Anonymous
10/12/2018 10:46
Subject: Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I went on a tour of Aidan last year prepared to really like it. I ended up taking it off our list. A few reasons:
- They seemed elitist and self-important. We want a place that’s down to earth.
- The commitment to Montessori bordered on cultish. The education director said that every kid loves it and the parents who are less than happy probably don’t understand the Montessori approach well enough.
- The parent who took us around shooed away the kids when they tried to interact with us. Some of them tried to show us their artwork and she said “go back and work!” It seemed cold. These were 4-5 year olds.
In all, it seemed strict, elitist, and just not our cup of tea. We are at a play-based program now and are very happy.
Sounds about right!!!
FWIW, however, the teachers are not at all that way. Many, if not all, are incredibly warm and loving with the children, so that attitude does not pervade the school, and in general the children are immersed and enjoying their work in a state of flow.
Having said that, they have also jacked up their playground and took it from something that truly had a spirit of play and wonder to sterility and non-stop mosquito fest.
Current parent here: The playground needed a fresh start. I am sure they will build it back with more imagination over time or in the next phase, but it needed a good scrape down / reset.
Anonymous
10/11/2018 19:30
Subject: Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
Anonymous wrote:I went on a tour of Aidan last year prepared to really like it. I ended up taking it off our list. A few reasons:
- They seemed elitist and self-important. We want a place that’s down to earth.
- The commitment to Montessori bordered on cultish. The education director said that every kid loves it and the parents who are less than happy probably don’t understand the Montessori approach well enough.
- The parent who took us around shooed away the kids when they tried to interact with us. Some of them tried to show us their artwork and she said “go back and work!” It seemed cold. These were 4-5 year olds.
In all, it seemed strict, elitist, and just not our cup of tea. We are at a play-based program now and are very happy.
Sounds about right!!!
FWIW, however, the teachers are not at all that way. Many, if not all, are incredibly warm and loving with the children, so that attitude does not pervade the school, and in general the children are immersed and enjoying their work in a state of flow.
Having said that, they have also jacked up their playground and took it from something that truly had a spirit of play and wonder to sterility and non-stop mosquito fest.
Anonymous
09/29/2018 11:52
Subject: Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
I went on a tour of Aidan last year prepared to really like it. I ended up taking it off our list. A few reasons:
- They seemed elitist and self-important. We want a place that’s down to earth.
- The commitment to Montessori bordered on cultish. The education director said that every kid loves it and the parents who are less than happy probably don’t understand the Montessori approach well enough.
- The parent who took us around shooed away the kids when they tried to interact with us. Some of them tried to show us their artwork and she said “go back and work!” It seemed cold. These were 4-5 year olds.
In all, it seemed strict, elitist, and just not our cup of tea. We are at a play-based program now and are very happy.
- They seemed elitist and self-important. We want a place that’s down to earth.
- The commitment to Montessori bordered on cultish. The education director said that every kid loves it and the parents who are less than happy probably don’t understand the Montessori approach well enough.
- The parent who took us around shooed away the kids when they tried to interact with us. Some of them tried to show us their artwork and she said “go back and work!” It seemed cold. These were 4-5 year olds.
In all, it seemed strict, elitist, and just not our cup of tea. We are at a play-based program now and are very happy.
Anonymous
09/29/2018 11:38
Subject: Re:Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
Anonymous wrote:From virtually the beginning of the school year at Aidan to the very end, we had grave concerns about our five-year old’s social and emotional well being and development, due in large part to the way he was being marginalized and ostracized by a small number of his classmates. We became even more concerned, however, by the lack of response on the part of school administrators to our concerns.
Over the course of one year, our child endured the following:
1)“Guns”: Four classmates threatened him with physical harm, the most egregious threat being to come with guns to “light up his house.” We requested that the parents of these kids be notified of these threats. Our request was denied.
2)“Stupid”: The same group repeatedly bullied and taunted him, calling him stupid and smelly. This taunting continued throughout the school year.
3)“Secret Friends”: A classmate confided that she would be our son's friend, but only in secret, since, if the rest of the class knew her to be his friend, they would not be friends with her.
