Any recent reviews on Fiore Montessori?

[Anonymous]

Fell in love with the 3-acre wooded lot, but turns out the kids are out there maybe :30-:45 a day, that's it. Annual landscaping fee of $500 works out to a $2/day for the :30 they spend outside.

Kids are sent out there when not napping so as to not wake other kids.

[Anonymous]

That place seriously just needs new owners. Great facility and location. Poor owners.

[Anonymous]

Too much marketing, little education.

[Anonymous]

My child is at Fiore. What they say about food makes sense to me. Healthy food sent from home, is acceptable to me. They do not ask me to not send Mac and cheese or yogurt or fruit.

If a child is given sugar, whether processed or fruit sugar, before they eat other food (Carbs and proteins), they may decline to eat the rest of the food because brain chemistry is such that if we eat a piece of chocolate first, we do not feel as hungry. That's why energy bars seem to quell hunger.

Anyway, when a child has to go to nap right after eating lunch at school, and ten children nap together, it makes a lot of sense to not have a lot of sugar in food.

[Anonymous]

They should just provide their own food. All the organic daycares and preschools around the area do. Limits issues with parents.

[Anonymous]

This school is a wolf in sheep's clothing. The owner and head of school has no background or experience in the education world whatsoever, and he runs the place like a dictator of a small central American country. Parents are told whatever it takes to keep their money rolling in, and staff are treated like second-class citizens. The administration's top priority is marketing and making the school "look good"; the quality of the education is the last thing on their mind. Let me put it this way; they are a small school that has had about a dozen people quit in the last year, including several lead teachers. That is never a good sign. Stay away if you don't want to feel like you've been swindled by a used car salesman.

[Anonymous]

My child went to Fiore for two and a half years. We only pulled our child when the drive became unmanageable. While I did find the food restrictions a bit much, I figured it wouldn't kill me to make one restricted meal a day and I spoke directly to my child's teacher about fruit. I am with the mom above who said she has a hard time getting vegetables in her kid so fruit is really the way to go. Also, I didn't like the suggestion that every meal has dessert. They completely understood and said they would no longer call it that or keep it for after the "entree."

I like that they are super strict about the Montessori method because that is why I chose to send my kid there. My child spent a lot of time outside every day. They were tasked with taking care of the garden as well as having free time in the sensory garden and sound garden. As for music and art - they had a professional musician come once a week for music class and he taught about instruments as well as songs in Spanish and English. There was also an amazing art teacher who came once a week. She'd teach about a famous artist and then the children would try to replicate one of their famous works. When my parents were in town, my child had a full conversation with my mom about impressionism and asked if we could go to the museum to "see Monet."

I was aggravated at the lack of ability for parents to observe but being in a school now where parents can go observe anytime I can see why a school wouldn't allow it. It can be extremely disruptive and derail a kid or several completely making it difficult for the teacher to get everyone back on track. I visited my child at school today and leaving caused an out-of-character meltdown that triggered bad behavior from friends as well. I felt bad for the teacher as I headed out.

The leader of the school can come off cool and can be inflexible. I had frustrations with him at times and I heard stories from other parents. I will say, however, the other families we met were really wonderful and had a sense of community about them. I don't have that at our new school.

The car line does suck. It was a running joke among me and my friends. I don't know how they could improve that because most of what I saw was bad behavior from parents!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This school is a wolf in sheep's clothing. The owner and head of school has no background or experience in the education world whatsoever, and he runs the place like a dictator of a small central American country. Parents are told whatever it takes to keep their money rolling in, and staff are treated like second-class citizens. The administration's top priority is marketing and making the school "look good"; the quality of the education is the last thing on their mind. Let me put it this way; they are a small school that has had about a dozen people quit in the last year, including several lead teachers. That is never a good sign. Stay away if you don't want to feel like you've been swindled by a used car salesman.

Updates?

[Anonymous]

The above poster is spot on. I happen to be close to someone who used to work there and they have very high turnover. It is a lot of putting on the ritz for rich parents whose every whim are catered to. Want to bring your child two hours late each day? Sure! Staff are micromanaged down to every email they write big brother style. Some are expected to work year round with no break. It's unfortunate that so many wonderful teachers have come and gone because ultimately they aren't trusted as the professionals they are to make sound independent decisions regarding the children in their care. It's a wonder they somehow find replacement after replacement and parents should be very suspicious because excellent montessori teachers are generally committed for long periods. Their enrollment numbers are consistently low. Policies are not consistently adhered to. There are no gardens or outdoor work spaces..children run amok at recess time which apparently is very short. Administrators are awkward with children and staff walks on eggshells around them. There is no easygoing vibe readily found at other montessori schools, a sense that everyone is in this together. Instead, anxiety runs high. Do you want your child attending such a school?

