We had our two children at Raintree 6 and 8 years, respectively, and while we very excited in the…read morebeginning, I strongly recommend against families using this school now. Raintree seemed wonderful in the beginning, clean facilities, great staff, wonderful food that you could even order to bring home. Our children appeared to be receiving an excellent education, and despite no standardized testing, we were told they were doing wonderfully and we believed it -- eagerly paying tuition to give our girls the best we could, like many other patents. Then, in 2022, the teacher's aid for our youngest daughter's class was accused, and now convicted, of molesting several children in her preschool class. This is a horrible event that can occur anywhere, but it was the school's response that was the damning part. Raintree did not respond as they should have. Imagine if the principal at your child's school found out that an employee was molesting a 3 year old, and when the employee began confessing... the principal advised the molester to stop talking to the police -- because, the owner of Raintree did exactly that. Further, the owners essentially ignored the parents of the victims, and they didn't want to talk with any parents about these events. They did eventually implement changes to policies that should have never existed -- no longer were very young children left alone in dark, curtained rooms for nap time, with a single teacher/aid, and fortunately no longer were aids/assistants allowed to work under the direct supervision of a family member. We asked for further changes, such as cameras and for our children to not be undressed publicly for swimming, and as parents we started a PTO to suggest further improvements for our children's safety, but the administration resisted all of our efforts at changes. The original core group of parents who founded the PTO left active involvement out of frustration, or left Raintree entirely, and the organization quickly became little more than a coordinating unit for volunteer opportunities. (citations to articles confirming details above: https://www2.ljworld.com/.../special-prosecutor.../, https://www2.ljworld.com/.../mothers-testify-about.../, https://www2.ljworld.com/.../recent-filings-shed-more.../) The second reason I would not recommend Raintree to anyone is the academic quality. Several years ago, two of our close friends removed their children (one in 1st, the other in 3rd grade) from Raintree, moving them to the public schools. The public entry testing indicated both children (from different families in different classrooms) were very behind for their grade levels, scoring in the 20 to 30 percentiles in reading and math. At first we still thought our own children were fine, but then we noticed our kids didn't know the math we would have known at that age, they couldn't read a clock, and they were very poor readers when we checked out library books appropriate for their ages. When we had our girls tested, one tested under the 40 percentile in reading, 30s in math, and the other was in the 30 and 20 percentiles, respectively. This was finally what pushed us over the edge, and we left two years ago. Leaving Raintree has been one of the best decisions we have made for our children. We feel our children are far safer in the public schools, the administration at the public schools are far more communicative with us as parents, and the education is much better. After nearly 2 years of hard work by their teachers, and countless hours of at-home tutoring, they are both in 80+ percentiles in every subject. Finally, we don't feel cheated anymore by Raintree. I resent Raintree for making me think we were doing the best thing for our children, and I regret ignoring the many warning signs and "drinking the Koolaide" that this was a good environment for our children. Our children are certainly far happier than they ever were at Raintree -- even they understand that the education in the USD479 schools are superior, and they greatly enjoy the far broader range of afterschool and inschool activities. I am far more impressed with the steps the public schools take to keep our children safe. The staff and administration are fantastic. The one time one of my children was bullied on a Friday, the principal called us Saturday morning, talked over an hour, talked with the families of the "bullying" kids over the weekend, and by Monday everything had been resolved. I advise any family to carefully consider their decision to send a child to Raintree. I strongly suggest you take advantage of the wonderful schools we have available for free (or really supported by our rather high property taxes) and say that $12-15k/year tuition for their future college or trade school education.

We sent our children to Raintree from pre-k through 6th grade. My family is so grateful to have a…read moreschool like Raintree Montessori in our community. We moved to Little Rock, Arkansas for two years when the oldest was in lower elementary. No Montessori school in that city came close in comparison to Raintree Montessori. We are more than satisfied with the education our children received in this caring, inclusive, nurturing, and positive learning environment. Both have graduated from college with honors. Our investment in their early education paid off with both students receiving academic scholarships. There can always be issues no matter the school. We simply work together to solve them, keeping the child's best interest in mind. We liked Raintree so much that I chose to work here. Now I help other families discover this amazing place to educate children.

This school is incredible!! The teachers and staff are so caring and wonderful. They truly loved my…read moredaughter and cared for her like family. My daughter learned so much during her time here. Each week I was amazed at what was being taught in pre-k on top of the normal curriculum: chess tournaments, space week, music, animals and their habitats, etc. It was pretty amazing to have my 4yr old come home one day and tell me an elephant is an herbivore because "they only eat vegetables". We were in Topeka only temporarily and winded up extending our stay solely so that our daughter could finish pre-k and summer camp here. It was such a blessing to have found this school and are so thankful for the time our daughter was a student here. Thank you for all you guys do each and every day. We will miss y'all so much!

St Marys College is unique, small, and distinctly Traditionally Catholic…read more The heart of the school day revolves around the unadulterated 1962 Latin Mass, as it was celebrated worldwide in the Catholic Church prior to Vatican II. Classes typically then go from 8-5, with a break for lunch, as a typical class load for students is 21 credits a semester! Latin and Theology are mainstays of the curriculum, with heavy doses of Literature, Philosophy, and History, with the bare minimum sprinklings of math and science that any accredited liberal arts college bears with. Good, decent young men and women here, excellent, dedicated teachers. And some good memories were made - not always by following the rules...but as I tell my students all the time - never let your classes get in the way of your education.

Our son first went to the Lawrence Montessori School (LMS) as an eleven month old. Although our…read morefamily is no longer residing in Lawrence, LMS is one of many things that we miss the most. All of the teachers and staff members of LMS had been always so pleasant and upbeat. They created a really positive, enriched learning environment for the kids. They took such wonderful care of our son and truly had a passion for what they do. The curriculum was very carefully considered and varied week-to-week. I also have to give a shout-out to Ms. Amanda and Ms. Sophie in the Hummingbird room. They helped me through some of his more difficult times with toilet training and drop-off anxiety, as well as the 'terrible two' stages. Our son had been learning by leaps and bounds thanks to his awesome teachers! Furthermore, the managerial staff of LMS, Ms. Purviz and Ms. Sonja, helped ease my mind and were always there to give advice when I needed it. I always felt very comfortable talking to them about anything that comes to mind, and they are attentive to our feedback as well. I highly recommend LMS!

It's a state-of-the-art school. It's a new building with a huge yard and playground for the kids. I…read morewas impressed when I visited. There's a close ratio of children to teachers, with a great deal of enrichment for the children in each classroom.