4)“Parkland”: I asked the Head of School if the Parkland School shooting in Florida gave him second thoughts about his lack of response to the gun threat made to our child at Aidan. His response was to wish our family well at our next school.
5)“Poop”: The teasing and harassment evolved into 2-3 of the same classmates continuously chanting “Poopie, Poopie, Poopie” at him through the end of the school year, once again to an underwhelming response from school administration.
Were the children 7 years of age or over, the gun threat alone would have been sufficient for DC Police to take a report and investigate. At age 5 the matter was expected to be handled administratively. It was not.
We went to great lengths to share and describe our perceptions and feelings when it came to threats involving guns and other violence directed towards our child. As parents, we were expecting administrators at a school with the stature of Aidan to exhibit the empathy, interest, and ability to put themselves in our position. We were rudely disappointed by their administrative inaction.
Most distressing of all was the overall attitude, disposition, and conduct where the buck stops daily at AMS, the Head of School, who through inaction:
? trivialized the emotional impact of bullying of our child
? demonstrated little empathy or respect for our concerns
? displayed a temperament and tone towards our family that was arrogant, assertive, abrasive, snide, combative, dismissive, demeaning and unresponsive
? responded administratively to our issues in an incomplete, insensitive, and disrespectful fashion
? paid lip service to diversity and inclusion without the personal commitment to implement it
? quickly wished us good luck (twice) at our next school.
Our family did not find what we were looking for at Aidan, largely due to of the presentation, bearing, and impact of the Head of School who we believe, among other deficiencies, to be inimical and unsuited to the culture and spirit of diversity and inclusion, and ill prepared with the personal traits and skills needed to lead an institution serving the complex, multi-cultural environment which is metropolitan Washington, DC.
With leadership under the present Head of School, Aidan was no place, socially and culturally, for our child. We did not expect to encounter such regressive attitudes in the classroom or head office at a school with the profile and reputation of Aidan. We found the values, beliefs, and opinions he represented untenable, and we found ourselves feeling unvalued and unwanted.
Our patience, belief, and trust in a respected institution to do the right thing by our child over a seven-month saga was twice met with invitations equivalent to “pound sand,” resonant with the sort of unapologetic rejection of equity and justice that characterizes much of our present social climate.
Our family decided to attend school elsewhere, and the difference in tone and values in our new school community is already night and day. We know what we require as a family is possible.
I regret that our family’s experience at Aidan this past year was a mixed one which deteriorated as the year went along. Under the current leadership, Aidan is not a place we would recommend to any family. Input provided to us, too late unfortunately, over the past year from other Aidan parents, past and present, confirms that we are not alone.
This is heartbreaking. So sorry you experienced this. No child should be allowed to be treated that way. It seems the admin is blind to the impact on the child and his sense of self, over the adherence to the pedagogy. Glad you found the courage to advocate for your child in the face of cowardice and dismissive "group think." The school owed your family greater dignity and care. Every child should feel cherished.
Anonymous
09/24/2018 13:39
Subject: Re:Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My child interviewed at Aidan. The woman who interviewed us was arrogant and condescending. I wouldn't let her walk my dog, much less educate my child. Aidan is known as the "military montessori." My child goes to Franklin Montessori and is flourishing. It's a warm and loving environment, an oasis.
Isn't Franklin Montessori the Storefront Montessori?
The exterior is deceiving. If you take a tour, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Isn't Franklin the school that left a kid behind at a city park a year or two ago?
No - that was a Montessori school in AU Park.
Liar. It was Franklin on Conn Ave. on several occasions. Their teachers are severely underpaid.
Anonymous
09/24/2018 13:35
Subject: Re:Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
From virtually the beginning of the school year at Aidan to the very end, we had grave concerns about our five-year old’s social and emotional well being and development, due in large part to the way he was being marginalized and ostracized by a small number of his classmates. We became even more concerned, however, by the lack of response on the part of school administrators to our concerns.
Over the course of one year, our child endured the following:
1)“Guns”: Four classmates threatened him with physical harm, the most egregious threat being to come with guns to “light up his house.” We requested that the parents of these kids be notified of these threats. Our request was denied.
