Crossway Community Montessori

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About 8 or 9 years ago it was a great concept with some amazing Montessori teachers and assistants. The CEO was over ambitious and got fixated on having the first Montessori school in Montgomery County and bit off more than she could chew. I don’t think it was ever really thought out what would happen after approval with all the reporting etc. that went along with being part of MCPS. They also had a really great program for single mothers back then which I’m not sure is still active. It’s too bad. My son was there from 2-4 (he’s in 6th grade now) and got a great education. The leadership leaves much to be desired, I’m actually shocked they’re still open.

I think the charter school initiative was a way to secure funding. My child was in the private pre-school at the time, and it always seemed like pure fantasy to me. They recruited a principal for the charter school who was going to live in an apartment at Crossway. Did she even start? They never appointed a board for the charter school. This is not a place that values transparency. I'm not sure why Kathleen Guinan and Anne Byrne thought partnering with MCPS was going to work.

I knew both women ~20 years ago. Kathleen, especially, dreams big. She was very energetic and outspoken and talked a good line. She could sell a blind man glasses. When she was in idea mode, plans just rolled out from her and she made them seem possible. She had an answer for every objection. The housing for single mothers was such an amazing and honorable idea, but the way it was executed and run and the way the mothers were treated was rotten to the core. She reminds me of the saying, "robbing Peter to pay Paul".

They are also older boomers and think that way. I'm sure the program for single mothers worked better with gen-x moms than millenial moms.

I worked with the women though social services and it didn't work at all for the women. Many were coming in to apply to shelter services as it was that bad. They'd also come in regularly for other resources as the support wasn't provided, down to them getting the clothing and other goods others donated to the program that should have gone to them but didn't.

[Anonymous]

Hi, current parent here. I came across these comments and I'm not connecting at all to what's being discussed here. I consider Crossway a godsend, transforming into an outdoor Montessori forest school so that my daughter can go to school in-person, safely.
On top of that, she is thriving, learning how to read and write at her own pace. Plus she knows more about gardening and the environment than me. She's very happy there and she loves her teachers and yes, we're very excited for the lower elementary teacher to arrive. I also find leadership to be top notch. They had the vision to transform an indoor Montessori school into an outdoor nature-based Montessori forest school and execute on it at top level. We're very lucky to have people in education who care, are innovative and try new programs for the sake of our children and do it so well. I'm friends with the other parents and everyone loves the school. We are all impressed with how the school is managed during the pandemic and how they've transformed it into this very special place. The school is a gem!

[Anonymous]

^^glad you're happy. If you reread the posts, you'll see compliments on the ideas, etc. The various iterations of Crossway start off strong. Over time, things....fall apart.

[Anonymous]

Wow. This is so sad. My DD went to preschool there in the very early 2000s, and I thought it was a good program. I wasn’t fond even then of the administrators, but the teachers were great. I don’t know if the single mom program was so messed up then, but liked the way the preschool brought together children from the community and kids of the moms living there.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all for replying to this. Will not be sending my DC here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, current parent here. I came across these comments and I'm not connecting at all to what's being discussed here. I consider Crossway a godsend, transforming into an outdoor Montessori forest school so that my daughter can go to school in-person, safely.
On top of that, she is thriving, learning how to read and write at her own pace. Plus she knows more about gardening and the environment than me. She's very happy there and she loves her teachers and yes, we're very excited for the lower elementary teacher to arrive. I also find leadership to be top notch. They had the vision to transform an indoor Montessori school into an outdoor nature-based Montessori forest school and execute on it at top level. We're very lucky to have people in education who care, are innovative and try new programs for the sake of our children and do it so well. I'm friends with the other parents and everyone loves the school. We are all impressed with how the school is managed during the pandemic and how they've transformed it into this very special place. The school is a gem!

People specifically do not like Ann Byrne and Kathleen Guinan. I'm glad that your child has had a great experience at the pre-school. Many teachers and staff members at that school (and organization) have not. It is a toxic environment.

Are there still low income families at the school since the housing program was shutdown? Why is the county just letting low income housing go empty?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing thoughts, everyone! I was considering sending my child to this school until I started doing research and read comments from people’s experiences all over the web, its frankly not the place for us. The school is indeed beautiful though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi, current parent here. I came across these comments and I'm not connecting at all to what's being discussed here. I consider Crossway a godsend, transforming into an outdoor Montessori forest school so that my daughter can go to school in-person, safely.
On top of that, she is thriving, learning how to read and write at her own pace. Plus she knows more about gardening and the environment than me. She's very happy there and she loves her teachers and yes, we're very excited for the lower elementary teacher to arrive. I also find leadership to be top notch. They had the vision to transform an indoor Montessori school into an outdoor nature-based Montessori forest school and execute on it at top level. We're very lucky to have people in education who care, are innovative and try new programs for the sake of our children and do it so well. I'm friends with the other parents and everyone loves the school. We are all impressed with how the school is managed during the pandemic and how they've transformed it into this very special place. The school is a gem!

