any comments on white flint children's house

[Anonymous]

I believe the half way house someone was mentioning is the Montgomery County Pre-Release and Reentry Services Facility on the other side of the rail road tracks behind the school on Nebel St: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/doctmpl.asp?url=/content/docr/PRRS/PRRSmain.asp

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if there are any plans to update the playground? We are looking at the school and I've heard they are planning on expanding it, but I don't know what the expansion will be and when it will take place. The playground is currently our biggest concern about the school, so an expansion that included some equipment for the older children such as some climbing equipment or a low monkey bars as well as some added space just to run around would be great for our child.

[Anonymous]

They have expanded the playground, but only to have bicycles there. In the morning and at 3pm they open that space to use for carpool. So, no new equipment. School is great if your child is perfect quite little angel. Teachers are very inexperienced. Only one primary teacher has like 5 years of experience. The rest of the primary teachers have like 0-2 years, that’s all! Children seem to be happy there. A lot of fun activities and they learn a lot too. I wish they had more experienced teachers. I wish we could’ve gone to the other Montessori we were considering.

[Anonymous]

The half-way house is just around the corner. Way too close for my comfort!

[Anonymous]

Another unhappy WFCH family here...

[Anonymous]

WFCH parent here and I must agree with an earlier post that many of these comments seem "Internet Troll"-like. We are very happy with the school. True, the parking lot leaves something to be desired, but the school has been continually addressing and expamnding the playground in the two years we have been at the school. They just doubled its size with a bike/scooter area and the school has said they are buying new equipment in the spring. And the comment about the experience of the teachers is odd: I cannot claim to know the CV of every one of the staff members, but there is one lead teacher who is relatively young (my sons teacher), but even she has at least four years experience because she was there when we toured three years ago and from speaking with her over the last two years I know this was not her first teaching job (by the way, this young woman is wonderful and has been an amazing influence on our son)...the teachers in the other classes are professional looking, articulate when I have met them at parents events, and appear to be...seasoned. Maybe 4+ years experience doesn't seem adequate to some, but we have had a great experience with our youngish lead teacher. I know that no school can be everything to everybody, but I am curious about the postings that sound more like vendetta than actual critiques. My advice: check out the school in person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WFCH parent here and I must agree with an earlier post that many of these comments seem "Internet Troll"-like. We are very happy with the school. True, the parking lot leaves something to be desired, but the school has been continually addressing and expamnding the playground in the two years we have been at the school. They just doubled its size with a bike/scooter area and the school has said they are buying new equipment in the spring. And the comment about the experience of the teachers is odd: I cannot claim to know the CV of every one of the staff members, but there is one lead teacher who is relatively young (my sons teacher), but even she has at least four years experience because she was there when we toured three years ago and from speaking with her over the last two years I know this was not her first teaching job (by the way, this young woman is wonderful and has been an amazing influence on our son)...the teachers in the other classes are professional looking, articulate when I have met them at parents events, and appear to be...seasoned. Maybe 4+ years experience doesn't seem adequate to some, but we have had a great experience with our youngish lead teacher. I know that no school can be everything to everybody, but I am curious about the postings that sound more like vendetta than actual critiques. My advice: check out the school in person.

You must have missed the first introductory meetings for all those years where all the teachers described their experiences. So information is more than reliable.
One of the teacher was kicked out last year. I believe deserving so.

[Anonymous]

Another WFCH parent here, with 3+ years' experience with the school. For what it's worth, I recommend that any one-line comment in this discussion thread be ignored, which will help rule out Internet trolls as well as people who simply have an axe to grind. In my opinion, one-line like/dislike statements are either untrustworthy, useless, or both.

Our experience with the school has been very positive. The teachers are well trained and experienced, and I say this as someone who has dealt with inexperienced teachers at other places in the past. The teacher turnover rate -- something you ought to be looking at very carefully anywhere you investigate, by the way -- is remarkably low, which is a very good indicator for a school. As some other parents have commented, the environment is incredibly nurturing, more so than you'll see in most other schools. This is a place where hugs are the rule, not the exception. The leadership of the school, like the staff, is thoroughly professional and clearly very deeply committed, and the educational program is fantastic. WFCH does a great job of making sure kids are well taken care of, are learning, are interacting well with each other, and are having a good time. Of course, Montessori education is not for all kids, particularly those who require a lot of structure in order to do well. When we interviewed the school, we spent a lot of time talking about the goodness of fit, and there was absolutely no hard sell going on. The conversation was about what was best for our child.

