Montessori Community School

"I have always been a fan of the Montessori Method (when buying toys and my mom always raved about it) but didn't quite know what that meant in a school setting, and we have been so pleased with how this school has shown me that the Montessori Method is so special in teaching kids how to learn, grow, and be independent, while showing such a kind and nurturing method of teaching. The first time my daughter's teacher asked my one-year-old "if she can move her body" to the other side of the room, I was hooked. This was our first school experience, and we were pretty nervous to drop our two kids off somewhere as we had always had a nanny at home in the past. Both our kids have completely thrived in this environment, our one-year-old is doing things that our three-year-old didn't learn until he was two, and we certainly feel like MCS is a huge part of this independence. Our three-year-old is showing so much independence and kindness that we are so pleased with both the Infant Room and the Early Childhood Classroom, we would highly recommend either! And as much as our kid's happiness and education is the most important in choosing the school, it also helps that every time we walk into the building we are welcomed by such smiling and kind faces from the administrative staff, we have only been at the school since August, but have very quickly felt at home in all aspects."

"We adored MCS for years, but recently parents learned of serious allegations against a staff member. The administration has been misleading, unresponsive, and has refused to take appropriate action. Teachers are over-worked and underpaid--teacher/student ratios are high, and often there is 1 teacher watching a class of 25+. While I am grateful to the amazing teachers who have provided incredible support to my family and son, I must insist other parents avoid MCS as the adminstration cannot be trusted to but the safety of children first."

"** Prospective parents PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH. SCHOOL MAY REMOVE NEG REVIEWS TO AVOID THESE CONCERNS** The school will respond to my comments with a generic response about wanting to talk. The administration has had ample opportunity to respond to parents' concerns and has consistently failed to do so. I don't know why they are stating this is from multiple accounts. It is not. I am a parent whose child was in a class where alleged events occurred and have been affected by all of these events. School closed early today 9/6/22 due to inability to maintain safe temperatures. Administration remains seemingly ambivalent to this among other ongoing concerns. We recently attended MCS for our toddler's first year. The teachers were wonderful. However, several very disturbing allegations and safety and communication concerns have recently come to light, including important issues I wish we had known before we sent our child here. 1) Very serious allegations against at least one staff member have been brought forward and are currently still under investigation as of November 2022 by the SLCPD. The school leadership has, in the opinion of many concerned parents, repeatedly failed to communicate the status of that individual's administrative leave, his/her access to students, and his/her access to the facility. Given the nature of this individual's role at the school, this individual may still have access to security equipment and family contact information. 2) It is likely that nearly 30% of the student body has withdrawn as of July/August 2022, which in our case and many others, has been due in large part to the failure of the school administration to respond and communicate to this issue. In addition, there has recently (as of Aug 2022) been a very high turnover of teaching staff, leading many families to be concerned about the school's ability to provide a high quality and safe environment. 3) It appears that non-teaching staff have supervised classes and children on numerous occasions while teachers were not present in the classroom. We were NEVER notified that staff including IT staff would be supervising our child. 4) As of 9/6/22 these issues have not been addressed and the school is closing early due to excessive temperatures in the classrooms. It appears that the school building has serious temperature and air flow problems because it does not have a full HVAC system. These issues apparently have not been addressed to the satisfaction of many families. The result is that one day this summer 2022 the school had to close early and parents were given approximately 30 minutes to pick up children because the temperature could not be maintained. Additionally, families were "given the opportunity" to purchase $400 air filters as a donation to the school this year. This is equipment that the school appears unwilling to fund or purchase themselves and instead lets families "buy out" their volunteer hours by purchasing this equipment. 5) The school is owned by the Executive Director's family and they appear to exercise a very high degree of control including employment of family members in apparent violation of school policies and allowing separate, non-school related businesses to be run out of the school building for at least a decade since 2011. During the course of the events in #1, a concerned group of parents has repeatedly asked for information, transparency, and clarification of policies. The administration has been very slow to be forthcoming on these issues (not specific to the investigation but rather to the school's handling of communication, supervision of students, etc)."

"We have loved the teachers at MCS but we have had a horrible experience with the administration. From small things like building safety (no AC so school had to be shut down early when the building overheated), no clear vaccination policy and no information on building FOB access to larger communication issues following a horrific child abuse accusation in our daughters class. We were horrified to learn that the school allowed the accused staff member to have access to the students in the class AFTER they were aware of the accusation because they didn’t “believe” the accusations to be true as the accused is related to one of the administrators. (We have since found out that this is not the first time an accusation and cover up has occurred at MCS.) They also have not provided any support to the families in the classroom. Our goal is to share the information so each potential parent/ student can make an informed decision before choosing to attend."

"My son attended two years in the lower elementary program. We are so sad to be moving and have to leave this wonderful school and community. We are simply indebted to the staff and teachers who provided an amazing education and fostered community in their classroom during a pandemic no less! My son wanted to go to school early everyday and often asked to stay for the after school program. The administration's response to the pandemic was proactive (masks, contact tracing), but also put the kids' positive experiences and in-person learning as top priority. It will be difficult to say goodbye to this amazing school and to the Montessori philosophy."