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FWIW from a current GCC parent: > You can't actually get in. There was a waitlist and your position on it actually got worse over time This changed after covi

FWIW from a current GCC parent: > You can't actually get in. There was a waitlist and your position on it actually got worse over time This changed after covid. My understanding is that they struggled to fill classrooms due to people moving away from MTV / Palo Alto. We tried to convince friends to enroll their kids for fear of something like this happening. The closure was way worse than we expected (we thought they'd at least do a phased closure) and we kinda regret the advice we gave to friends since they're scrambling to find replacement care now. > From what I heard recently from a daycare provider (I can't directly verify), it wasn't very good if you did get in Daycare turnover has been bad industry wide, and our classroom had bad turnover in 2021 but it stablized since then. We've super loved our experience. Really great sanitary procedures, high quality learning objectives and measurement, healthy food, etc. > It was supposedly subsidized but still strangely expensive. Yes it's still shockingly expensive. Maybe this was self inflicted at first: I heard that when one of the Wojicki sisters had her kids there they changed out all classroom furniture every year, looked for way overqualified people to do the childcare (like Ph.Ds) and all that. It's not that over the top anymore today, but today they still pay the childcare workers very well by that industry's standards (they also get all the same days off as other alphabet workers) and the facilities are way bigger than others that you'd find on the peninsula, with a playground / yard for every N classrooms. My personal feeling is: I understand why they'd cut this benefit. I _don't_ understand why they had to cut it in this fashion. Having another daycare company buy it out and handing over operations, or raising prices so it's not subsidized, or phasing out classrooms over N years to give parents plenty of time to find alternative care -- there are just better ways they could have ended this longstanding benefit.

scottlamb 3y ago
Thanks for the updated perspective! > This changed after covid. My understanding is that they struggled to fill classrooms due to people moving away from MTV / Palo Alto. Ahh, that explains how my across-the-street neighbor has a kid there. > Daycare turnover has been bad industry wide, and our classroom had bad turnover in 2021 but it stablized since then. We've super loved our experience. Really great sanitary procedures, high quality learning objectives and measurement, healthy food, etc. From what this provider told me, the Google daycares' turnover was bad even by industry standards. Anyway, glad to hear you had a good experience there, and my sympathy as you try to find a replacement!
- kajecounterhack 3y ago
  Thanks Scott <3
- plasma_beam 3y ago
  FWIW not Google but have my child at a Kiddie Academy, and turnover is abysmal..monthly sounds right. And yeah they do class transfers by age and abrubtly so. And they’re in one room all day, though when it’s over 50 degrees they’ll go outside (I’m in Maryland and ya know..winter). Edit: oh and $2500/mo for 0-2 yr olds..curious how that stacks up compared to Google day care!
  - scottlamb 3y ago
    My kids were at a Kiddie Academy for a while that was coincidentally down the street from a Google daycare. It was a pretty good experience at the time. Each room had at least one long time teacher (years). They eased them into the next room. But then management changed, they pushed those teachers out, we reported a couple ratio violations to the state, and we left. We tried to get the owners more involved (Kiddie Academy is a franchise), then we met the owners and thought maybe less involvement would be better...they got a decent director in the end but the damage was already done from our perspective. Then my kids went to a Montessori style preschool. Small, run by the owner of 20+ years and a couple of long time staff members. That was great for us. The owner has since retired though and the school changed hands. Nothing lasts forever, I guess...
  - nostrademons 3y ago
    Kiddie Academy struck me as ~3rd/4th tier when I was looking at daycares - it was way down my list. My kids went to a small local chain where some of the teachers have been with it since it was founded in the 90s, almost 30 years ago. Average tenure was like 10-15 years. Unfortunately they got bought by Bright Horizons last year, and have lost 4 teachers since the school year began (although luckily it's that 4 teachers have rotated into the 2 spots vacated, not that they lost 4 veteran teachers).
    - kajecounterhack 3y ago
npunt 3y ago
Sounds a lot like the abrupt product cancellations they're known for.
- EasyMark 3y ago
  yeah they really sold whatever soul they had when they completely ditched the "don't be evil" slogan completely
  - charcircuit 3y ago
    They didn't ditch it https://abc.xyz/investor/google-code-of-conduct/ https://abc.xyz/investor/google-code-of-conduct/
Rafuino 3y ago
Can you speak to how expensive? I'm trying to gauge childcare costs in the area and there's not a lot of transparency out there...
- lordswork 3y ago
  I've heard from colleagues that it's about as expensive as rent in the Bay area.
  - kajecounterhack 3y ago
    This is correct. Our rent is about the same as childcare
    - viraptor 3y ago
      This feels like a good average globally, right? You have multiple staff per room (hopefully!) + admin staff + cook who need to pay their own rent+spending, then add the costs+mintenance of the daycare itself. Unless government-subsidised, I'd expect the daycare costs to be in the same ballpark as the local rent.
      - kajecounterhack 3y ago
        In this world where rent is your dominant monthly cost, totally agree. The teacher student ratio for infants here is 1:3, honestly it should maybe be more. Would be nice if rents were a smaller total of our living expenses though. Everyone would have more breathing room.
  - fshbbdssbbgdd 3y ago
    Wow. Might as well rent a place for the grandparents and have them take care of the kid. And if you have two kids, it would be a huge savings. Something seems broken about the economics here.
    - kajecounterhack 3y ago

