General

Where is the Center located?
The Center's address is 90 7^th Street, San Francisco, California 94103. The facility is brand new and incorporates state-of-the-art architectural design components.

When did the center open?
July 10, 2007.

What is the name of the center?
Kids by the Bay Child Development Center.

What types of enrollment schedules are offered?
The center offers full day and part-week (MWF or TTh) care for children ages 6 weeks through five years of age. All schedules are subject to availability.

What age groups does the center serve?
6 weeks through five years of age

Who operates and manage the center?
The center is operated by Childrens' Creative Learning Centers (CCLC)

Who selected Childrens' Creative Learning Centers (CCLC)?
The GSA and the Kids by the Bay Child Development Center Advisory Board used a competitive Request-for-Proposal (RFP) process to select a child care provider. Proposals were received from several local and national childcare companies. The board selected CCLC because of their proven track record as a strong provider of employer sponsored child care, their experience developing corporate childcare programs, and their commitment to meeting the high standards for quality childcare set by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), a national accreditation organization dedicated to improving the well-being of all young children. To learn more about CCLC, click here.

Enrollment

What is priority enrollment?
Priority enrollments means that families employed by Federal agencies receive spaces before community families. If there is an open space in a classroom and there is an agency family on the waitlist, the space will be offered to the agency family first.

When can I enroll?
The center is currently enrolling on a first come basis. To express interest in the program and be placed on the waiting list, please submit a center interest form. To obtain the application materials, click here.

Do I have to pay a fee or deposit?
Yes, there is a non-refundable $25 fee required per child at the time you submit your completed interest form. Each sibling will need a separate form to be submitted. Payment can be made through our secure payment site at PayPal. Alternatively, families may send one personal check or cashier's note to cover the entire family's enrollment fee when mailing the completed enrollment forms to CCLC.

Programming

What are the child-to-teacher ratios and group sizes in each classroom?
The center will offer programming designed to meet NAEYC Accreditation standards. The child-to-teacher ratios will be as follows:

What are the Center hours and holidays?
The center is open Monday through Friday. The center hours are 7am-6pm.

The Center observes all Federal holidays as well as close on the second Friday in June for annual company wide staff training.

Curriculum & Accreditation

What kind of curriculum is offered?
CCLC's curriculum supports learning in a developmental-based, thematic and multicultural manner for each age group. CCLC views learning as a process that requires a balance between child-initiated and staff-initiated activities. Activities are designed to fit the developmental needs of each age group while ensuring that children are properly prepared for kindergarten.

CCLC uses its exclusive Guided Discovery Curriculum™ in all its centers. Guided Discovery is a "whole child" approach to learning that incorporates different aspects of a child's physical, social, linguistic, cognitive, and emotional development into a variety of daily activities. Guided Discovery is rooted in educational philosophy and theory as well as practice. It relies heavily on Erik Erikson's stages of socio-emotional development, Jean Piaget's theories of how children think and learn, and on principles of physical development. The curriculum reflects the criteria set by the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) Accreditation process.

What is NAEYC accreditation?
NAEYC accreditation means that an early childhood program voluntarily applied for accreditation by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. The program then engages in an extensive self-study based on the Academy's Criteria for High Quality Early Childhood Program. The accuracy of the program's self-study is verified during a site visit to the program by a team of trained volunteer validators.

The validated self-study, including the program director's responses to the validation visit, are reviewed by a 3-member national commission composed of recognized experts in childcare and early childhood education, judged to be in substantial compliance with the Academy's Criteria, and granted accreditation for a three-year period. The early childhood program agrees to act upon the commission's suggestions regarding areas needing improvement and to submit annual written reports documenting improvements and continued compliance. Less than 8% of all child care centers nationally have received NAEYC Accreditation.

Are meals and snacks offered and included?
CCLC also offers children a breakfast and a choice of either a regular or vegetarian/special diet lunch option. Breakfast and lunch are included in the tuition rates.

In September of 2005 CCLC launched an initiative at our centers to improve the types of food we offer children during snack time. Our intent was to migrate to more whole grains foods, foods that are lower in sugar and eliminate the use of partially hydrogenated snack items. With the obesity epidemic CCLC has a responsibility to encourage proper eating habits and educate families on what that includes.

Teachers prepare two fresh fruit snacks like watermelon, apples and celery for the children at snack time and no longer offer snacks like goldfish, pretzels and crackers. Snack time should be tasty, appealing, low in fat, high in fiber and high in protein. We serve hormone-free, antibiotic-free milk and many of our snacks are organic. Parents at CCLC's other centers have been very pleased with this progressive approach to snacks.

Tuition

What are the tuition rates?
To see a current tuition schedule, click here.

Are there any requirements for parent participation at the Center?
There is no requirement from families to participate in the program. There will be opportunities for families to volunteer through a new voluntary parent committee which will be formed after the center opens. Families can also participate at the center during special events. CCLC has an open door policy, parents are welcome in the classroom at any time.

More Information

Who do I contact with additional questions?
For programming questions, please contact CCLC directly at 415-554-8100 or via email