2)“Stupid”: The same group repeatedly bullied and taunted him, calling him stupid and smelly. This taunting continued throughout the school year.
3)“Secret Friends”: A classmate confided that she would be our son's friend, but only in secret, since, if the rest of the class knew her to be his friend, they would not be friends with her.
4)“Parkland”: I asked the Head of School if the Parkland School shooting in Florida gave him second thoughts about his lack of response to the gun threat made to our child at Aidan. His response was to wish our family well at our next school.
5)“Poop”: The teasing and harassment evolved into 2-3 of the same classmates continuously chanting “Poopie, Poopie, Poopie” at him through the end of the school year, once again to an underwhelming response from school administration.
Were the children 7 years of age or over, the gun threat alone would have been sufficient for DC Police to take a report and investigate. At age 5 the matter was expected to be handled administratively. It was not.
We went to great lengths to share and describe our perceptions and feelings when it came to threats involving guns and other violence directed towards our child. As parents, we were expecting administrators at a school with the stature of Aidan to exhibit the empathy, interest, and ability to put themselves in our position. We were rudely disappointed by their administrative inaction.
Most distressing of all was the overall attitude, disposition, and conduct where the buck stops daily at AMS, the Head of School, who through inaction:
? trivialized the emotional impact of bullying of our child
? demonstrated little empathy or respect for our concerns
? displayed a temperament and tone towards our family that was arrogant, assertive, abrasive, snide, combative, dismissive, demeaning and unresponsive
? responded administratively to our issues in an incomplete, insensitive, and disrespectful fashion
? paid lip service to diversity and inclusion without the personal commitment to implement it
? quickly wished us good luck (twice) at our next school.
Our family did not find what we were looking for at Aidan, largely due to of the presentation, bearing, and impact of the Head of School who we believe, among other deficiencies, to be inimical and unsuited to the culture and spirit of diversity and inclusion, and ill prepared with the personal traits and skills needed to lead an institution serving the complex, multi-cultural environment which is metropolitan Washington, DC.
With leadership under the present Head of School, Aidan was no place, socially and culturally, for our child. We did not expect to encounter such regressive attitudes in the classroom or head office at a school with the profile and reputation of Aidan. We found the values, beliefs, and opinions he represented untenable, and we found ourselves feeling unvalued and unwanted.
Our patience, belief, and trust in a respected institution to do the right thing by our child over a seven-month saga was twice met with invitations equivalent to “pound sand,” resonant with the sort of unapologetic rejection of equity and justice that characterizes much of our present social climate.
Our family decided to attend school elsewhere, and the difference in tone and values in our new school community is already night and day. We know what we require as a family is possible.
I regret that our family’s experience at Aidan this past year was a mixed one which deteriorated as the year went along. Under the current leadership, Aidan is not a place we would recommend to any family. Input provided to us, too late unfortunately, over the past year from other Aidan parents, past and present, confirms that we are not alone.
Over the course of one year, our child endured the following:
1)“Guns”: Four classmates threatened him with physical harm, the most egregious threat being to come with guns to “light up his house.” We requested that the parents of these kids be notified of these threats. Our request was denied.
2)“Stupid”: The same group repeatedly bullied and taunted him, calling him stupid and smelly. This taunting continued throughout the school year.
3)“Secret Friends”: A classmate confided that she would be our son's friend, but only in secret, since, if the rest of the class knew her to be his friend, they would not be friends with her.
4)“Parkland”: I asked the Head of School if the Parkland School shooting in Florida gave him second thoughts about his lack of response to the gun threat made to our child at Aidan. His response was to wish our family well at our next school.
5)“Poop”: The teasing and harassment evolved into 2-3 of the same classmates continuously chanting “Poopie, Poopie, Poopie” at him through the end of the school year, once again to an underwhelming response from school administration.
Were the children 7 years of age or over, the gun threat alone would have been sufficient for DC Police to take a report and investigate. At age 5 the matter was expected to be handled administratively. It was not.
