montessori school

Does anyone have a recommendation as to which montessori school is better.

I am looking at

Willow Montessori
Belmont Montessori
Montessori of Herndon

Thank you

 

My children go to Belmont Montessori. and we couldn't be happier! I can definitely see my children flourishing since they've been attending.

Great caring faculty, wonderful PTA.

Mike

 

I recommend The Boyd School of Ashburn. If you take a look at the American Montessori Website www.americanmontessorisociety.com they are one of only a handful of top accredited Montessori schools in the entire state of VA.

I have also had the same experience with loving and caring staff and flourishing children. I have two girls in the 3-6 program.

 

the boyd school is terribly mis-managed and more concerned with money than children, i know, we went there. you can ask around, a lot of other ex-boyd parents feel the same. they've also been sued several times by parents, it's public record, and that's never a good sign. you're smart to not have it on your list of considerations.

my kids go to Willow Montessori now, we love it. It's smaller, but has an excellent staff and the owner is just fantastic. I've also heard very good things about Belmont, but no personal experience. Not sure about Herndon, but why go out that far when you have 2 great ones here in Ashburn?

 

You are giving the Boyd school an unfair shake. There will always be changes at a school; however, mismanagement currently does not apply to Boyd - maybe it has in the past when it was growing by leaps and bounds. Being only concerned with money is also not a fair accusation. The tuition may be at the higher end but you have to look at what the children are getting for the price. There are many field trips for the Kindergartners, for instance. The children receive "a beautiful lunch" which is a healthy good for you organic lunch which is included in the price. Your comment is just not applicable, in my opinion.

I talked with you, SDS, offline a few months back about her specific issue and accusations to find out more - and I also talked with the director about those concerns. The staff member who acted inappropriately was immediately removed. At that time your family was enrolled there may have been an issue which was afterwards handled appropriately and swiftly. Also there was a concern about turnover you had SDS. Miss Chris who was said to have also left and parents were surprised actually retired.

Instead of making accusations that cloud the judgement for future montessori families looking for a current offering of top Montessori schools be sure the past judgements still apply. SDS are you saying that if a school had some setbacks in the past that it makes the school a bad place to be go forward for all of time? I think your accusations are not valid as of current.

Boyd is accredited to the top (AMS website) and is organized for parents. The communication is great and many times threefold in their approach. In my experience last and this year Boyd offers the best to children in the area (Leesburg, Belmont, Boyd were researched based off AMS website recommendation). Parents and children are consistently the top priority and although there may be some staff changes and an issue in the past it is not appropriate to consistently slam Boyd because of your experience.

You are not addressing accreditation with Willow or the other schools in the area. Be careful. Just because a school has the "Montessori" name does not make them accurate in how they present the philosophy. Some schools that are not in the top levels of accreditation may or may not have a Montessori trained teacher in every class. You have to observe on a number of different occasions. Be careful about picking just any Montessori school.

If you have any questions about Montessori and the philosophy please ask me. I have earned my 2 1/2 - 6 Preprimary Montessori Certificate from AMS and have taught in a Montessori classroom for 5 years. I am currently a stay at home mom.

 

i'm glad you're enjoying the school, I would hope you would love any school you trust your children to, that is as it should be.

i'm voicing my opinions and I know a lot more than you think I do about the boyd school. my opinion is neither outdated or unfair. You can believe whatever you'd like to, but i'm here to offer a different perspective. i'll address your assumptions about my thoughts on Boyd:

"There will always be changes at a school; however, mismanagement currently does not apply to Boyd - maybe it has in the past when it was growing by leaps and bounds."

yes, change at a school is normal, you're right, but this is way more than typical growing pains. the mismanagement at the Boyd school comes all the way from the top, so unless they are under new ownership (and they are not), i don't see how things could possibly be much different than last year. and they are still trying to grow by leaps and bounds, that is very much a part of the problem. aren't they currently looking into an infant program in Sterling?

"The staff member who acted inappropriately was immediately removed."

