I generally don't write reviews, but I feel as though it's necessary for parents to know what they are getting into when it comes to their children. When our kids first started at SSMS, it was a pretty awesome experience. The teachers and assistants were phenomenal and the kids loved going to school. Over the next two years, the school slowly started to change and the cracks in the foundation started to become more and more apparent. By the time we left (2 months before writing this review) the class sizes were much larger than they originally were, many of the qualified staff were leaving left and right - ultimately leaving the school extremely short staffed and fewer and fewer Montessori certified teachers were present. After school, two people would be left to care and look after 20-30+ kids. The Director of the school, Cathy, treated staff like garbage. It was incredibly sad to see. We also caught her discussing our child's progress and difficulties with other parents. We found out when 4 separate parents confronted us about it.
Being a concerned or interested and caring parent, we would often times ask questions to teachers, assistants etc. I mean, they are our kids and we want to know how things are going, etc. The teachers and other staff were amazing at answering our questions and making us feel at ease. Some would even send us pictures from time to time to show how much fun the kids were having. When we would ask Cathy (school director) questions, she took it as borderline insulting and inappropriate half the time. On one occasion in particular, my wife asked Cathy how the renovation in one of the primary classes was going (it had some pretty serious rain Damage) along with a few other questions regarding the school and kids. At around 1030pm that same night, we received an email from Cathy saying she didn't appreciate my wife's "condescending tone" and that it made her uncomfortable answering questions in the main lobby. In the future we would need to make an appointment or go to her office to discuss things like that.
Her exact words:
"I would like to ask, for future times, to make an appointment or please let me know if we need to step into the office to talk. Especially if we are going to be talking about everything from muddy shoes to ceilings"
"No one feels comfortable when receiving so many complaints at once in a condescending tone."
In her defense, we didn't realize things like muddy shoes and ceilings were off limits without an appointment, otherwise we would have had our people call her people and found a time she could pencil us into her schedule. Totally our mistake. That one is on us.
The red flag that should have had us running to the door was when we picked up our son one afternoon and found his eye to be red, swollen and draining green fluid. No one had called us but someone had written on my son's daily sheet that his eye was red and itchy. Cathy told the teacher, in front of us, to erase it from the daily sheet.
It pains me to write such a negative review, because we love and adore so much of the staff there. But they are overworked, understaffed, and despite stepping up and doing everything and more to fill the gaps and care for our kids, they still get belittled and treated like 2nd rate citizens.
I know this is becoming long winded, but lastly, I would like to discuss the owners. I believe they could be the most lovely and kind people on earth, but I have never met them, so I'm not quite sure. I believe their hearts and original mission is full of love and hope - But despite the constant complaints from staff and parents about the director, we are often told, "oh, it's nothing a little corrective action can't fix". Honestly, for a private school that costs $25k a year for two kids, we shouldn't have to deal with corrective actions with the DIRECTOR of all people. I will say that their inability to respond to concerns is a bit disheartening. With that said, anyone that has so much faith and continued support in a person despite it driving great staff and families away from the school is something to be commended. I just wish the kids weren't in the middle of it.
Please do your research. There are a ton of great options out there. I truly hope SSMS will find its way again. With a few changes and some extra support for the staff, I think the school has full potential to be an excellent choice for parents and kids in the future. But for now, I would personally look elsewhere. read more
