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| - I have a son and a daughter who have attended Community Montessori School for the last 14 months. It is a one room school house with 4 teachers and less than 30 children. There is a teacher for the outside activities, and 3 that stay inside. The school is clean and orderly. The children eat a home packed lunch outside (weather permitting) provided by the parent. There is an emphasis on proper nutrition and appropriate lessons given on this topic. Parents are expected to donate fresh fruit/veggies/ juice/etc, and if your still naps, you will be given school laundry duty approx every 6 weeks. The tuition for the private school is a little higher than other private schools in the area once all the extra fees are factored in. The reason for the low rating is because of the issues my family encountered due to the head teacher authoritative attitude and inflexible demeanor. There are two very good teachers (Jocelyn and Helen) at this school, however the attitude of the boss typically sets the tone and environment of any workplace and that is absolutely the case for this one room school house.
The school is academically strong. My children learned a lot at their time at the school. They often came home talking about their day, their friends, and the new lessons they learned. I also made it a point to reach out to the teachers and ask how the kids were doing frequently. We always received feedback. When there were struggles the teachers were always willing to discuss and provide alternatives. My experience was, as long as we took the advice from the head teacher, then things were ok, but if we did not conform, then it was her way or the highway - there was no flexibility. For example, after a particularly difficult couple of weeks, when my children were struggling with proper behavior, the head teacher thought it best to have my son hold her pocket for the entire afternoon. He had to literally hold her pocket, and could only go where she went, except for bathroom breaks. At this point my son shut down and did not want to engage in learning. I felt the practice of "shamming" a 4 year old into compliance was inappropriate. I would have preferred a more respectful way to discipline him for the behavior. My husband and I discussed many times with the head teacher, and tried to brainstorm different ways to get my children to think about their behavior. I explained that an un-nurturing attitude would not work with a sensitive 4 year old. The holding onto a teachers pocket, harsh tones, and taking away a school birthday party for typical 3&4 year old behavior only demonstrates shaming, and does not respect their feelings, or their struggles to learn the appropriate behavior. We decided to finish out the school year and look for a new private school for the fall.
Upon advising the school that we would not be attending the summer sessions, or the following year, our children were ignored; and we were talked about, by the head teacher, to other parents behind our back. I had purposely held off on my online review until the last day of school because I was concerned of backlash. Looks like my instincts were right, as our last 30 days at this school has been marred with hostility. I believe this behavior to be petty and unprofessional, which is why my rating is a 1 and not higher. I would not recommend this school based on my experience.
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