Franklin Montessori student age 3 left in Forest Hills Park by teachers today

[Anonymous]

This happened in my hometown with a tragic ending.Two 2:year olds were left behind by their group at park and when one teacher went back to look for them one had fallen into a small pond, floating face down.

There is no room for mistakes when taking children anywhere outside the school facility.

[Anonymous]

Especially with a known child abductor currently stalking our children here in DC.

[Anonymous]

My son was in daycare when the first Franklin incident occurred. I remember thinking that that could never happen at our school, since we generally had a 4-5 /1 pupil teacher ratio.

I don't understand how Franklin is keeping its license with such ratios. Are they even NAEYC accredited? I get that people like the Montessori model, but the school's first duty is to keep your child safe. If they can't do that, what does it matter if your kid is "becoming a self-directed learner".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That place needs to get shut down. It's a rip-off daycare, not a school. The owner is a first class shyster. Believe me.

OK now you are over the top.

....until it's *your* kid left behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That place needs to get shut down. It's a rip-off daycare, not a school. The owner is a first class shyster. Believe me.

This sounds like something Donald Trump would say, doesn't it? Believe me. Please...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That place needs to get shut down. It's a rip-off daycare, not a school. The owner is a first class shyster. Believe me.

This sounds like something Donald Trump would say, doesn't it? Believe me. Please...

More precisely, it sounds like something the person who the moderators have banned from all the other Franklin threads would say. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was in daycare when the first Franklin incident occurred. I remember thinking that that could never happen at our school, since we generally had a 4-5 /1 pupil teacher ratio.

I don't understand how Franklin is keeping its license with such ratios. Are they even NAEYC accredited? I get that people like the Montessori model, but the school's first duty is to keep your child safe. If they can't do that, what does it matter if your kid is "becoming a self-directed learner".

I doubt they would be NAEYC accredited since they are a Montessori program. Probably AMI or AMS accredited.

[Anonymous]

Bump. Any updates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bump. Any updates?

Is there specific info you're looking for? The Head of School sent out a letter to the parents, in which she basically apologized and said she thought the procedures they put in place two years ago are the correct procedures but that she failed to follow them. I doubt the school will volunteer what, if anything, the State Department of Education does in response. I also don't know if the students' parents plan on switching schools, but would probably not share that information on here if I did know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. Any updates?

Is there specific info you're looking for? The Head of School sent out a letter to the parents, in which she basically apologized and said she thought the procedures they put in place two years ago are the correct procedures but that she failed to follow them. I doubt the school will volunteer what, if anything, the State Department of Education does in response. I also don't know if the students' parents plan on switching schools, but would probably not share that information on here if I did know.

That's pretty terrifying. It suggests that the procedures often aren't followed, but that other times they got lucky and the kids were all where they were supposed to be. If you have bad procedures, you can make changes to the procedures. If you have good procedures but even the head of the school ignores them -- never mind what the teachers do -- that is really scary.

[Anonymous]

It's terrible that a kid was left behind and no one realized it, but is everyone who is throwing stones at Franklin Montessori sure that their child's childcare is so perfect all the time? there are daycares at a nearby park and I see staff not paying attention to children on a regular basis--anything could happen.
this mistake wasn't intentional (unlike some daycares where there have been documented cases of staff abuse to children) and today the safest childcare facility to be in DC is probably Franklin Montessori because they are probably going crazy to make sure this doesn't happen again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's terrible that a kid was left behind and no one realized it, but is everyone who is throwing stones at Franklin Montessori sure that their child's childcare is so perfect all the time? there are daycares at a nearby park and I see staff not paying attention to children on a regular basis--anything could happen.
this mistake wasn't intentional (unlike some daycares where there have been documented cases of staff abuse to children) and today the safest childcare facility to be in DC is probably Franklin Montessori because they are probably going crazy to make sure this doesn't happen again.

That's what people were saying two years ago...

[Anonymous]

Not to defend the head of school but if you read upthread, you will see what happened, which was disclosed to the parents. There were 2 groups of kids at the park, and when the first group when back, one child wanted to stay at the park longer rather than go back for the extracurricular activity. They let the one kid stay, but did not update the class list to reflect the extra kid. Therefore, she wasn't included in the head count when they left the park.
This doesn't excuse what happens but shows the weakness in your systems when there are deviations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to defend the head of school but if you read upthread, you will see what happened, which was disclosed to the parents. There were 2 groups of kids at the park, and when the first group when back, one child wanted to stay at the park longer rather than go back for the extracurricular activity. They let the one kid stay, but did not update the class list to reflect the extra kid. Therefore, she wasn't included in the head count when they left the park.
This doesn't excuse what happens but shows the weakness in your systems when there are deviations.

This makes it even worse. Child should have stayed with her group. How did no one notice both groups were back and she was not with them? Either way, two incidents in two years is not acceptable. I don't allow my child to go off-site on field trips as this can easily happen. Either I go or she stays home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was in daycare when the first Franklin incident occurred. I remember thinking that that could never happen at our school, since we generally had a 4-5 /1 pupil teacher ratio.

I don't understand how Franklin is keeping its license with such ratios. Are they even NAEYC accredited? I get that people like the Montessori model, but the school's first duty is to keep your child safe. If they can't do that, what does it matter if your kid is "becoming a self-directed learner".

Same here - my kids are now in elementary but I don't understand why parents shell out crazy money for Franklin given its track record. The center we used took kids outside 2x every day and over almost 9 years (multiple kids) nothing remotely like this ever happened. No one should settle for a school that can't even keep track of the kids it has enrolled.