Capitol Hill Montessori Logan fails to be accredited by AMI?

[Anonymous]

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. ]

[Anonymous]

Good luck getting anyone currently at the school to give you an honest and open answer. You will only get more of the same if you enroll your child in this school. Until they get rid of the principal and head teacher, this place will always be an administrative nightmare. However, I don't think DCPS has the balls to take the head teacher on - it would be a real challenge politicallly as she has a cultish following of certain parents at the school. A real shame because the school has potential.

[Anonymous]

Logan. Where the reality doesn't match the hype.

[Anonymous]

Which two new teachers are leaving? Are they elementary teachers or primary?

[Anonymous]

Here's a tidbit. DCPS is not worried about schools being accredited. I am here to tell you we have so many schools that have NOT been accredited it is mind-boggling.

[Anonymous]

Ms. xxx and Ms. xxxx are leaving. xxxx is having a baby and xxx says she can't afford to live in DC. Real deal - Both teachers had poor classroom management and just probably couldn't hang in an urban school - Montessori or not. Some parents are bummed out but others could care less. In a regular classroom, the kids would have gotten a new teacher every year anyway. I'm happy they decided to be open and honest with themselves and chose to leave. Several years with an ineffective teacher would have been very damaging. The principal told the parents in a meeting and invited parents to sit in on the interview process. In other schools, you would not have heard about the change until the first day of school. I haven't heard anything about the AMI process but those things take time- perhaps teachers leaving might have affected the process. Who knows? But the principal seems open to asking. My son is in xxx's class and even with her leaving I'm staying. I'm happy with the growth I see. Besides, I know there are at least 300 kids waiting for my son's spot.

[Anonymous]

So, 12:46, I take it you are a happy parent? I am hoping for a preschool spot off the wait list this year (we have a descent number) but am not sold on whether I see it as a good past K option. Would love to hear your thoughts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, 12:46, I take it you are a happy parent? I am hoping for a preschool spot off the wait list this year (we have a descent number) but am not sold on whether I see it as a good past K option. Would love to hear your thoughts!

I'm happy with the school and parental involvement. I encourage you to visit if you have not. CHM@L is the best if not only free, Montessori option in DC. So it's fine, I see a lot of Capitol Hill families staying past K. My wish is a foreign language offering. Perhaps, then you would consider LAMB but that list is even longer. The thing with Montessori is you have to start in PreK or you can't get in anywhere. If you take your spot, you have time to explore other options like Children's Montessori House but I think they are super expensive. You will be happy with CHM@L. See you in the Fall.

[Anonymous]

I thought they offered French there, or maybe that was just a 'special' when I had my visit.

[Anonymous]

We pulled our child from Montessori last year at Watkins due to the massive confusion, chaos and lack of teaching in the elementary level. During the last year at Watkins, they mysteriously (test cheating scandal?)let go an elementary teacher over the summer and did not have a replacement until late January. Our child was in a leaderless class of 80 plus kids left alone and unattended outside a locked classromm at drop off regularly, due to the lead teacher Ms. xxxx not arriving to teach on time. There was bullying and rude behavior that was never addressed by the Principal as it concerned the lead teachers children and he was not up for leading. In January they hired a brilliant elementary teacher who moved his three children to DC from the west coast. Almost immediately the lead teacher had "personality issues" with the poor guy. She refused to allow him to attend teacher/staff meetings. The primary classes were always decent but beware of the elementary level, many parents leave after elementary and wisely so. This school has had a history or high teacher turnover and apparently, sadly continues with their tradition. Good luck with your decision these are tough choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought they offered French there, or maybe that was just a 'special' when I had my visit.

Perhaps in 1 - 6, not PreK3 - K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought they offered French there, or maybe that was just a 'special' when I had my visit.

Perhaps in 1 - 6, not PreK3 - K.

\

This may be the case, as both of my children have French class with Madame Hilton regularly. They both are in elementary.

[Anonymous]

I've noticed that you can't name names on here so I will say...

I have heard great things about Ms. B-----t and Ms. K---s. My son will be joining my other two children in the fall. I'm kinda hoping for a spot in Ms. B----t's class.

[Anonymous]

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.

[jsteele]

When posting in our forums, please remember that you are not having a private conversation with another parent whom you bumped into at pick-up. These are public messages available to the entire world, searchable by Google, and likely to remain online for years to come. It is very unfair to anonymously criticize others by name.

Anyone willing to identify themselves in a verifiable manner is welcome to say whatever they want about whomever they want. But, protecting your own identity while naming others is not acceptable.