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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Some parents prioritize different things, rather than basic child safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

So what other procedures are not followed?

Leaving cleaning chemicals accessible to students? Security doors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. Any updates?

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.

Exactly.

It shows that the procedures were flawed/had holes in them. In particular, depending on a single person as the ultimate safeguard against something terrible like this happening doesn't work. Because people are imperfect and make mistakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what other procedures are not followed?

Leaving cleaning chemicals accessible to students? Security doors?

This is just silly in context. The procedure she didn't follow is that when she made a (bad) decision to let the child stay, she didn't switch the name on the roll, which is a serious mistake made more likely by the fact that she deviated from her normal process. And that's a problem. But the notion that it also implies she might choose to leave dangerous chemicals out is nonsensical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. Any updates?

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.

Exactly.

It shows that the procedures were flawed/had holes in them. In particular, depending on a single person as the ultimate safeguard against something terrible like this happening doesn't work. Because people are imperfect and make mistakes.

This is exactly right. When this happened the first time, the big solution was (in addition to counting the kids 3 times) was that Randy was to accompany the kids on every outing to the park. Thus, rather than train the existing staff on adhering to procedures (and/or having more experienced staff and/or more staff go on these outings), she became the solution. The whole thing rested on her, and everyone makes mistakes. She made a mistake and there weren't any other safeguards in place.

[Anonymous]

I don't think the majority of their clientele will blink an eye. It'll happen again.

[Anonymous]

Things like this happen at Montessori schools. Their model ENCOURAGES very large class sizes with not many teachers so the kids are "learning from each other." The teacher/student ratio is one big reason we're leaving Montessori in a few months.

[Anonymous]

No, this is not typical of Montessori schools---do not blame it on the philosophy. Each school is different. Blame this on Franklin.

[asamel01]

Original poster here. I am not exactly sure of how long the child was left, but I was at the park from 3-6 and it was a good amount of time from when the last class left until I discovered the child, who was so hysterical she could not even tell me her name. Had she not had the Franklin scarf on, she would have gone into police custody and her parents would have shown up to get her only to realize no one knew where she was. Can you even imagine the panic as a parent? The police were called and arrived just as the owner Randy whisked the child away. Randy was rude and ungracious (I held the crying child in my arms for at least 15 minutes) and she admitted to my face that the girl had been left behind. The police interviewed me and then said they were heading straight to the school. Keep in mind that there is a police hunt for a man who has been trying to lure school children into his car in this exact neighborhood. She would have been easy prey because she was scared and helpless.

[Anonymous]

asamel01 wrote:Original poster here. I am not exactly sure of how long the child was left, but I was at the park from 3-6 and it was a good amount of time from when the last class left until I discovered the child, who was so hysterical she could not even tell me her name. Had she not had the Franklin scarf on, she would have gone into police custody and her parents would have shown up to get her only to realize no one knew where she was. Can you even imagine the panic as a parent? The police were called and arrived just as the owner Randy whisked the child away. Randy was rude and ungracious (I held the crying child in my arms for at least 15 minutes) and she admitted to my face that the girl had been left behind. The police interviewed me and then said they were heading straight to the school. Keep in mind that there is a police hunt for a man who has been trying to lure school children into his car in this exact neighborhood. She would have been easy prey because she was scared and helpless.

So awful. Franklin parent here. Thanks OP for sharing and for watching over this child. Poor girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things like this happen at Montessori schools. Their model ENCOURAGES very large class sizes with not many teachers so the kids are "learning from each other." The teacher/student ratio is one big reason we're leaving Montessori in a few months.

Let's be honest here. Maria Montessori did not encourage this. Mr. Franklin encourages this nonsense to maximize his bottom line.

[Anonymous]

The "for profit"owners have a different name than Franklin

[Anonymous]

Lol. Clearly the owner's name is Bob Franklin IV and he wears a tophat and a monocle.

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone - We are planning to send our child to Franklin Montessori. We are very, very concerned about this report. We've talked to several current parents who say that the child was left in the park for "just a few minutes" and the school Director ran to get her. The latter tracks with what is written here but the former does not - was it "just a few minutes" or the hour that OP describes. Did the school know she was missing, or is it only due to the OP calling the school?

Also unclear to us is why the school's Director goes personally to the park on Chesapeake street whenever kids play there? This was reported earlier in this string? Wouldn't she delegate this?

What are the procedures in place for taking kids to the park and into Rock Creek? Are there any anticipated changes?

Does this have to do with the student-teacher ratio? (Fully understanding that Montessori ratios are different from other daycares.)

Or a function of tired staff at the end of the day, as another poster suggested?

These are not meant to be rhetorical or annoying questions. We're trying to cut through any disinformation and better understand what happened, and how the school is managed. We really appreciate the OP telling the community about this incident, and we equally appreciate the perspective of the current parents we spoke with.

I'm not really sure how people can PM or share what they know directly with us (everything is anonymous here so not sure how it works), but if anyone with firsthand knowledge of the situation - either as witnesses at the park, or as current parents, can share here or otherwsie, we would be grateful.