I'm just not sure which staff member you are referring too, they're been quite a few. one was fired from Willow for some very serious reasons, and guess where that person is employed now? at Boyd. another boyd teacher was arrested and convicted of a felony, while working at boyd, and continued to work there while serving jail time on the weekends, and guess what? she wasn't removed, her contract wasn't renewed, but she still finished out the year, teaching children...not the same, sorry.

"At that time your family was enrolled there may have been an issue which was afterwards handled appropriately and swiftly. Also there was a concern about turnover you had SDS. Miss Chris who was said to have also left and parents were surprised actually retired."

If any of these issues were handled swiftly and appropriately, my kids would still be there. that is just an untrue statement. and the turnover is still quite high, no matter what school you compare it to, it is beyond normal. the teachers are not happy working there and the management is the problem.miss chris retired, okay, as have many other teachers "retired" out of boyd, and she is just one of *dozens* who have left boyd over the past year or two, because they didn't like working there (and i'm speaking of all campuses, not just broadlands). i know most of these teachers, i'm friends with several of them, and i've heard directly from their mouths.

"Instead of making accusations that cloud the judgement for future montessori families looking for a current offering of top Montessori schools be sure the past judgements still apply. SDS are you saying that if a school had some setbacks in the past that it makes the school a bad place to be go forward for all of time? I think your accusations are not valid as of current."

I'm not trying to cloud anybody's judgement, we are free thinkers here, and i encourage anyone to make an informed decision before selecting any school for their child. if Boyd is that decision, so be it, your children, your choice, and i'm all for that. i'm only here to share my experience and to help others in making their decision a well rounded one. People can connect the dots and draw their own conclusions. I certainly have current information about the Boyd school, as I know several teachers, a couple of which are still working there. The problems have only gotten bigger since we've left, as far as I can tell.

"Boyd is accredited to the top (AMS website) and is organized for parents. Be careful. Just because a school has the "Montessori" name does not make them accurate in how they present the philosophy."

That is true, but having a piece of paper does not make them a good school, buyer beware. Willow and Belmont are also accredited AMS schools, Belmont is even a teaching facility. Yes, anyone can attach the name Montessori to their school, but the ones I know of in Ashburn are all AMS cert. and embrace the philosophy, so this is a moot point here. All lead teachers at Willow, just like at Boyd, are MACTE certified.

"Parents and children are consistently the top priority and although there may be some staff changes and an issue in the past it is not appropriate to consistently slam Boyd because of your experience."

You're entitled to your opinion, i'm entitled to mine. You will not convince me that this school has done a 180 in less than a year, when I have it on good authority otherwise. I'm not slamming them, I'm expressing my opinion, and there are MANY other parents who feel the same way about Boyd as I do, ask around.

"You are not addressing accreditation with Willow or the other schools in the area."

I just did, but again, parents can look that information up for themselves, as they should.

"Some schools that are not in the top levels of accreditation may or may not have a Montessori trained teacher in every class."

Willow is too new (2 years old) to have the top level of accreditation, but they are well on their way. Boyd only recently got theirs, it takes awhile, it's a long process. I'm not sure about Belmont, and I don't care to look it up at the moment, but it's easy enough to find out; and they are a teaching school, after all, so they must have something in place for that to happen.

"Be careful about picking just any Montessori school."

At least we agree about that.

"If you have any questions about Montessori and the philosophy please ask me. I have earned my 2 1/2 - 6 Preprimary Montessori Certificate from AMS and have taught in a Montessori classroom for 5 years. I am currently a stay at home mom."

Feel free to ask me as well. I'm a SAHM, an advocate for education, without any kind of official documentation. I'm very well read on Dr. Montessori and her philosophy, and very passionate about children and intrinsically motivated learning.

 

SDS I respect everything that you say. Thank you for replying. Although we may have different opinions sometimes at least we both are the same in caring deeply for our children and being passionate about education. I have a few questions and will email you offline if that is OK.