy, high-quality, USDA-approved meals and snacks. Our Preschool Program Our preschool program prepares children socially and academically, as well as, supports and encourages the development of independence, responsibility, and confidence, all of which are essential for the child’s ongoing success in kindergarten. Our educational program focuses on each child’s social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development by offering concrete, hands-on activities for the child to explore. The preschool curriculum is designed to actively engage each child in developmentally age appropriate activities exploring the content areas of literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, the arts, and technology. Our skilled teachers prepare curriculum that is exciting and challenging, as well as supportive of each child's own learning style. Our preschool room arrangement creates the optimum learning environment. It allows children easy access to educational toys, materials, and books, enabling them to initiate and expand their activities. Each classroom is organized with areas for block play, manipulative toys, artistic creativity, dramatic play, and reading in addition to larger spaces for group activities. Our Employees All employees here at Potomac Early Learning Center are highly skilled individuals who have completed approved training and met experience requirements necessary to be certified by the Maryland Office of Child Care. In addition employees have been carefully screened and selected for their warm and nurturing dispositions and for their demonstrated understanding of child development. We seek employees who value working as a team with both parents and colleagues. Continuing education is an important part of working at Potomac Early Learning Center. Each staff member attends workshops in child development and teaching methods each year. All of our staff members are required to complete an extensive criminal background investigation and medical evaluation prior to hire. All teachers are qualified and have completed infant and child CPR and First Aid.
Where possible, ChildcareCenter provides inspection reports as a service to families. This information is deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed. We encourage families to contact the daycare provider directly with any questions or concerns, as the provider may have already addressed some or all issues. Reports can also be verified with your local daycare licensing office.
| Date | Type | Regulations | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-02-07 | Mandatory Review | 13A.16.03.02A | Corrected |
| Findings: One toddler is missing an immunization record. Two other children need documentation of updated immunizations to include the 4th DTAP/HIB. Please have the parents obtain the documentation from the physician and add to the children's files. The director is aware of the children who need immunization documentation and is in the process of obtaining the forms from the families. | |||
| 2022-02-07 | Mandatory Review | 13A.16.03.02E | Corrected |
| Findings: There were 2 infant/toddler records and 1 two year old record missing the lead blood test required at 12 months of age. There were 5 two year old records missing the second lead blood test done after 24 months of age. The director is aware of the children who need the lead blood test and has already sent out a notice to the parents along with the lead form to get completed. | |||
| 2022-02-07 | Mandatory Review | 13A.16.03.05B | Corrected |
| Findings: The staffing patterns posted near the classrooms are dated 2/9/2021 and staffing has changed since that date. Please ensure the most recent staffing patterns are posted and submitted to the licensing specialist. | |||
| 2022-02-07 | Mandatory Review | 13A.16.09.04F | Corrected |
| Findings: There were two infants (age 4 months and 9 months) sleeping strapped into a bouncy seat that was situated inside the crib. No doctor's note was present regarding the infants needing to nap with their head elevated. The bouncy seats must be immediately remove from the cribs. Sleeping shall only occur in the approved cribs without the use of any positioners unless a doctor's note is present for the child. | |||
| 2021-02-17 | Full | ||
| Findings: No Noncompliances Found | |||
| 2020-09-08 | Complaint | 13A.16.08.01A(2)(a) | Corrected |
| Findings: The complaint alleges the center staff are leaving classrooms unattended to take children to their parents at the door. The center supposedly has a designated person who does this duty. The director stated there is one person not assigned to a classroom whose job is to obtain the child from the classroom and bring them to the entrance when the parent arrives. However, there have been times when multiple parents are arriving and a staff person left their room to take the child to the door. A staff person from another room will stand outside both rooms and supervise the two groups. If a child needed immediate attention in one room, then the staff person would have to lose supervision and sight of the other classroom. This is not an allowable solution. The parents are going to need to be patient and socially distance in line outside waiting to pick up their child. The assigned staff person will gather the child from the classroom and deliver them to the parent. Classrooms cannot be left unattended or without immediate assistance if needed. The director understands and will not allow this to happen anymore. Drop off and pick up procedures in regards to COVID were reviewed. | |||
| 2020-02-25 | Mandatory Review | 13A.16.06.12B | Corrected |