People specifically do not like Ann Byrne and Kathleen Guinan. I'm glad that your child has had a great experience at the pre-school. Many teachers and staff members at that school (and organization) have not. It is a toxic environment.

Are there still low income families at the school since the housing program was shutdown? Why is the county just letting low income housing go empty?

They let it go because they didn't own the housing and lots of shady stuff was going on. It was a special program through HOC and got shut down due to mismanagement. It would be great to have more programs like that.

[Anonymous]

Interesting, we asked a ton of questions about this camp for the summer and they took a long time to get back to us for basic things, and then finally told us that they had no space for our child. Yeah....sure.......

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, current parent here. I came across these comments and I'm not connecting at all to what's being discussed here. I consider Crossway a godsend, transforming into an outdoor Montessori forest school so that my daughter can go to school in-person, safely.
On top of that, she is thriving, learning how to read and write at her own pace. Plus she knows more about gardening and the environment than me. She's very happy there and she loves her teachers and yes, we're very excited for the lower elementary teacher to arrive. I also find leadership to be top notch. They had the vision to transform an indoor Montessori school into an outdoor nature-based Montessori forest school and execute on it at top level. We're very lucky to have people in education who care, are innovative and try new programs for the sake of our children and do it so well. I'm friends with the other parents and everyone loves the school. We are all impressed with how the school is managed during the pandemic and how they've transformed it into this very special place. The school is a gem!

Just curious if this PP is now still happy considering Crossway just lost their Childcare license due to lapses in judgement...See other crossway thread for details. It is exactly as the other PPs noted, things eventually fall apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I volunteered at Crossways ages ago, so I was a bit shocked to read that they were characterized as “shady.” If you look at their publicly available financials, it seems like they are bringing in less money than they need to operate their programs. It also looks like their program costs are relatively modest.

What a lot of people don’t realize about charter funding is that school districts pay the average marginal cost of educating students. A lot of the overhead of running a school or school system is not part of the public funding. Successful charters have big corporate sponsors and/or administrators who are excellent at making grant applications and running fundraising operations.

I don’t doubt that some aspects of quality suffered under financial strain. That said, I am not seeing evidence of malfeasance.

I worked with them professionally. Shady was an understatement. You have no idea what we are talking about.

+1 who knows first hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I volunteered at Crossways ages ago, so I was a bit shocked to read that they were characterized as “shady.” If you look at their publicly available financials, it seems like they are bringing in less money than they need to operate their programs. It also looks like their program costs are relatively modest.

What a lot of people don’t realize about charter funding is that school districts pay the average marginal cost of educating students. A lot of the overhead of running a school or school system is not part of the public funding. Successful charters have big corporate sponsors and/or administrators who are excellent at making grant applications and running fundraising operations.

I don’t doubt that some aspects of quality suffered under financial strain. That said, I am not seeing evidence of malfeasance.

I worked with them professionally. Shady was an understatement. You have no idea what we are talking about.

This!! I won't name names, but an administrator and at least one teacher have no business working with kids.

Dp who can confirm this.

[Anonymous]

Current parent and I can confirm the note about their license being temporarily suspended. And while there was a legit incident, I'm less angry about that and more the way the admin handled it. It was a total mess. Even if I ignore that, it has become clear that they do not have a clear curriculum for the K and above grades. It is very clear that the children are performing below MCPS level but the admin isn't aware because they don't have a curriculum nor any way to evaluate the children. I'm not suggesting testing, I'm simply saying, there is zero evaluation. I would not recommend this school at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current parent and I can confirm the note about their license being temporarily suspended. And while there was a legit incident, I'm less angry about that and more the way the admin handled it. It was a total mess. Even if I ignore that, it has become clear that they do not have a clear curriculum for the K and above grades. It is very clear that the children are performing below MCPS level but the admin isn't aware because they don't have a curriculum nor any way to evaluate the children. I'm not suggesting testing, I'm simply saying, there is zero evaluation. I would not recommend this school at all.

+10000 Steer clear of this "school" DCUM. There are so many things I could write about them, but just trust us here when we say not to get involved.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I was the OP. Thanks to this forum and the posters in the know, we did not enroll our child here