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[quote=Anonymous]A parent who thought SJA's admissions counselor should provide some input on this thread alerted me to it.

There's some great feedback in previous posts on the program and teachers.  I would just like to clarify a few details:

* There are separate enrollment events for the Montessori preschool and the Classical primary school.  During the weekday open houses, we don't provide tours of the Montessori classrooms, due to the importance of maintaining a regulated environment in those classes.  However, one of the teachers, Ms. Spaulding, does allow visitors to take a peek into her classroom, and we often do stop there so that visitors can see what a renovated classroom looks like.  (We are in the early stages of a major interior renovation of our 70-year-old facility.  As of this fall, both Primary classrooms will be fully renovated.)  This does not substitute for a parent observation of the class, however, and those are scheduled separately.  Both Montessori Primary classrooms are available for parent observations, by appointment.

* Ms. Spaulding is AMS-trained and certified; thus, as others have noted, her classroom methods are somewhat hybrid of classical Montessori and more modern innovations.  Ms. Van Versendaal is AMI-trained and certified, and follows rigorously a purist form of Montessori education.  Both classrooms are set up according to AMI standards and use AMI-approved materials.  Next year, we are planning to hire an AMI-certified co-teacher for Ms. Spaulding's class, so that we can attain the AMI accreditation that we seek.  Some parents prefer Ms. Spaulding's approach and others, Ms. Van Versendaal's.  They're both excellent teachers, who use overlapping but somewhat different methods.  I encourage you to observe in both classrooms and see which appeals to you more.

* SJA also offers a Montessori Toddler program for children between the ages of 18 and 36 months.  There are two part-time classes, one meeting on Monday and Tuesday mornings and the other on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.  The two Toddler teachers -- Ms. DeLee and Ms. Oriani, classroom, and materials are all AMI-certified.  Some children are dual-enrolled in the Toddler Room and the St. Jerome Child Center, with an aide taking them back and forth.

* I apologize for the SJA Montessori website, which is not being updated pending the development of a new website for the whole school.  Parents interested in the program can submit a query for more information through that website, at http://sjamontessori.org, or at the main school website, http://stjeromeacademy.org.

I agree with the previous poster that CFMS is an excellent Montessori school.  In fact, one of CFMS' Primary teachers was part of the committee that guided the development of SJA's Montessori program, which is going into its third year.  Both schools tend to have long waiting lists, so I'd encourage parents to apply early and to apply to more than one school, to help ensure that their children gain acceptance in at least one high-quality program.[/quote]

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