We cannot with good faith recommend this school. How you treat your community ripples quickly. We have referred 3 families who have their children in the school have concerns as well. read more

I went there with my soon to be sixth grader Logan. Short tour not much explaining at all. Mary who runs this school told me to email if I wanted to enroll him. Guess what I wrote a nice email all ready to proceed. I got No Response, that's right nothing. Her account was so unprofessional arguing with someone on the phone right in front of me. The kids were all running around with no focus, structure or direction or so it seemed. If they didn't want my son, they should have told me. I ended up finding a school who welcomed us and explained the Montessori process and how they integrate today's style of teaching. I am so glad casa didn't get one cent of his scholarship money. This is not how I do business. And I was not going to chase them down after they blatantly ignored my email. read more

It has taken me a while to share this experience because I wanted to make sure that my thoughts are fact based and not effected by emotions. We moved to Deland a few years ago. We thought a Montessori school would be a good entry choice for our son, whom had only been home-schooled at that point. We did a lot preparation work with the teacher at the school in order to make sure that the school and our son was a right fit for each other. We paid the teacher for several weeks of private tutoring prior to registering our son. It was only upon that teacher's confirmation and recommendation we enrolled our son and paid tuition in full, about $6,000. During the first semester, never we were alerted to any serious issues. There were a few incidents of our son not wanting to participate in certainly classes or not getting along with certain kids, all were within expectation for a new kid to a new school in a new city. By Christmas break we were actually told by the teacher of our son's improvement and she wished us happy holidays and that she'd see us in the new year. The teacher accepted our sizable donation to her classroom with a nice aquarium system upon her suggestion and a sizable gift card for her vacation. However, upon my son's return to school after the holidays, only a few days later, the teacher told us that our son was no longer allowed to attend the school. She then gave us some supposed incidents that had taken place last semester as the excuse, even though none of these issues were discussed with us prior and no issues had happened during the 2 days of the new semester. We were then informed that since my son's spot was not "replaced", we would not be refunded the tuition that we had already paid in full - even though he had only been in school for two months of the full year, and a new kid did enroll in that class. It seems very apparent that this action of removing my son from school was decided by the teacher even before the Christmas holiday, which brought us serious questions of their character and conduct. Unfortunately, the school claimed that the newly enrolled kids were not "replacements", and thereby we would not be refunded. The teacher further claimed that she did not know my son would need so much attention during her class hours. This statement shows either her lack of experience as a teacher (since she had tutored our son prior to our enrollment and encouraged us to enroll and pay the tuition); or some very questionable character issues. The facts stated above are objective. We respect the school of whatever they believe their facts are. However, one very critical fact is the damage that this teacher had caused to my son. My son was completely baffled by his trusted teacher's abrupt and self-contradicting action. He questioned why the same teacher whom had privately tutored him, whom encouraged him to enroll in her class, and even told him that she was looking forward to his return to her class, would suddenly block him out of her class completely, without any proper explanation. He questioned, at such a young age, how could he trust the words of anyone, if the teacher who was supposed to teach him scholastics and life lessons, could not be trusted! Betrayal is one of the most hurtful thing in life. As parents, we wish our son did not have to incur such a negative impact at his young age. I am writing this post not because of the money - though we believe it was deceitful and unjust - I am writing to bring attention to parents about the tuition policy and especially to the actions of their teachers. These are young lives that they are impacting either positively or negatively. A teacher's behavior shall not be motivated by monetary gains or the easiness of their job. It is a precious and innocent young life with which that they are entrusted. The mental health of a child is just as important as their academics and their physical health. Please do keep that in mind! I hope we all learn from this unfortunate experience for the benefit of our children, our future. read more

Aesthetic aside, this school is awful in more ways than I can write on here. The teachers neglect your child because they are understaffed and overran by unqualified personnel, the owners and management severely lack basic compassion and overall social skills for parent communication, staff fat-shame children and gossip about parents, they will barter skills because they have financial problems (which will show on different thing you are billed for, increased rates, etc. but mostly- you pay the $625+/mo tuition for 3 consecutive months during the summer in which the school is NOT even open/your child will not be attending?? Unless you pay for the entire year in advance), the children are aggressive and it goes untreated (I signed an incident report for wounds my child came home with weekly- including broken bones), any concerns about your child will be shoved aside and go unnoticed resulting in behavioral issues or physical injuries, they don't update you on your children during the week/parental involvement is minimal; so you will be out of the loop on whatever's going on in the classroom. Additionally, the school contract is insane and laced with loops to never get your money back if you have regrets or change of heart. Overall, at Casa Montessori in DeLand, the only thing I can guarantee is that you will be undermined as a caregiver and your child will go unloved, unattended, and undereducated. Emotional and physical trauma is the only thing you and your children will get out of this establishment. I wanted to love this place, and did until it showed me their true colors. Montessori schools are about following the child and a family-like sense of environment, but at Casa I have never felt so unwelcome or uneasy about leaving my child somewhere. What a truly awful place. Please take my advice, if you care for your family, enroll them elsewhere. read more