Montessori In Redlands

"We were initially impressed with the campus, how quietly all the kids worked, and we loved our son's first teacher, Liana. He would literally skip to class, he loved it so much. Unfortunately, when we got into primary, the experience was not the same. Just before his transition, they started talking about him having a sensory processing disorder. When he got to primary, his teacher would give us a laundry list of behaviors that were problematic. If he had a good day, though, we got either a brief report or nothing at all. She would tell us one thing about separating him from other kids and encouraging us not to engage in imaginative play at home and then whitewash it in from of the administrators. They have him an ISFP, but his teacher refused to provide any accommodations. The last straw was when his teacher shamed him in front of me. She said nothing at all encouraging to him, told him it was not okay to yell at his teachers, and made him promise to try again the next day. She then turned to me and blamed me for allowing him to bring in a toy, saying it was not a good way to start the day, even though it was her TA that allowed it. That should have been where the nightmare ended, but it didn’t. A week or two after the term was over, I was picking up a prescription at the pharmacy. “I need medication too,” my son said. “I need medication to regulate my emotions.” My son is three. He doesn't use language like that normally nor have we ever told him that there is medication for behavior issues. “Who told you that you need medication for your emotions?” I asked. “My teacher,” he said. I wrote an email to the superintendent shortly thereafter. " I think there has been some communication,” her email back to me started. She said it didn't sound like anything his teacher had discussed with her. “I have no doubt that she didn't discuss it with you,” I wrote back. “She is telling you what you want to hear.” I heard nothing back. My son is doing much better now that he is out of that environment. We did a tour of a new school and he was not at all on his best behavior. “This is very typical behavior for a kid his age,” his new teacher said. “If he were five years old, maybe it would be a concern, but I don’t see that there are any problems with his development.” We are not alone. I have spoken with so many families before, during, and after our experience with the school who have said similar things. We tried to convey that to them, to say ‘this is a systemic issue,' but the reality is they already know. So don't get snowed. If you go in and are impressed with how quiet and well behaved all the kids are, it's a smoke screen. They aren’t well behaved because of their teaching methods. The kids are well behaved because the school actively shames and drives away anyone who doesn't fit their model."

"Great school"

"I love the school, the philosophy that they work, the involvement of the team, the events ... and the familiarity of all. They are the best"