Can anyone please share their experience at Estrellitas so far?

Anonymous wrote:NP. We're taking the plunge because it's a perfect location for us, Spanish-language school is a priority, the other location has great reviews, and the odds of getting an 18-month old accepted next year felt very slim. I can't imagine it will be so terrible that we'd want to pull the plug before the contract is up, but I would assume they'd hold you to it.

why is it hard to get a 18 month old in?

Some of the individuals currently in leadership roles at Estrellitas are the same individuals who were at the helm at LAMB PCS when reports of a sexually abusive teacher were mishandled, according to the then LAMB Board. As a result, dozens of children were sexually abused.

"The lawsuit, filed in D.C. Superior Court last week, alleges that since at least 2014, multiple reports of Fernandez acting suspiciously around the children should have triggered the school to fire him.

Principal Cristina Encinas, LAMB Executive Director Diane Cottman and Fernandez are named in the lawsuit. Encinas left her post in December after an internal investigation, and Cottman is expected to step down at the end of the school year."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/families-sue-top-ranked-dc-school-over-handling-of-sexually-abusive-teacher/2018/01/11/cbc04d54-f22d-11e7-b390-a36dc3fa2842_story.html

"Leaders of a vaunted D.C. charter school failed to assure the safety of students after educators raised concerns about inappropriate behavior by a teacher, according to a report that has led to the ouster of top school officials.

The board of the Latin American Montessori Bilingual (LAMB) Public Charter School commissioned an outside investigation after a 36-year-old elementary school teacher, Manuel Garcia Fernandez, was accused of sexual contact with several students. Fernandez admitted in D.C. Superior Court in June that he sexually abused six students between 2015 and 2017, and he faces up to eight years in prison. He has not been sentenced.

In a five-page letter sent to parents this week, the school’s board disclosed that LAMB’s principal, Cristina Encinas, and student psychologist, Rosario Paredes, will leave their posts Dec. 15. The school’s executive director, Diane Cottman, will leave her job at the end of the school year, according to the letter.

“We believe that the administrators in charge failed to respond appropriately,” the board’s letter to parents said."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/leaders-at-dc-charter-school-are-out-of-jobs-after-teachers-sex-abuse-case/2017/11/30/84cb7c2e-d5dc-11e7-b62d-d9345ced896d_story.html?utm_term=.8a3a937e5d9a&itid=lk_interstitial_manual_6

Can anyone say more about what it means for the administration to be "inflexible"? That sounds concerning, but given that many people have shared lots of good feedback on Estrellitas in other settings, not sure if these posters have just had a different experience or what might be the case.

I had a child at the DC location and don’t know that I would say they take the Montessori method “very seriously.” I frequently picked them up and was handed a pack of worksheets they had completed throughout the week.

As a PP mentioned the administration is inflexible and at times down right non-responsive. Pre-Covid they expanded rapidly at the DC location and as a result the program suffered. We experienced some pretty major breakdowns in communication. I don’t think anything would rise to the level of wanting to pull mid-year but the school definitely experienced some growing pains at the DC location.

NP. We're taking the plunge because it's a perfect location for us, Spanish-language school is a priority, the other location has great reviews, and the odds of getting an 18-month old accepted next year felt very slim. I can't imagine it will be so terrible that we'd want to pull the plug before the contract is up, but I would assume they'd hold you to it.

I have a child at Estrellitas in DC and the teachers are amazing. They take the Montessori approach very seriously and are very caring. The administration is quite strict and inflexible, but I suppose they are a big school dealing with many parents. I'm not sure you'll find any reviews about the TK campus because it just opened.

We are considering the school with the same question about that policy. What did you decide?

Yes. But the signed contract is due this week

You know it's not open until September, right?

Bump. Anyone?

Anyone else here considering Estrellitas Takoma Park? I’d love to hear some recent reviews or thoughts about the new program.

Also, I know some daycares have clauses in their contract that require you to commit to paying for a full year even if you need to take your kid out of the program but it doesn’t sit well with me, especially for a brand new school? Are people desperate enough to agree to that or is the thinking that it may not be enforced?