Newbie questions....

[New-to-Montessori]

Hello everyone,

Two of my children started in a Montessori school in September, and in general I like the school and most of the teachers are wonderful. There are a couple of things about the school that concern me, and I need to know if this is normal with a Montessori school.

The teachers are no longer allowed to walk the 1 block down the road (on a sidewalk) to the playground due to a complaint by the new teacher. They used to use this time to do nature walks. Now they are confined to the school play area which is not very big and the play equipment is not the best.

The school owner is not approachable, and does not seem to care that a parent may not be happy and are taking their child elsewhere.

There is no parent association of any kind, parents have no input and there is no communication except for the occasional slip of paper stuck into their lunchbox.

I was assuming that nature walks and outside activities such as weather study etc were an essential part of a Montessori program, but it does not seem that this is happening.

An unfortunate issue with the school at the moment is that the owner's daughter who just got certified last year is the only teacher for the 6 year old and up group, she is quite inexperienced and not easy to deal with. She is the one who asked for the walks to stop, and has no problem with berating a parent if she feels they are not "following policy". The school uses the kiss n go system for drop offs and pick ups, and if you dare to get out of your car to open the door, or walk up to the school instead of in your car to pick up your child she will jump on you. One parent was yelled at in front of everyone (children included) for walking to the school to pick up her son, and told that if she cannot follow policy than she can be released from the contract and can go find another school.

The other teachers are wonderful, but there are many parents not returning to the school next year because of this new teacher. The owner is not doing anything to appease these parents, or to curb the new teachers (her daughter) attitude and lack of professionalism.

My son will be in the new teacher's class next year which at this point I am not happy about. There are no other Montessori schools close by, I think the next closest is a 40 minute drive one way. So I feel like I am stuck with this situation, and I am not sure what to do....if anything.

Have any of you run into any of these issues?

Regards,
Lorraine

[lauren]

Can anyone help Lorraine?

[Shaki]

None of the things you've mentioned happen at our M school. It sounds like these issues are specific to your particular school.

For example:
we have a very strong parent community with many active parents involved in the school.

If you need to meet with the principal: no problem she's available

You can chose to "walk up" to drop your child off and pick your child up or you can drive in the carpool line. If your child is comfortable going into school on his or her own then you just say goodbye in the car or at the door. If your child is having trouble transitioning you can walk with them to their classroom (although, you do not go in).

Outdoor time is integrated into every day.

Hope that helps.

[saffrongirl]

Originally Posted by New-to-Montessori

The school owner is not approachable, and does not seem to care that a parent may not be happy and are taking their child elsewhere.

There is no parent association of any kind, parents have no input and there is no communication except for the occasional slip of paper stuck into their lunchbox.

I have not run into these issues, but I can tell you that if I encountered any of that especially the above, it would be a deal-breaker. It is HIGHLY suspicious and strange to me when a school doesn't want parents involved, doesn't communicate with the parents and apparently doesn't even want them in the building.

I guess I'd give the owner/director one last shot and try to communicate my concerns. I'd probably try to talk to some of the other parents and see if you are all on the same page and then try to neutrally bring that concern to the attention of the owner. If he/she is non-receptive, I'd probably pull my kids. I think I'd feel like the whole place was just a money-making enterprise as opposed to real Montessori classrooms.