Discovery World Learning Center — Local services in San Antonio

We advised the childcare center of a skin (detergent sensitivity) and a FOOD allergy our 9 month old daughter has, PRIOR to her attending. We visited the location multiple times prior to enrollment and ensured Jessica, the director was fully aware of these conditions. The first day of attendance (Monday), NOBODY in the infant class wore smocks nor were there measures in place for preventing a flare up of her skin allergy. When I visited at lunch, not only were the employees carrying her around with her skin directly exposed to the employee's clothes but when I asked the staff, they all seemed to be confused. One 'teacher' had the nerve to get snarky telling me her shirt didn't smell like anything, so apparently to her that meant she was not exposing my daughter to any chemicals. To top it off, they failed to inform me she had not taken a bottle between the hours of 3am-12:30pm (my commute was out of town and last feeding was 3am). Needless to say, she had blisters all over her face by the end of the day from the exposure. Mel, the Excecutive Director, made adjustments by providing one smock for everybody who handles her(effective on Tues). By the end of the day my child was SICK! She had a terrible runny nose, eyes were swollen and red and her skin was still very inflamed from the previous day. Tuesday night she was up all night throwing up phlegm with an abundance of mucus (no fever). I stayed home with her on Wed which really seemed to help with most of her mucus clearing up. When she returned Thur, I stopped by at lunch to check on her. She looked so beat up from being ill and tired. She again, had not taken a bottle that day so I offered up some assistance in trying to get her to eat. I went to lay her down in her crib but noticed it was not labeled like the others. I asked if it was hers and the staff confirmed it was in fact her crib (our own crib sheet was provided due to allergy). The concern I had at that point was that there was a child's shoe in my daughter's crib! My daughter had not worn any shoes to the daycare. When I asked, the 'teacher' gave my daughter a look and commented as if my child had put the shoe in there herself! When I returned to pick her up for the day(approx 4:30), I requested ALL the food containers I had provided for the week. NONE of her food had been used. When I asked what they had been feeding her, they (including the director) became frazzled and said they would have to ask Gloria (who apparently is the only one responsible for making her bottles?!). Jessica said she would call me back with some answers. I called Jessica at 6pm before closing to get an update. She informed me she could not reach Gloria. All night Thur my child had projectile vomiting anytime she ate and/or immediate diarrhea. The mucus got thicker and worse throughout the night to the point she would throw up just from the amount she was swallowing. Fri, we took her to the doctor immediately! He confirmed it was a food allergy before we had even mentioned the daycare! I contacted Jessica, who eventually stated that Gloria admitted to giving her food from another child's container but said it was "the same stuff". We requested our money back as well as compensation for doctor's visit. Mel approved reimbursement and stated Gloria was terminated. When my husband showed up to pick up the check, Jason (the owner) smugly tried to push a release of liability form or we couldn't have the check. He stated the licensing authority already cleared them of all wrong doing. My husband reiterated their negligence poisoned our child which prompted Jason to LAUGH in my husband's face and state, "we gave your child the same food just from another container." THIS IS THE OWNER! He then belittled our choice of medical practice! Upon further communication, we found that they reported the incident (it probably looks 'better' if they tell on themselves) and that Gloria is STILL an employee. Jessica has HORRIBLE communication skills. Mel, seem to try to handle things and has been cooperative; however, lied about Gloria. Jason...

My son attended Discovery World Learning Center from the time he was 6 months old until the time he was 3 years old. It wasn't perfect a few times he had hoodies come up missing that were never found, and some of the providers appearance weren't always the best, but I will say he was treated extremely well. I had been through 3 other providers before I found DWLC one of those places being the Child Development Center on Lackland AFB. . I didn't want my son crying for long periods of time when he was younger. I popped up at DWLC plenty of time without giving notice and he was always being held or interacting with the providers and the other 6 to 12 month olds in his class. Each year for his birthday I'd bring cake and ice cream to the daycare Angie and all the staff were extremely helpful in making this day special for him. They'd even help me clean up at the end. The only reason we left was because I'm active duty Air force and I had orders to VA. Upon leaving DWLC my son knew his colors, how to count to 10 in English and Spanish. He learned a prayer to say before eating his food (which he still says along with his sister and he’s almost 5 years old now) He knows his abc's, some animals, shapes, and can name his body parts and facial features. I also have a 2 year old daughter who attended DWLC from the time she was born until she was 2 years old. Just like my son she was never neglected like most daycares and learned how to count to 10 English and Spanish, abc's etc. When going to pick them up other than the usual stains on their shirts from eating lunch, playing outside or arts and crafts they looked well kept. Both of my children had really bad eczema and they were really good about applying cortizone on them throughout the day to make sure they were comfortable and not dry and itchy. I loved this daycare and wish I could've taken it with me to VA. I've already been through 4 daycares since I've gotten to VA and cannot find one better. I will admit it's not the most beautiful daycare in the world but for the price we paid I was expecting it to be. Appearance isn't everything what mattered to me most was how my children were treated and what they were learning. They've been to nicer daycares and they all sucked!!! GREAT DAYCARE I highly recommend! ~Regina...

When we first put our son in this daycare we had many concerns about his teacher in the Infant B 6-12 months. In fact at one point we were about to take him out until we learned Ms.Maggie was going to be the head caregiver there. We were ecstatic because we saw how she interacted with him, how she would read to him, nurture him, adjust her style to meet his needs...we finally felt at ease. She surprised us with the cutest art work by him and one of a kind mother and father day gifts. Ms Maggie is very special. You can tell she does this out of love. She is a huge asset to Discovery World because we’ve seen how hectic the infant classroom gets without her and it causes us parents a lot of stress.

In addition to Ms Maggie I want to commend Ms Christina who is the 2 year old toddler caregiver. She’s been my daughter’s caregiver since her first day at DWLC and is a constant in our lives. She’s tiny but has the strength to take care of a lot of kids simultaneously. She is sweet and very accommodating. She’s one of our favorites.

Note the 5 star rating is on Ms Maggie and Ms Christina and not on the daycare. The daycare needs work. This is not a reflection on Ms Nancy the director. In fact she took over the director role in March and in this short time we’ve seen significant positive changes in the daycare such as with staffing, appearance, structure, timely communication. She’s a huge advocate for the caregivers and kids. She has done very well with the little resources she has from the employer. She’s made for this role and I hope DLWC continues to recognize her for her...