I would add that the population of the school is one of its strong attractions. This is a strong, warm, comfortable multi-ethnic and multi-racial community where a lot of value is placed on cross-cultural experiences and exposure to languages other than English. In my experience other parents seem to be well educated and kind to their own kids and others' kids. I don't know for sure, but I'm going to guess that the parent population contains a fairly high proportion of people with graduate degrees and/or higher socio-economic status, cutting across ethnic groups. For us, an environment that is diverse, values education, and treats kids kindly is the kind of place we want our kids to be.

In response to some of the specific concerns that have been expressed by others... (a) The playground is not the largest, but it's now got adequate shade, it's got very reasonable equipment, and it does just fine as a place for kids to run around, play in the sandbox, race around on scooters/trikes. It's also accompanied by a nice sized indoor gym with running-around space and indoor play structures. This was one of my only reservations when we signed up, since I'd have preferred to have a school with grassy outdoor play space, but in the scheme of things this has turned out to be a very minor issue. The kids get plenty of exercise and a very diverse menu of physical activity, and there are additional opportunities at the school for karate, dance, and mixed sports for those who want them. (b) The school is not in a ritzy area, but there is not the slightest reason to believe there is anything problematic or unsafe about it, and I was completely boggled to see someone suggest otherwise. I've never seen anyone even the slightest bit suspicious around the school, the outdoor playground is physically walled off and largely invisible to the outside, and the staff are clearly very conscientious about security procedures.

Just so I don't seem like a crazy booster of the school, I will add that our time there has had one or two blips --e.g. one child who was leading a "pack" of boys who tended to tease and/or exclude others, one assistant who sometimes talked to some kids in a way that was unduly harsh and critical. But I judge a place in part, and maybe primarily, by what it does when things are not perfect. In both these cases, the concern was brought to the attention of the right people, action was taken firmly, kindly, and professionally, and the situation was made right.

Bottom line: White Flint Children's House has my highest recommendation.

[Anonymous]

I agree White Flint Children's House is the best montessori school I've ever seen from a mom who sometimes wonders if the montessori method was the right fit for my child who sometimes lacks self-initiative. The teachers are fantastic - the keep the classroom well disciplined, help all children to learn and get along with others, and are very nurturing. The activities available right at the school are wonderful for working moms allowing me to enjoy just being home with my family during the evenings and weekends instead of running around to extra-curricular classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Second the comment about there being no half-way houses around the school - who writes stuff like that? We are on our second WFCH child, first graduated last year and is doing extremely well in his new traditional first grade. We have been parents at WFCH since 2006 (it was the fourth daycare that we switched too, I'm fairly neurotic about the little things), and wouldn't think of going anywhere else. The school is in the North Bethesda/Rockville area, I think it's as safe as anywhere else in MoCo. If you are truly concerned about safety, the playground has very high closed fence, and no one can access the school without entering a security pin and entering through a door that has a secruity camera. The population of the school has trippled since we started, and the school has become very diverse, which is an added benefit.

The area is rather safe but there are half way houses around and near the school. You can look it up on the net quite easily to see what they are referring to.
In fact there is a woman's shelter just up the road. There is another shelter nearby for mentally ill people. NAMI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Second the comment about there being no half-way houses around the school - who writes stuff like that? We are on our second WFCH child, first graduated last year and is doing extremely well in his new traditional first grade. We have been parents at WFCH since 2006 (it was the fourth daycare that we switched too, I'm fairly neurotic about the little things), and wouldn't think of going anywhere else. The school is in the North Bethesda/Rockville area, I think it's as safe as anywhere else in MoCo. If you are truly concerned about safety, the playground has very high closed fence, and no one can access the school without entering a security pin and entering through a door that has a secruity camera. The population of the school has trippled since we started, and the school has become very diverse, which is an added benefit.

The area is rather safe but there are half way houses around and near the school. You can look it up on the net quite easily to see what they are referring to.
In fact there is a woman's shelter just up the road. There is another shelter nearby for mentally ill people. NAMI.

So what makes it safe in this case?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another WFCH parent here, with 3+ years' experience with the school. For what it's worth, I recommend that any one-line comment in this discussion thread be ignored, which will help rule out Internet trolls as well as people who simply have an axe to grind. In my opinion, one-line like/dislike statements are either untrustworthy, useless, or both.