| Findings: The center has an aide who was supposed to complete the aide orientation by 10/3/2019 and has not yet done so. She must complete it as soon as possible and send a copy of the training certificate to the licensing specialist. | |||
| 2020-02-25 | Mandatory Review | 13A.16.06.12A(3) | Corrected |
| Findings: There are 2 aides who did not complete their continued training by the anniversary of their hire date. One still owes 6 hours and another owes 1 more hour. A third aide completed her training but it was past her anniversary of her hire date. All aides must complete 6 hours each anniversary. | |||
| 2019-08-09 | Complaint | 13A.16.07.03B(3) | Corrected |
| Findings: The complaint alleges a child turning 3 was denied his birthday cupcake at the center due to his behavior at naptime. The acting director confirmed this to be true and was following the previous director's policies. The child did not get a cupcake at afternoon snack along with his classmates but did have the center's provided snack. The acting director understands food, whether a special occasion or not, cannot be withheld from a child for their negative behavior. The disciplinary action must not include food or beverage. We discussed providing him with different quiet activities on his cot such as looking at a book, a staff member sitting with him, or doing a puzzle. The child was most likely excited about his birthday and the cupcakes after naptime. The same regulation applies to providing center snack to all children even if they eat an item left from their lunch brought from home. | |||
| 2019-08-09 | Complaint | 13A.16.12.01B(1) | Corrected |
| Findings: The complaint alleges the center did not allow school age children to have the center snack when eating a cookie that was left from the child's lunch. The acting director was following the center policy from the previous director and did not allow children to have double snacks. She now understands that all children must be offered snacks daily provided by the center. The center must also give all food provided from home to a child. The complaint alleges a child cannot have cookies or sweets from their lunch during lunchtime but may save it until afternoon snack. We discussed encouraging children to eat their healthy items first but it cannot be forced. We also discussed encouraging children and families to eat the center provided lunch as much as possible. A child may say they do not like an item without trying it and are more likely to try foods when offered to the whole group. If they see their friends eating the foods, they will be more prone to trying the food themselves. The sweets from home have not occurred much, was meant to be for the younger children, and not really enforced with the school age children according to the acting director. | |||
| 2019-08-09 | Complaint | 13A.16.10.04F | Corrected |
| Findings: The complaint alleges there are uncapped outlets in the large multipurpose room upstairs in the church side of the center. Three uncapped outlets were observed and children under the age of 5 do utilize the space daily. The director capped the outlets during the inspection and stated the church takes the caps out on the weekends for church related activities and does not return the caps. The director will ensure the outlets are capped on Monday morning and have staff members check them upon opening the space for children's use. | |||
| 2019-08-09 | Complaint | 13A.16.08.02B | Corrected |
| Findings: A staff member who is not school age teacher qualified is staffing the school age classroom during the summer. She is on vacation this week but will be asked upon return to submit any school age coursework she has completed. If she does not have the school age coursework, the staffing pattern must be changed to include a qualified school age staff in the classroom. | |||
| 2019-08-09 | Complaint | 13A.16.06.05A | Corrected |
| Findings: The complaint alleges the center does not have a qualified director. The center has an acting director who is actively working towards the director requirements. She has the 90 hour coursework, over 2 years of experience, the 45 infant/toddler coursework, ADA training, breastfeeding training, and the 15 hours of approved coursework within her 48 college credits. However, she does not have the 45 hour administrative coursework or the associates degree. This summer she has completed 2 more college courses and is one quiz away from completing her last course in the administrative bundle from Care Courses. Her plan is to complete 2 more courses in the fall at CSM towards her degree then complete the degree with 2 additional courses during the spring of 2020. Her degree will be complete in May 2020. She is willing to complete courses during the winter session if they are available. The center will be requesting a variance in a week once the acting director's transcript and Care Course are done. If the variance is not approved, the center will need to advertise for and hire a qualified director. The acting director has been doing the director job responsibilities since May 2019. | |||
| 2019-02-22 | Full | 13A.16.06.09B(1) | Corrected |
| Findings: There were 3 staff who completed their continued training late. Please remember to have staff complete continued training by the anniversary of their hire date each year. | |||
| 2019-02-22 | Full | 13A.16.06.05C(1) | Corrected |
| Findings: The director completed her required continued training late. She completed it on 1/28/2019 when it was due by 9/26/2018. Please remember to complete continued training by the anniversary of your hire date each year. | |||
If you are a provider and you believe any information is incorrect, please contact us. We will research your concern and make corrections accordingly.
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