[Anonymous]

As a parent with a child in Fiore, I would agree with the previous poster about the high turnover of teachers. However, it is not true that there are no gardens or outdoor work areas. The outdoor environment at Fiore is one of the best in most of the other schools we toured in the area. My son's class tends to their vegetable garden throughout spring and summer and enjoy the produce during snack time. They also work outside when the weather is favorable. Further, the children play outside for almost an hour everyday.

[Anonymous]

I am a parent at Fiore. Although school has many early dismissal and staff meeting, many other private schools practice the same way.

Teacher and staff work 8-9 hours a day like we do. They also have family commitment. They have to plan and conduct meeting for classes and review. Just like we did at work, meeting and conference during the normal work hours. So, I feel like it is fair for them to do those activity during the working hour.

Their teachers are great, very well educated, very polite, and professional. It is important to have a good role model for kids at school. Foods rules are very good. They have those rules for good health of all the kids.

It is not a convenient choice. I understand. But if you want a convenient choice, you might want to send your kid to a daycare that has preschool program too. They operate long hours for you.

Teachers go home the last waiting for the last kid to go home at the end of the day. So, I don't blame them for those school closed days and early dismissal.

[Anonymous]

We are Fiore parents and I have to say I am really surprised to hear the comments on this thread. Our kids' teachers are perceptive, engaged, and clearly truly love our two children who attend. The food program is excellent, our kids eat a range of vegetables and fruits that I wouldn't have thought kids would like - but I've seen the photos. We appreciate the wholehearted commitment to Montessori practices and principles - we toured many schools and many of them we felt had Montessori window dressing.

Finally I would say whoever said there's no parent or community involvement is flat out wrong. We receive invites regularly to school sponsored events; all of the parents in our sons' classes are conscientious about birthday party invitations etc. We have an entire community that has been built up for us around Fiore and we feel like we're amongst like-minded people.


And yes, car line stinks!

[Anonymous]

I have been sending my child here for a year now. There are more positive than negative. But I am not sure if it is real or not. My guts feeling tell me that they are so fake. The teachers and school hope for ideal environment that I feel that for a little kids.... this is great. But once they get a little older they must know how to deal with the real world outside. The teacher almost whispered when talking to my kid. I appreciate the politeness but whispering? Can they whisper all the time? Some of them seem normally polite. Some of them I almost feel that they pretended to be nice. Some of the comments are right. This sounds more like corporate environment using strategic management and consulting technique.

I read the school review on Google over a year ago. There is one negative review that I agree with. But now I don't see that negative review on their rating anymore. Not sure if they request google to delete it. Not sure where it get disappear. I took a peek on the kids restroom from time to time and I found it is dirty with pee spill on it every time I saw. Every time is a big deal. I asked my daughter if she makes sure the toilet is clean before sitting on there. She said she saw the spill and told her teacher but the teachers were so busy that no one come to help. She had to wipe it. And for God sake, I don't think little kid can wipe it that clean. I can imagine her hand must be soak up with other kids' pee by the time she is done cleaning it.

Last year they have about 20 kids per two teachers in class. One class has little kids like 3 years old to 6 years old. I am pretty sure it didn't meet the VA teachers and students ratio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the person who said that this site has a lot of mis-information. This school is run like a business with extremely over the top restrictions. And I would hardly call it efficient. I don't know what you mean when you say things that are a waste of time, but this school really lacks in communication. Parents are not involved in any of the decisions, there is no room for any compromise. The worst restriction is their rule of not letting parents observe their kids whenever they want. Up until last year, they didn't let parents in at all, period. They finally put a one way window in one of the toddler rooms but even that was restricted to sign up times that were limited to early mornings at 30 minute intervals. Journals for each child were promised that never came home. Pictures were sent maybe once a month and pretty much all from the same day. They started out with weekly pictures which turned into month long waits. The school tends to make grand promises of things without follhowing through.

This is not the best school in the area. Do not be fooled by how it looks. There are plenty of other montessori schools that are not so overpriced and still offer a great montessori environment (without all the crazy restrictions).

The pictures were sent late. I agree. Your post is in 2013. It is still true for 2016. When we took the tour with school, the director and the owner said the pictures will send out every two weeks. In reality, it is once a month or longer. Pictures are important here because there is no other student update/report here. It is only once a semester parent-teacher conference. So, pictures are the only form of communication which I prefer to see the pictures than a report. I am ok with the restriction. When parents go observe, it can interrupt kids' focus.

[Anonymous]

When I applied my kid there, they said my kid age was over 3 1/2 which is too old for Montessori program. After they have less and kids in the program, they took 4 and 5 years old without hesitation. Double standards