Our experience with the school has been very positive. The teachers are well trained and experienced, and I say this as someone who has dealt with inexperienced teachers at other places in the past. The teacher turnover rate -- something you ought to be looking at very carefully anywhere you investigate, by the way -- is remarkably low, which is a very good indicator for a school. As some other parents have commented, the environment is incredibly nurturing, more so than you'll see in most other schools. This is a place where hugs are the rule, not the exception. The leadership of the school, like the staff, is thoroughly professional and clearly very deeply committed, and the educational program is fantastic. WFCH does a great job of making sure kids are well taken care of, are learning, are interacting well with each other, and are having a good time. Of course, Montessori education is not for all kids, particularly those who require a lot of structure in order to do well. When we interviewed the school, we spent a lot of time talking about the goodness of fit, and there was absolutely no hard sell going on. The conversation was about what was best for our child.

I would add that the population of the school is one of its strong attractions. This is a strong, warm, comfortable multi-ethnic and multi-racial community where a lot of value is placed on cross-cultural experiences and exposure to languages other than English. In my experience other parents seem to be well educated and kind to their own kids and others' kids. I don't know for sure, but I'm going to guess that the parent population contains a fairly high proportion of people with graduate degrees and/or higher socio-economic status, cutting across ethnic groups. For us, an environment that is diverse, values education, and treats kids kindly is the kind of place we want our kids to be.

In response to some of the specific concerns that have been expressed by others... (a) The playground is not the largest, but it's now got adequate shade, it's got very reasonable equipment, and it does just fine as a place for kids to run around, play in the sandbox, race around on scooters/trikes. It's also accompanied by a nice sized indoor gym with running-around space and indoor play structures. This was one of my only reservations when we signed up, since I'd have preferred to have a school with grassy outdoor play space, but in the scheme of things this has turned out to be a very minor issue. The kids get plenty of exercise and a very diverse menu of physical activity, and there are additional opportunities at the school for karate, dance, and mixed sports for those who want them. (b) The school is not in a ritzy area, but there is not the slightest reason to believe there is anything problematic or unsafe about it, and I was completely boggled to see someone suggest otherwise. I've never seen anyone even the slightest bit suspicious around the school, the outdoor playground is physically walled off and largely invisible to the outside, and the staff are clearly very conscientious about security procedures.

Just so I don't seem like a crazy booster of the school, I will add that our time there has had one or two blips --e.g. one child who was leading a "pack" of boys who tended to tease and/or exclude others, one assistant who sometimes talked to some kids in a way that was unduly harsh and critical. But I judge a place in part, and maybe primarily, by what it does when things are not perfect. In both these cases, the concern was brought to the attention of the right people, action was taken firmly, kindly, and professionally, and the situation was made right.

Bottom line: White Flint Children's House has my highest recommendation.

Love long positive reviews.... and always wonder who from the administration wrote them.

[Anonymous]

Another WFCH parent here, with 3+ years' experience with the school. For what it's worth, I recommend that any one-line comment in this discussion thread be ignored, which will help rule out Internet trolls as well as people who simply have an axe to grind. In my opinion, one-line like/dislike statements are either untrustworthy, useless, or both.

So you are saying to ignore every post except yours? Hmmm

[Anonymous]

Our family has only been in this area for about 8 months. When we moved here, we placed our son in a regular day care believing it would meet with the same standards we had come to enjoy back where we lived. Boy were we wrong! Ou son's progress (or lack thereof) left much to be desires. So we decided on Montessori.
My husband searched for almost 2 months for the right school for our son (now almost 4 years old). We toured so many Montessori schools - some 2 or 3 times. We really liked Franklin and Manor Montessori, but we decided on White Flint for a few reasons and some of them were specific to our particular needs. I was actually hesitant because I did not like the location. I wanted a sprawling "campus" with grass, etc... and I was also uneasy about the halfway house.

My son has been enrolled since November and I have to say, that he has made remarkable improvements. I no longer have concerns about the playground space or the halfway house as the school seems very secure. I can't say how pleased I am about it. The price is a bit steep, but I guess you get what you pay for... Any issues we've had have been addressed professionally and promptly. And what's most important, is that my son is happy and learning. That makes his mommy and daddy very pleased. I would definitely recommend WFCH to any parent looking for quality caring education for their child.

[Anonymous]

We left WFCH and it was the best thing we have done. Much happier in another school. My kid finally is positive about the school. All compalins and crying stopped.