My husband and I are both educators. We know what to look for when we are researching preschools for our child. We visited American River Montessori 3 times over the summer, and observed the way the owner, Debbie, interacted with our son (we were not able, however, to observe while students were present, and I wish now that we had been). We felt confident sending our son to school under Debbie's care.
This turned out to be a poor decision, and I was incredibly disappointed with American River Montessori.
While I had been told by another parent at the school (before registering) that Debbie can be disorganized and scattered, I believed she was good with the children and I wasn't as concerned about her level of organization as I was about the way she interacted with the students. Unfortunately, her lack of organization extended further than I would have guessed. On 3 of my son's 4 days of school at American River Montessori, I picked him up at the end of the (7-hour) day and found that he had not touched his lunch. All 3 days he told me he was hungry either in the classroom, or on the way out to the car, and proceeded to devour his food in the car on the way home. On the 2nd day that he hadn't touched his lunch, I left a message after school asking about it. I did not receive a response. The 3rd time it happened, I asked Debbie when I picked my son up what he had eaten that day. She told me he had eaten snack. I asked about his lunch and she was unable to give me any kind of answer about why he hadn't eaten his lunch (she also turned to my 3-year old and asked HIM why he hadn't taken his lunch outside at lunch time). She did, however, tell me that the students play outside during lunch time and can bring their lunches "if they are hungry." Because she seemed so perplexed at my question about when my child had eaten, I asked who was with him at lunch time (thinking maybe another teacher had an answer) and she said that she was. After this exchange, my husband and I decided we were uncomfortable sending our child to a school where the lead teacher isn't able to give a clear response when asked about something as simple as a lunch time procedure, and is unaware of the happenings inside her school, in addition to being one who would expect a 3 year old to be responsible enough to choose lunch over playing.
I called the following morning to inform Debbie about our decision, and to request a refund on the basis that my son was not properly cared for (I even offered to pay for the entire month, and requested the remainder of my money back.) Initially Debbie was apologetic and seemed to want to convince me to keep my child enrolled. When I made it clear that he would not be returning (based on her lack of awareness surrounding meal time, and her inability to explain the lunch time procedure), she became defensive. She insisted that he had eaten snack (which I'm sure he did, but I explained that snack is not a meal, and, further, it concerned me that she didn't know if he had even taken his lunch box outside during "lunch" time).
After 3 days and several emails, she met with me and presented me with an entirely different account of what had happened during lunch time (stating it was NOT her, but a fellow teacher, that had been with my child at lunch, and that my son refused to eat). That it took her 3 full days to "gather information" seems to me to be proof that she is either being dishonest or truly unaware about what is happening inside of the school where she is the director.
In the end, the meeting was not productive, and I told her I intended to pursue a refund, at which point she accused me of threatening her. Throughout this interaction, she seemed far more concerned with her own feelings and pride (continually calling me "judgmental" and "negative") than about the proper care and supervision of her students.
I also received an email from her partner, who is a paralegal, placing the blame on me for not making sure she knew I would like for my son to consume his lunch, and threatening me as follows:
"Communication of unsubstantiated allegations of such serious concerns to third parties could result in very serious damage to her reputation and to the business with which she supports herself and her daughter -- any such communications and resulting damage would be matters of significant consequence. "
In the end, I received a portion of my money back, but not even half of what was paid, which resulted in me paying over $700 for 4 days of sub-par child care.
It should be noted that the contract for this school is very odd. It requires not only 30-days notice, but also requires a parent pay until the 30th day AFTER their child dis-enrolls. I would caution all parents to carefully read the contract (oh, how I wish I had!) before signing it!
I would NOT recommend this preschool to any parent. read more