Capitol Hill Montessori Logan fails to be accredited by AMI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That is not true. I can think of a few other schools that had some kind of staffing challenge and faced it head on. They've also been quite open about accreditation. Brushing that under the rug is absolutely a black mark.

Quite open about it? Then why is it that parents don't know anything about it? Open is not a term I would use to describe anything that happens at Logan.

[Anonymous]

As a parent anticipating a decision of sending my child to Logan or sticking with our inbounds school, I would be curious to know which of the PPs are parents of Logan students. In general it seems the parents (who identify themselves as such) give positive reviews, at least in the lower grades, and maybe there is some odd angst from non Logan parents? Just trying to figure out how much clout to give the posts that likely aren't from Logan parents.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Logan Montessori applied to AMI (Association Montessori International in Rochester, NY) to be certified as a Montessori school and they have been rejected? A few parents have mentioned this and indicated that [the] Principal and [the] Lead teacher are not interested in sharing this info with the parents. Also two of the new teacher hires are again leaving the school after only one year. Can anyone confirm this, we cannot get a response from [the Principal] and need to know what is going on so we can make some decisions. Thanks

[Edited by admin to remove names. ]

I am a parent at Logan and understand that no school has been notified of their accreditation status via AMI. There were a few DCPS schools that went through the process. When we are notified, I will be sure to post the accurate status. Until then, we should hold tight.

I find that the administration is supportative and that the primary program is quite strong. I can not speak on the elementary program because I do not have first hand experience.

When I email the teacher or principal I get immediate responses. I am quite pleased with the program thus far. And my DC is quite happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That is not true. I can think of a few other schools that had some kind of staffing challenge and faced it head on. They've also been quite open about accreditation. Brushing that under the rug is absolutely a black mark.

Quite open about it? Then why is it that parents don't know anything about it? Open is not a term I would use to describe anything that happens at Logan.

Yes, that was the point. I thought that was clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That is not true. I can think of a few other schools that had some kind of staffing challenge and faced it head on. They've also been quite open about accreditation. Brushing that under the rug is absolutely a black mark.

Quite open about it? Then why is it that parents don't know anything about it? Open is not a term I would use to describe anything that happens at Logan.

Yes, that was the point. I thought that was clear.

I am a parent at the school and I find the school to be quite open.

[Anonymous]

We posted earlier and many who posted with thoughtful critical facts to consider are parents who removed their children from the program. There were no critical posts from parents who did not have children enrolled at Montessori Watkins or Logan at one point. If it is open why have so few parents known about half the new teachers resigning at the end of the year? Why do the Logan parents not know that AMI has rejected their application for certification? Probably because you are not asking. Email Principal Eatman and ask for a straight answer and post his response. We removed our children at Montessori-Watkins (previous school location same players) due to the lack of information and straight answers, failng to have a teacher for half a year etc...

[Anonymous]

I am NOT a parent at Logan Montessori. But for the benefit of the person asking about neighborhood school or Logan Montessori, I would like to state that our nearby neighborhood DCPS has received "returnees" from Logan this year. None of them are trashing Logan. They're wonderful and thoughtful parents, keen on doing the best for their children and giving credit where credit is due. But they do share the perception that information is kept under wraps and that problems are not addressed clearly and explicitly. I wouldn't be all that worried about teachers leaving per se, because teacher command and quality has also been mentioned as a concern. They also acknowledge that Montessori is really different and feel like their children weren't challenged enough. So maybe take my input with a grain of salt because they may just not have children that fit the Montessori mold.

[Anonymous]

Half of the newly hired teachers leaving is HUGE and significant in Logan's Montessori like school. In a true Montessori AMI certified school and under their model of best practices, the children will have a consistent teacher (called a Guide in Montessori lingo) year after year who know the specific details of how and where the child is in their psycho-social and intellectual development. The Guide looks at the room of children and knows where they are and what work they should be working on as they advance. A new Guide (teacher) is a major setback as they have a tabula rasa scenario not knowing anything of where the children are in their development. When we pulled our child from Montessori/Watkins the turnover of Guides was a problem and the lack of leadership was the problem. The same leaders are in place at Logan a parent mentioned. We loved the Montessori model but this lack of monitoring the children, bullying unchecked and general rudeness from the lead teacher created a cold sterile environment. Our child transitioned well into the nw school last fall and is happy and loves to learn; qualities not found at Montessori /Watkins Logan (according to other posters)from our experience. Hope this helps, we wanted our child to be happy and love school and not fear being treated poorly and think this is acceptable behavior.

[Anonymous]

Wow. The couple of posts about bullying are really concerning to me. Parents, how were you aware of this happening? From your child or from the administration? Do you think the large classrooms and wide age range if children was a factor?

I have found this thread very insightful, thank you!

[Anonymous]

We left after Watkins as many other parents do as they transition into the elementary level as their is no oversight by DCPS of the quality of education provided at this next level. At Watkins the problem was as follows. The age range of elementary, 6 through 12 year olds is the problem. The older children teach the younger ones to pick on others to be accepted into their clubs. As was posted by another parent, at Watkins the lead teacher had over 45 children and over 70 children for half the year as the Principal took forever to find a second elementary teacher. The principal failed to use substitutes with any regularity for some unknown reason. The Watkins teachers and some Montessori teachers (quietly for fear of retaliation) complained because the Lead Teacher Ms. Henderson, never watched her scores of children at recess and it was uncivil and bullying was common place. Several friends of ours report this continues at Logan but you have to be proactive and watch recess to pick up on this fact. If your busy working you would not know this and thus we left at Watkins once we were told by other parents of these unchecked issues. We wanted our child to be safe and in a nurturing environment.

[Anonymous]

My child was in the montessori program at Watkins for 3 years (primary classroom). My opinion was the primary teachers are very strong. However, there was no way I was sending my child into the head teachers classroom. The day I walked by her classroom and saw a child being tied up with a jump rope by another student while the teacher was nowhere to be found, that was my deciding factor. I was already on the fence based on the reports I was getting from some parents about the lack of instruction that took place on a regular basis. I also didn't like the fact that the head teacher allowed some children to stay in her classroom until the age of 12 - I did not want my 6 year old in a classroom with children that much older.

[Anonymous]

PPs, did you find the primary group experience to be positive and nurturing?

[Anonymous]

I am a current parent at Logan. I've been fairly happy this year, mainly due to our teacher. Our son has been happy and enjoys going to school and I would be comfortable keeping him there through primary. I get the feeling that a lot of each parent/child's experience is dependent on his/her teacher (as with any school). However, I've been frustrated with the lack of communication and disorganization of the school. I have emailed the principal before with no response.

[Anonymous]

Our family faced the same problem last year with the Principal not answering the many emails. The school is run by the lead teacher (Union Rep. for the building also) and everyone is afraid to BREATH without her permission. The lead teacher refused to allow her peer elementary teacher access to the PTA money donated by his classroom parents for their classroom, holding our money hostage. Think slush fund? The Principal never answerd the many many emails to help our teacher and allow the teacher to spend our parent donated funds for fear of crossing the lead teacher. The Principal ignored the parents and teachers emails. It is sad and pathetic. Nothing ever got solved when people complained. That is why our family and several other moved on; we did not want our children to see this as normal behavior of adults. Sounds like it is the same game with the same players at Logan. Sad.

[Anonymous]

Principal Post just rec'd...

School is AMI Associated.

AMI associated schools are those in the process of meeting full recognition standards.