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| - My daughter attended MBM for about 4 months. We weren't able to find much information in terms of reviews online and it was a very quick decision that had to be made, so it seemed good at the time. The only good thing I can say is that my daughter did seem happy for the most part. My husband and I on the other hand had many issues with the administration and actual care.
First of all, we were told that the kids are taken outside twice a day except in extreme weather. My daughter's shoes always came home clean (their yard is wood chips) and my husband had many jobs in the area and drove by several times a day and never once saw the strollers out or any kids in the yard.
We had to provide all food and snacks which we were aware of when signing up, but for the money that this school charges I feel that this should be included OR the tuition should be cheaper. Apparently it is part of the montessori license that food is provided so i'm not sure how MBM gets away with not following this license requirement. Perhaps they are grandfathered.
Our daughter never had diaper rash (except for one very bad few weeks) during her whole first year before daycare. Once she started at MBM she came home with diaper rash by tuesday and had it for the week. It would clear up on weekends and then go right back to rash after one or two days back at school. It got so bad that at one point the entire surface area of her bottom where the diaper covered was bright red! This issue was discussed on several occasions with the head staff and director. Fingers were always pointed at us..."wrong diaper cream", "maybe it's happening at home"...etc etc, it was always OUR fault, there was no accountability and there was never any change in the problem until it was too late and we had, had enough.
The principle even admitted to us that she "is a business woman" and not an educator which clearly means she is in it for the money and doesn't really know how to provide proper care or take the time to hire properly trained individuals. I am not saying that the girls working there were not nice people, the ones that looked after the infant program (where our daughter was) were great, but I do not think that out of the amount of staff that worked there, enough of them were trained in montessori, or that all of them had even completed their ECE course. That being said I do not think that the teachers actually followed the true montessori principles and maybe, again, it was because they are potentially "grandfathered" and don't have to follow standards.
There was one occasion where my husband went to pick up our daughter and wasn't seem by the staff yet and heard one of the staff saying very aggressively to one of the students "JUST STOP YOUR WHINING", or something to that effect.
The administration is just very poor and we did not ever feel confident or comfortable with it. Something you need when placing your child in someones care. And although the contract states that the tuition can be raised without any notice, they did raise it and said "well we haven't raised it for 7 years" which means nothing to me when my daughter hasn't been there for the past 7 years and the only way we found out was when she requested our cheques for the higher amount without even telling us, the amount had gone up. Very unprofessional.
I would NOT recommend this school, I wish there had been some reviews for me to read prior to enrolling my daughter. The great thing is, however, that the director released us from our contract and refunded our $500 deposit so that we could get our daughter the He** outta there and into the amazing new Montessori school that she is in now that she LOVES and that we love! it is cheaper, cleaner, newer, the staff is more professional, it is more organized, it is more strict in terms of following proper montessori requirements and they have a great service that provides nutritious meals for tots.
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