Hamilton Heights Child Development Center

We love Hamilton Heights at 136 & Dodge. My child is constantly learning everything from basic knowledge and skills as he grows but also behavioral and emotional skills. As a first time mom I've appreciated all of the advice the teachers and caregivers provide as well. I recommend this center to everyone!-- Megan J

Our daughters have been going to Hamilton HEIGHTS for almost 2 years. They have spent time in the infant room, the Toddler room and the preschool room. All of our experiences have been outstanding. One of the strong suits of this facility is that they seem to have very little turnover. Our experience with past facilities was that turnover was very high and it was disruptive for our daughter. Many of their teachers have long tenure. Everyone our children has interacted with has been wonderful. They are nurturing, caring and seem to have a true love for the profession that they are in. It is such a relief to drop your child off at a place where you know they are getting good care.Additionally, the assistant director Angie, is great. She is accessible, kind and very knowledgeable about your child's needs.I strongly recommend this facility for anyone who might be looking for good childcare.

(3-5 year olds) I only placed my 3 year old at this location (134 & fort) because she's on the waiting list at the other location. Although I didn't think much of the tour, I figured that since there's cameras in the room no one is going to be doing anything sketchy. I was wrong! Daughter has been in daycare before and never had a problem. She LOVES playing with other kids and caring/loving adults that she is familiar with. So by week two, there's no reason for the following to take place.The first day she didn't cry or anything when I dropped her off, but starting on the second day she started screaming, crying, shaking as soon as she saw the building and it continued the second week. Not only that, but on Friday of the first week, I was getting her dressed for bed and she had numerous bruising on her legs (attached below). She told me her "friends we're pushing" her. She doesn't typically play rough and has never gotten more than a few bruises in her life. I talked to a teacher about it on Monday and was nice about it and said I understand kids play rough but she only turned 3 the week prior to starting and needs someone to be more closely monitoring her play in a classroom with kids up to 5 who are bigger than her. The teacher said they encourage the kids to take up for themselves and they'll try to watch her better. That was when I was first really concerned but didn't want to be "that mom" so I decided to try to watch the cameras better since I didn't yet have access to her other classroom. The first part of the second week, I was only able to watch a few times because I work during the day, but I was concerned because she was often sitting by herself and occasionally playing alone outside of the group. This concerned me because it is NOT like her. She plays with all kids of all ages. So on Thursday of the second week, I watched the camera every minute I could on Thursday of the second week while I was working. The first time I looked, she was sitting in a chair at the table staring off into space while other kids were playing. A little while later I looked and she was laying on in the middle of the play area while kids were playing. The third time was circle time and the kids were sitting around in a circle and she was sitting in the middle of the circle in the same spot she was laying in like they didn't bother to move her. Next time I looked she was sitting on the floor a few feet away from a teacher who was sitting in a chair not interacting with the kids there. After a few minutes I realized that daughter was very clearly holding herself and rocking back and forth because she has to pee so bad and the teach was just looking at her. I was about to go into a meeting so I had to call her dad who works nights to wake him and tell him to call because she had to pee. I guess that explained all the potty accidents she was having there. In fact, I had to put diaper ointment on her after that day when I realized she wasn't being helped in the bathroom and was wiping well which resulted in diaper rash. After that I tried calling the director, Jenn, to meet her in person to 'address some concerns' because I never see her there. However, she wanted to talk on the phone because she wasn't there while I wasn't working. I was shocked that when I asked her if she could come in 10 minutes early at 6:50 and I could drop daughter off early too to talk to her, Jenn just told me she doesn't come in until 7 and I can meet with the assistant director (who was actually part of my problem). I immediately pulled her out and addressed my concerns at another location. After I decided to pull her out that day, I talked to daughter who told me that "teacher friends mean outside playground push me". No wonder I didn't see that on the camera, but her being so withdrawn was an obvious side effect of that. On a side note, I'm not trying to be mean, but the fact is that if these teachers don't have enough energy to interact with the kids because of their physical issues, they should be in a classroom with older kids where bending, lifting, kneeling is part of their job description. That may be ultimately a huge part of the problem.UPDATE: I called Webster location when I withdrew daughter. Director said she'd get back to me. She only emailed two weeks later a very short generic message that went something like 'Jenn told me (daughter) is no longer attending Hamilton Heights. I'm sorry to hear that. Would you like to remove her from out waiting list?' I told her that I'm appalled at how how their handled reports of abuse and/or neglect and if they won't do anything to figure out what happened and discipline their employees then I'd be forced to report them. So she started ghosting me and didn't respond. Basically, I'll be reporting them to CPS. Side note, she's been at her new daycare for 3 days and LOVES it and is playing so well with the other kids all day when I pick her up.