scottlamb 3y ago

Thanks for the updated perspective! > This changed after covid. My understanding is that they struggled to fill classrooms due to people moving away from MTV / Palo Alto. Ahh, that explains how my across-the-street neighbor has a kid there. > Daycare turnover has been bad industry wide, and our classroom had bad turnover in 2021 but it stablized since then. We've super loved our experience. Really great sanitary procedures, high quality learning objectives and measurement, healthy food, etc. From what this provider told me, the Google daycares' turnover was bad even by industry standards. Anyway, glad to hear you had a good experience there, and my sympathy as you try to find a replacement!

kajecounterhack 3y ago
Thanks Scott <3
plasma_beam 3y ago
FWIW not Google but have my child at a Kiddie Academy, and turnover is abysmal..monthly sounds right. And yeah they do class transfers by age and abrubtly so. And they’re in one room all day, though when it’s over 50 degrees they’ll go outside (I’m in Maryland and ya know..winter). Edit: oh and $2500/mo for 0-2 yr olds..curious how that stacks up compared to Google day care!
- scottlamb 3y ago
  My kids were at a Kiddie Academy for a while that was coincidentally down the street from a Google daycare. It was a pretty good experience at the time. Each room had at least one long time teacher (years). They eased them into the next room. But then management changed, they pushed those teachers out, we reported a couple ratio violations to the state, and we left. We tried to get the owners more involved (Kiddie Academy is a franchise), then we met the owners and thought maybe less involvement would be better...they got a decent director in the end but the damage was already done from our perspective. Then my kids went to a Montessori style preschool. Small, run by the owner of 20+ years and a couple of long time staff members. That was great for us. The owner has since retired though and the school changed hands. Nothing lasts forever, I guess...
- nostrademons 3y ago
  Kiddie Academy struck me as ~3rd/4th tier when I was looking at daycares - it was way down my list. My kids went to a small local chain where some of the teachers have been with it since it was founded in the 90s, almost 30 years ago. Average tenure was like 10-15 years. Unfortunately they got bought by Bright Horizons last year, and have lost 4 teachers since the school year began (although luckily it's that 4 teachers have rotated into the 2 spots vacated, not that they lost 4 veteran teachers).
  - kajecounterhack 3y ago

npunt 3y ago

Sounds a lot like the abrupt product cancellations they're known for.

EasyMark 3y ago
yeah they really sold whatever soul they had when they completely ditched the "don't be evil" slogan completely
- charcircuit 3y ago
  They didn't ditch it https://abc.xyz/investor/google-code-of-conduct/ https://abc.xyz/investor/google-code-of-conduct/

Rafuino 3y ago

Can you speak to how expensive? I'm trying to gauge childcare costs in the area and there's not a lot of transparency out there...

lordswork 3y ago
I've heard from colleagues that it's about as expensive as rent in the Bay area.
- kajecounterhack 3y ago
  This is correct. Our rent is about the same as childcare
  - viraptor 3y ago
    This feels like a good average globally, right? You have multiple staff per room (hopefully!) + admin staff + cook who need to pay their own rent+spending, then add the costs+mintenance of the daycare itself. Unless government-subsidised, I'd expect the daycare costs to be in the same ballpark as the local rent.
    - kajecounterhack 3y ago
      In this world where rent is your dominant monthly cost, totally agree. The teacher student ratio for infants here is 1:3, honestly it should maybe be more. Would be nice if rents were a smaller total of our living expenses though. Everyone would have more breathing room.
- fshbbdssbbgdd 3y ago
  Wow. Might as well rent a place for the grandparents and have them take care of the kid. And if you have two kids, it would be a huge savings. Something seems broken about the economics here.
  - kajecounterhack 3y ago