We went to great lengths to share and describe our perceptions and feelings when it came to threats involving guns and other violence directed towards our child. As parents, we were expecting administrators at a school with the stature of Aidan to exhibit the empathy, interest, and ability to put themselves in our position. We were rudely disappointed by their administrative inaction.
Most distressing of all was the overall attitude, disposition, and conduct where the buck stops daily at AMS, the Head of School, who through inaction:
? trivialized the emotional impact of bullying of our child
? demonstrated little empathy or respect for our concerns
? displayed a temperament and tone towards our family that was arrogant, assertive, abrasive, snide, combative, dismissive, demeaning and unresponsive
? responded administratively to our issues in an incomplete, insensitive, and disrespectful fashion
? paid lip service to diversity and inclusion without the personal commitment to implement it
? quickly wished us good luck (twice) at our next school.
Our family did not find what we were looking for at Aidan, largely due to of the presentation, bearing, and impact of the Head of School who we believe, among other deficiencies, to be inimical and unsuited to the culture and spirit of diversity and inclusion, and ill prepared with the personal traits and skills needed to lead an institution serving the complex, multi-cultural environment which is metropolitan Washington, DC.
With leadership under the present Head of School, Aidan was no place, socially and culturally, for our child. We did not expect to encounter such regressive attitudes in the classroom or head office at a school with the profile and reputation of Aidan. We found the values, beliefs, and opinions he represented untenable, and we found ourselves feeling unvalued and unwanted.
Our patience, belief, and trust in a respected institution to do the right thing by our child over a seven-month saga was twice met with invitations equivalent to “pound sand,” resonant with the sort of unapologetic rejection of equity and justice that characterizes much of our present social climate.
Our family decided to attend school elsewhere, and the difference in tone and values in our new school community is already night and day. We know what we require as a family is possible.
I regret that our family’s experience at Aidan this past year was a mixed one which deteriorated as the year went along. Under the current leadership, Aidan is not a place we would recommend to any family. Input provided to us, too late unfortunately, over the past year from other Aidan parents, past and present, confirms that we are not alone.
Anonymous
02/13/2015 15:21
Subject: Re:Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
Anonymous wrote: +1
"Get off the internet and spend some time with your child or with a book or enjoy some quiet time for yourself."
Is this comment being kind and respectful to the moms out there? A bit condescending if you ask me.
Anonymous
02/12/2015 18:01
Subject: Re:Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
OP, if you live in DC you might also consider the public Montessori programs, both charter and DCPS. Go on the www.myschooldc.org website to do some research. Off the top of my head there is Latin American Montessori Bilingual (LAMB), Lee, Logan, and Shining Stars. We have been very happy at LAMB for three children. Good luck!
Anonymous
02/12/2015 17:19
Subject: Re:Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My child interviewed at Aidan. The woman who interviewed us was arrogant and condescending. I wouldn't let her walk my dog, much less educate my child. Aidan is known as the "military montessori." My child goes to Franklin Montessori and is flourishing. It's a warm and loving environment, an oasis.
Isn't Franklin Montessori the Storefront Montessori?
The exterior is deceiving. If you take a tour, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Isn't Franklin the school that left a kid behind at a city park a year or two ago?
No - that was a Montessori school in AU Park.
Anonymous
02/12/2015 10:05
Subject: Re:Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We have been at Aidan since the Toddler program and our child is now in Primary. We have had such a positive experience that we are planning to keep our child there until the program ends in Grade 6. The Toddler program is *not* glorified daycare, as the PP who took a tour 2.5 years ago seems to think. The Toddler teachers and assistants are extremely experienced and kind. The kids in Toddler wash and prepare food for their communal meal (including *safely* cutting up fruits and vegetables), set the table and wash up afterward, do pre-literacy and math work, and are potty-trained by the teachers. They also do a lot of Montessori manipulative and sensorial work. The community is also racially diverse, which was important to our family as we come from a multi-ethnic background. We have had a similarly stellar experience in Primary -- caring, committed teachers, really interesting work with beautiful materials (no plastic junk), and our kid loves being able to select her own work -- she has become a very confident, independent kid at Aidan. It's a relatively small school so you get to know people pretty quickly, and fortunately the parent community is for the most part very committed and pleasant, no attitude or DC-snobbishness.
