Robert Goddard Montessori

[Anonymous]

Hi

We attended a virtual open house for Robert Goddard Montessori and they said that they don't have any form of in person open house or tours, since COVID ( which is kind of strange because I feel like we're way past that now as far as letting parents inside a school building ). It's hard to make a decision to send your kid to a school if you don't know what it looks like on the inside. In the past when I've visited schools, I've enjoyed getting a feel for what a day is like on regular days, not on a special open house, especially if it's virtual, and in that case it was just the Montessori curriculum coordinator presenting a few slides then fielding questions . As a teacher myself, I think it's crucial that parents see what my classroom feels like. Any input from current parents ? Our current experience in a Montessori public school has been mixed. Some teachers are trained, most aren't and the behavior in some of the classes is great when teachers are trained and have good classroom management skills , and when the behavior is not good, it is far worse than in a regular classroom because the kids are moving around everywhere. So with that in mind we're just kind of weighing whether to even try going there or not, if we can't get a feel for what the classroom/ school atmosphere is like. Would love to be reassured that it's awesome but will take the good , the bad and the ugly !

[Anonymous]

A few of the high demand specialty programs like RGM know that they don't need to recruit so why should they have an open house.
I'm not sure if this is RGM's reasoning but I have had other principals tell me that.

Other specialty schools really need to recruit to make sure they are fully enrolled so they put themselves out there.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I was worried that would be their reasoning. It's kind of annoying because I feel that visiting is a way of avoiding potential attrition when parents realize it's not 100% Montessori for example, as is the case where our kid goes now. We visited so we knew what we were in for but others end up disappointed and then leave.

[Anonymous]

PG County has intentionally created a model built on scarcity so they honestly can (and will) do whatever when it comes to speciality programs. It’s become normalized in such a bizarre way. High performing districts and most private schools allow tours. Just want to affirm (as someone also in education) not allowing tours is in fact crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PG County has intentionally created a model built on scarcity so they honestly can (and will) do whatever when it comes to speciality programs. It’s become normalized in such a bizarre way. High performing districts and most private schools allow tours. Just want to affirm (as someone also in education) not allowing tours is in fact crazy.

A lot of specialty programs do offer tours, especially the high schools. ERHS, Northwestern, Flowers, and Academy of the Heath Sciences offer tours. College Park Academy has an open house and I was able to get a tour of Parkdale by contacting the IB coordinator.
I know that Kenmoor Middle and Capitol Heights Elementary (TAG schools) offer tours too. I have seen other open houses/tours at several of the immersion schools.

But the Montessori schools often have waitlists in the hundreds, especially for Pre-K, so they have no reason to do it.

And for the OP, it is not a true Montessori according to several parents I know. There is a lot more structure.

PGCPS has expanded the specialty programs so much that the only one that is really hard to get into is and CPA at elementary and Montessori. A lot of people get slots at more than one school and need to make a choice.

[Anonymous]

Thanks that's helpful !
We're at a public lottery Montessori now in another state and the pgcps office for the speciality programs told us we could potentially get a reciprocity lottery spot if there are spots available . And yes regarding the actual Montessori set up, were experiencing the same thing in the sense that the Montessori philosophy is there but they also have to abide by the state's curriculum so it would definitely disappoint people who want true Montessori. I'm more interested in teacher quality and atmosphere but it's something you can't really see if you don't get to visit ! Would love an overview of your friends' experiences there though !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PG County has intentionally created a model built on scarcity so they honestly can (and will) do whatever when it comes to speciality programs. It’s become normalized in such a bizarre way. High performing districts and most private schools allow tours. Just want to affirm (as someone also in education) not allowing tours is in fact crazy.

A lot of specialty programs do offer tours, especially the high schools. ERHS, Northwestern, Flowers, and Academy of the Heath Sciences offer tours. College Park Academy has an open house and I was able to get a tour of Parkdale by contacting the IB coordinator.
I know that Kenmoor Middle and Capitol Heights Elementary (TAG schools) offer tours too. I have seen other open houses/tours at several of the immersion schools.

But the Montessori schools often have waitlists in the hundreds, especially for Pre-K, so they have no reason to do it.

And for the OP, it is not a true Montessori according to several parents I know. There is a lot more structure.

PGCPS has expanded the specialty programs so much that the only one that is really hard to get into is and CPA at elementary and Montessori. A lot of people get slots at more than one school and need to make a choice.

For a largely failing school district, they do not have “a lot” of slots proportionally. Many speciality programs are also not high performing in terms of academic performance. There are more open slots because people are becoming hip to the fact that in many cases they are relatively “better” but still not good.

Paying 10k+ in property taxes to put your child’s future in a slot machine and hope for the best is ridiculous and I hate that we’ve normalized this as good enough.

[Anonymous]

I don't know the school but the lack of in-person access would give me pause personally. The Montessori schools I know and visited when I was looking for DD at the least offered a time to observe a classroom. Others actually required it so parents would understand how the classrooms operate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know the school but the lack of in-person access would give me pause personally. The Montessori schools I know and visited when I was looking for DD at the least offered a time to observe a classroom. Others actually required it so parents would understand how the classrooms operate.

Were they private schools? Because then they have an incentive to have you tour. RGMI has no problem recruiting people and the wait lists for Pre-K-2 are really long. They don't need to open their doors if they find it inconvenient.

[Anonymous]

RHS only does the in person open house once kids are accepted in the program but before the deadline to commit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RHS only does the in person open house once kids are accepted in the program but before the deadline to commit.

Sorry, that should be ERHS (Roosevelt)