A deeply disappointing experience for our family…read more
We enrolled our daughter at Villa Montessori expecting a school that would take the time to understand her as an individual and work collaboratively with us when challenges arose. Unfortunately, our experience was the opposite.
During the school year, we learned that our daughter had partial hearing loss and immediately shared that information with the school. Instead of responding with curiosity, concern, or a willingness to consider how this might be affecting her in the classroom, we were told that she "hears just fine."
That response has stayed with us.
As the semester progressed, we were asked to pick our daughter up early at least five or six times when she was having difficulty in the classroom. Rather than seeing a thoughtful, consistent plan developed to understand what was triggering those moments and help her work through them successfully, it increasingly felt as though removing her from the classroom had become the solution.
As parents, that was incredibly frustrating. A child who is struggling needs adults willing to ask why and work together on what might help. We did not feel that happened here.
Communication compounded the problem. We received inconsistent information from different members of the classroom staff and administration, and there never seemed to be a coordinated approach or shared understanding of how our daughter should be supported.
Perhaps the most disappointing part is that a meeting to create an actual support plan was not called until there were approximately two weeks left in the semester, after we had begun pushing back on the repeated requests to pick her up and had already informed the school that she would not be returning.
By then, it was far too late.
Even during that meeting, our impression was that the priority was managing classroom disruption rather than genuinely understanding what our daughter needed in order to be successful there.
Children do not all learn, communicate, hear, regulate, or respond to their environment in exactly the same way. We expected a Montessori school, in particular, to appreciate those differences and approach them with patience, observation, flexibility, and partnership.
Instead, we left feeling that an important developmental year had been a significant missed opportunity for our daughter.
I recognize that other families may have different experiences. But if your child has a hearing difference, needs additional support, or simply does not fit neatly into the classroom routine, I would encourage you to ask very specific questions before enrolling: What happens when my child is struggling? What interventions are attempted before I am called to pick them up? Who coordinates those interventions? How quickly will the school meet with us and create a meaningful plan?
We wanted Villa Montessori to be a place where our daughter was understood and supported. We wanted partnership, patience, proactive communication, and a genuine willingness to figure things out together.
Sadly, that was not our experience.