+1
If this is true they've done a 360 because we had a teacher there who was neither experienced nor kind.
I am sorry to hear this. How long ago was your experience? I'm pretty familiar with all the Primary and Toddler staff who have been there for the past couple years, and they range from very good to excellent.
Anonymous
02/12/2015 08:00
Subject: Re:Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We have been at Aidan since the Toddler program and our child is now in Primary. We have had such a positive experience that we are planning to keep our child there until the program ends in Grade 6. The Toddler program is *not* glorified daycare, as the PP who took a tour 2.5 years ago seems to think. The Toddler teachers and assistants are extremely experienced and kind. The kids in Toddler wash and prepare food for their communal meal (including *safely* cutting up fruits and vegetables), set the table and wash up afterward, do pre-literacy and math work, and are potty-trained by the teachers. They also do a lot of Montessori manipulative and sensorial work. The community is also racially diverse, which was important to our family as we come from a multi-ethnic background. We have had a similarly stellar experience in Primary -- caring, committed teachers, really interesting work with beautiful materials (no plastic junk), and our kid loves being able to select her own work -- she has become a very confident, independent kid at Aidan. It's a relatively small school so you get to know people pretty quickly, and fortunately the parent community is for the most part very committed and pleasant, no attitude or DC-snobbishness.
+1
If this is true they've done a 360 because we had a teacher there who was neither experienced nor kind.
Anonymous
02/12/2015 07:54
Subject: Re:Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
Anonymous wrote:We have been at Aidan since the Toddler program and our child is now in Primary. We have had such a positive experience that we are planning to keep our child there until the program ends in Grade 6. The Toddler program is *not* glorified daycare, as the PP who took a tour 2.5 years ago seems to think. The Toddler teachers and assistants are extremely experienced and kind. The kids in Toddler wash and prepare food for their communal meal (including *safely* cutting up fruits and vegetables), set the table and wash up afterward, do pre-literacy and math work, and are potty-trained by the teachers. They also do a lot of Montessori manipulative and sensorial work. The community is also racially diverse, which was important to our family as we come from a multi-ethnic background. We have had a similarly stellar experience in Primary -- caring, committed teachers, really interesting work with beautiful materials (no plastic junk), and our kid loves being able to select her own work -- she has become a very confident, independent kid at Aidan. It's a relatively small school so you get to know people pretty quickly, and fortunately the parent community is for the most part very committed and pleasant, no attitude or DC-snobbishness.
+1
Anonymous
02/10/2015 14:10
Subject: Re:Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
We have been at Aidan since the Toddler program and our child is now in Primary. We have had such a positive experience that we are planning to keep our child there until the program ends in Grade 6. The Toddler program is *not* glorified daycare, as the PP who took a tour 2.5 years ago seems to think. The Toddler teachers and assistants are extremely experienced and kind. The kids in Toddler wash and prepare food for their communal meal (including *safely* cutting up fruits and vegetables), set the table and wash up afterward, do pre-literacy and math work, and are potty-trained by the teachers. They also do a lot of Montessori manipulative and sensorial work. The community is also racially diverse, which was important to our family as we come from a multi-ethnic background. We have had a similarly stellar experience in Primary -- caring, committed teachers, really interesting work with beautiful materials (no plastic junk), and our kid loves being able to select her own work -- she has become a very confident, independent kid at Aidan. It's a relatively small school so you get to know people pretty quickly, and fortunately the parent community is for the most part very committed and pleasant, no attitude or DC-snobbishness.
Anonymous
02/10/2015 14:04
Subject: Re:Experiences with Aidan Montessori?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My child interviewed at Aidan. The woman who interviewed us was arrogant and condescending. I wouldn't let her walk my dog, much less educate my child. Aidan is known as the "military montessori." My child goes to Franklin Montessori and is flourishing. It's a warm and loving environment, an oasis.
Isn't Franklin Montessori the Storefront Montessori?
The exterior is deceiving. If you take a tour, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Isn't Franklin the school that left a kid behind at a city park a year or two ago?