Lighthouse Academy & Child Development Center, Boynton Beach

First of all, we would like to thank the DCF parent who wrote such a nice review. We appreciate your support. Childcare is a huge responsibility and we do not take it lightly. Anyone who interferes with the safety and comfort of our children in our care WILL NOT be tolerated. Anyone who mistreats our employees WILL NOT be tolerated. Our business is run by strict policies and procedures. This ensures the safety and fairness for all children, parents and employees. We are adamant in upholding the rules and regulations, and unfortunately, we have had clients that think these rules do not apply to them. We try to help them understand that by being a client of ours, you WILL follow these rules. If they choose not to, we gladly and quickly show them the door. At that point, their only weapon of choice is on-line temper tantrums with multiple personas. Obviously we fight hard for our good reputation and review these sites occasionally. False accusations can be printed, but the truth is in the fact that we have been Accredited as a Gold Seal Facility since 2004, which means we answer and report to the Health Department, Florida Department of Education, the Agency for Work Force Innovation and the Early Learning Coalition. Our records and reports have been outstanding for over 5 years which is due to: adhering to our policy and procedures as well as theirs, retained staff since 2003, teacher ‘turn-over’ is at an uncommon low of 2%, client ‘turnover’ is at 5% (which is good even in this economy) 20% of clients are returned clients (siblings) 100% of staff has achieved their Child Development Associates, 75% of graduating students have remained clients since infancy. And our current satisfied customers sing our praises of sincere teachers, a clean facility, supportive administration, high education and Christian standards implemented to the children. Not every school or business can have 100% satisfied customers; there always are sad souls who find time to try and cause trouble. If any rebuttal comments appear in the future, rest assured, it is the last client that clearly found out he could not have his way. “The wise will inherit Glory, but shame is the promotion of fools.” Proverbs 3:35

The posting below was written by an employee. The care here isn't bad at all. There is no management to speak of; you will get what you pay for. You could do better and you could do worse. Look elsewhere first. If there are no openings anywhere else, then this place will do. Nothing long term or you will regret it. I am a consumer that was very happy with the service overall, but disgusted with the honesty and integrity of the management; personal information should never be used for anything but business, period. RSV is no laughing matter to hide. These are a few issues that I had with the organization. Childcare can be great, but that is not the only factor when choosing a childcare provider. Find a reputable facility no matter what it costs. I'm giving them a three bc I did like this place. I had enough negative experiences to bring down the service portion. Location is good, but not perfect. Value was ok at the time we were there, but now cheap isn't better. Cleanliness gets a two because I think many kids were sick on a daily basis getting other children sick. The system for sending sick kids home is definitely flawed. This is our experience only. This may not be the same for you or your child. The abuse thing mentioned is a little out of character for what I saw, but that's not to say it didn't happen. I have no reason to write anything malicious about anyone. This is only my opinion.

I am a parent whose child attends Lighthouse. I also am an employee of the Department of Children and Families. I have heard there were some allegations made against this center. Although I cannot be involved professionally, I have reasssured the directors that many bogus reports are made for many reasons: irate parents who either are expelled because they didn't pay their bill, children are not allowed to come contagious, are being persecuted for writting bad checks, one or the other parent shows up drunk and the center refused to release their child, there were suspicious markings on the child and the center had to report it,(thus having the parents be investigated) or if an enough stink is created, then insurance companies settle and pay medical bills. I can only add that along with myself, there are six other of my colleaques who CHOOSE to send their children to Lighthouse Academy. If that does not demonstrate that this center is one of the highest quality, then I don't know what would.

Affordable, but at what cost to your children? Ratios are frequently ignored, kids are screaming, staff gossips and management treats staff poorly. Almost the entire staff also has children at the center and they spend their time worrying about their own children instead of those they are paid to provide care for.

This daycare is NOT a place you want to send your kids. As they say, you get what you pay for, and when it comes to your children, Lighthouse Academy = abuse. The teachers are mean to children and the directors are selfish and greedy. This is not a good Christian school run by good Christian people. Christ would cry to see his children treated this way.

This daycare is NOT a place you want to send your kids. As they say, you get what you pay for, and when it comes to your children, Lighthouse Academy = abuse. The teachers are mean to children and the directors are selfish and greedy. This is not a good Christian school run by good Christian people. Christ would cry to see his children treated this way.

Our 11 month old child contracted RSV Virus at Lighthouse. She was extremely ill for severn days and we were informed by the workers of the daycare that the owners had full knowledge of other children at the facility that had the virus. However, they elected to NOT inform any of the parents so that they may have had the opportunity to take appropriate action and prevent their children from becoming sick. We were informed by workers that this is common place at Lighthouse. We have initiated a complaint with the Palm Beach Health Department and the Florida Department of Children and Families. Additionally, we have retained an attorney top recover medical expenses and pre-paid tuition. The facility, to date, has done nothing to prevent these incidents from ocurring again in the future other than reprimand their employees for releasing this type of information. It is our intent to aggressively pursue this, in part, to insure that no other parent goes through what we just went through in the past seven days. We had an additional incident in this same time period where our child and two other children (infants) were exposed to large amounts of bleach. This was to the extent that their clothes were destroyed and one child obtained a burn on her behind as a result of it. Again, the Owners of the daycare were oblivious as to what happened or even concerened as to how this could have happened. They were concerned only as to the parents becoming upset that their childs' clothes were ruined. My wife wrote a letter to the daycare explaining all of her concerns and ask for a response as to the various problems. However, no response was given, again, other that the daycare telling their employees that they should not reveal this information to parents. I have five other children, all of which were in daycares during their childhood, and I have never had a child sick to the extent that my 11 month old was as a result of blatent neglect. I have never experienced a situation where a care giver would not keep a parent informed of illnesses exposed to the cildren or events and sitiatations which are clearly harmful to them. It is clear that there is a systematic practice by Lighthouse Academy to withold information from parents in hopes of keeping the facility at the maximum capacity and to place the safety and well being of those children LAST.