For our family, Hamilton Heights was the best possible option. The center is clean and friendly, the teachers are well-trained and loving and the management is caring and compassionate. From the art shows to the field trips and holiday events, we love being a part of Hamilton Heights!

I would avoid the 156 and Taylor PreK room. The teachers are not friendly. One of the teachers told me that she would not tie the kids shoes (they are only four years old) and they give children a choice between playtime and eating breakfast, which to me makes no sense. Also the children aimlessly play while the teachers sit in chairs and talk. Both teachers in the room are unhappy and there were mornings where I would walk my child into the room and there was no teacher in the room even though the children were in the room playing. The best decision we ever made was switching my child to a better preschool. I will say it depends on the teacher though because we previously had a good experience at Hamilton Heights in a different room. (That's why I gave the extra star)

Our 3 year old twin boys have been going to Hamilton Heights since they were 12 weeks old, and we couldn't be more pleased with the care they have received. They have been placed with awesome teachers in the infant, toddler, and now preschool rooms who have nurtured them and helped them grow and develop socially, emotionally, and cognitively. The boys love going to "school" and I know that the staff truly cares about them. When I pick them up at night, they seldom want to leave and are excited to return the next day to see their friends and teachers! The directors are so helpful, and are always available to listen. We love that they offer webcams in the classrooms, and we often login throughout the working day to see our little ones learning about the world around them. Hamilton Heights is the best!

Horrible experience! I have MANY complaints about the teachers and directors, but I strictly draw the line at physically hurting a child. Thank god for webcams! We went to the 156th & Maple location. Not one, but TWO incidents of my 14 month old daughter being yanked around by her arm. The tenured teacher was fired from the second incident, but the other teacher continued to work there afterwards (as the retention period for the webcam video was over when I approached the directors/owners). Nothing led me to believe this was a caring, nuturing environment!General complaints: Very obvious they never read the single info page about my daughter they make you fill out before she started there. They consistently would not give her her security item, and instead constantly put a binky in her mouth. I told one teacher, but that info was never relayed to any of the other teachers, so I personally would have to talk to all of her caregivers (4 of them throughout the day and not all are there at the same time). The daily stat sheet they give the parents was useless, as it mostly said the same thing everyday (I've used other daycares where this feature was very nice). My daughter didn't thrive there, even though she's very outgoing and used to being away from mom. Told them I didn't feel my daughter was thriving there, and all they said is she seems to be doing just fine. General indifference towards the children, as it's just their "job" so they go through the motions. Listen to your gut if your child is acting different than normal! There's more, but I'll stop here.Arm Pulling Incidents: Spoke with lead teacher after the first incident that I viewed via their webcam and she was very apologetic and said she'd talk to the other teachers. Fast forward a month and this same tenured, lead teacher yanked my daughter by her arm! Just so I'm clear...it wasn't one of those situations that you can explain away as somehow my barely one year old daughter deserved it. All three of the toddler teachers were sitting on the floor in the room (sitting there, not busy tending to any other children - that is a separate complaint). My daughter was approached from behind so I'm sure she had no idea what was coming. She was grabbed by her arm, pulled down to the ground from kneeling/standing position, and drug ~5 feet across the floor to the other side of the teacher (who was still sitting down!). That time I complained to the daycare directors. That teacher was eventually fired, even though one of the directors said she wasn't going to do anything more because the teacher had already been talked to. The video was sent to the owners who were apparently on vacation. The incident happened on Thursday. I pulled my daughter out on Monday. The teacher wasn't fired until Monday afternoon after I had pulled my daughter out. From what I can tell, there wasn't ill intent by the workers, just pure laziness and indifference. My daughter complained of her arm hurting the night it happened (and had before so I'm sure there was at least one other incident I'm not aware of. She can't talk so not like she could tell me.). The first incident was worse than the one I described, but the retention period for the webcam video was over when I approached the directors/owners. So the first teacher that pulled my daughter around was still working there.