Mac Donald Montessori School

We love this school. My two children have gone there since they were each ~4 months old. I love that the staff seem happy and know my children by name, whether or not they're the teachers in my kids' rooms.
I love the projects the kids do, and the bright and cheerful atmosphere of the place. My children love going to school. They speak of their teachers often.

Yes, ratios are high in the baby rooms, but I felt my kids received excellent care there. I dropped in to visit at different times during the day when my children were babies, and I would have to disagree with previous comments suggesting that teachers do not interact with the babies. I saw quite the opposite. The teachers in the baby room offered us lots of helpful parenting advice, which we needed, particularly with our first child.

This school feels like a happy, healthy community. I never worry about my children when I'm at work.

Posted 06/12/09 | Report Abuse

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When we visited MacDonald Montessori school before my son was born we were struck with how friendly and happy the children were. The environment was warm and creative and the kids seemed to see adults as trusted friends rather than authority figures. Our actual experience has been exactly the same, we have had two children attend MacDonald since they were 3 months old and both are thriving. The teachers vary in skills and training, but the turnover is very low and I have found in each classroom that there is always at least one teacher who really "gets" my child. My kids are developing social skills, problem solving skills and school readiness skills at the same time that they are getting good quality care. I don't entirely disagree with the comments about the Administration, but ultimately what matters to me is the results and they are great. They also have a before/after school program that provides supervision at the bus stop and that has been a terrific service now that my oldest is in kindergarten. My children feel at home at MacDonald Montessori and I can trust that they are being cared for while I am at work.

Posted 05/07/09 | Report Abuse

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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MacDonald Montessori has great ideals, but the execution depends largely on the teachers in a particular classroom. Some of the teachers are truly wonderful. The main problem, however, is that the ratios are too high and group sizes are too big. For example, there are 21 kids and 3 caregivers in the toddler classrooms, and the age range is very broad. In addition, multiple classrooms are combined for periods of the day, which can be very chaotic. There also is a lot of sharing/splitting of teachers; at the end of the day it was hard to find anyone who could tell us anything about our child's day. Lastly, the scheduled television time at the end of the day is problematic.

Posted 06/25/08 | Report Abuse

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MacDonald Montessori's biggest strength is that they have very good teachers overall. Some are well educated. In five years, we have seen very low teacher turnover, which is a good indicator of the overall health of the teaching staff and good for the kids in terms of relationships and consistency. Program development, structure and activities are all very good in toddler to oldest rooms.

There are elements of the negative review by Jon C. that we can relate to, although he seems to have had an unusually rough go. It's true that some baby room staff talk very little. They seem to hire shy, gentle types for those rooms. I'm not a baby expert so I assumed the quiet environment had something to do with Montessori. The 4:1 ratio means less opportunity to play with the babies because there is always a diaper to change or a mouth to feed. Infants are held much more than older babies, as you'd expect. In general babies are held to be fed or comforted when upset but the teachers are mostly busy. I did sometimes see teachers sitting with kids and playing quietly, but hit and miss. The photography and journaling are nice in theory but should be very low priority compared to playing with the babies. We also thought it would be good to have our 2 kids in the same building and I encouraged the older sibling to ask to see the baby, as well as encouraging the teachers to have them spend time together, but in reality they rarely saw each other. Having infants, sitters, crawlers and early walkers together does seem to be a problem. Teachers spend a lot of energy protecting the youngsters from the older ones. They have 2 baby rooms. Maybe they should do one 0 - 7 month room and an 8 - 14 room. Jon C.'s baby was 3 months old. Our kids started older. I would be less concerned about kids that can crawl and get their own toys.

Beth MacDonald can be unresponsive. A couple times she did not respond at all to concerns we raised. Another time we contacted her with a concern about TV watching in the toddler room and the next day it just was gone and never returned. We met a parent who left, citing that Beth was defensive and not willing to listen. Another reviewer said international trips on the staff budget is a higher priority to Beth than good care. That may not be fair. Staff development training may be worth the expense and, as I mentioned, the low turnover indicates a highly satisfied teaching staff.

Posted 04/14/08 | Report Abuse

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We enrolled our 12 week old at MacDonald Montessori thinking it seemed to offer a stimulating environment. Upon further inspection, although they may have stimulating stuff for kids, the environment for infants is anything but stimulating.

We were expecting day 1 to be difficult, but not so traumatic. When I dropped off my daughter, I was not greeted by any adults. I had to ask where to put everything. I even had to ask what to do with my daughter. It broke my heart to be told, "you can either put her in her crib or a swing." Really? on her first day, this is the best that can be done? After picking up our daughter that first day, my wife and I revisited the daycare which had been #2 on our list, and enrolled her there in a spot that was opening up in 5 weeks.

After day two for our daughter, we decided that 5 weeks was too long to keep our daughter at Macdonald Montessori and submitted our notice to leave and worked on piecing together childcare between the time we left Macdonald Montessori and the day we could start at the new place.

When I dropped off our daughter on day 4, I discovered her crib had disappeared. I was promised one would be found. Funny (sad) side-note; after I asked the "teacher" what was planned for the day, she laughed at my "joke."

Day 5 (final day). Daughter still had no crib. When picking up my daughter in the afternoon, I was told that there had been an accident, and asked if I had been called (nobody had called me or my wife). Apparently, my daughter had been fed the wrong breastmilk (from a different mother). After listening to my displeasure and frustration both in letting this happen, and in not calling me to notify me when it happened, I was told ,"mistakes happen".

Other observations:
During 6 days of observation, I only witnessed 1 instance of a child being held who wasn't being fed or changed. Normally, children are placed in swings (or cribs if they have one) to pass the day away.

I have seen several instances where bouncy-seats have been placed in cribs (one time a "teacher" placed the bouncy seat into the crib while the child was still in the bouncy seat). I'm guessing "teachers" do this so they can say a child slept in her crib, instead of saying she was in the bouncy seat the whole day.

I have seen multiple teachers fiddle and fuss with digital cameras and printers, yet I have never seen a "teacher" talk to a child. In fact, my daughter's cooing and other verbalizations decreased after going to Macdonald Montessori as if she seemed to forget that people talk.

Like previous reviewers, the administration (ie the MacDonald Family) is not so in tune with the day to day reality of their rooms. Ironically, Beth MacDonald (director) was out of town during our breastmilk incident.

I understand that any infant daycare situation can be hard for a parent, but in the interest of your child, find a different provider... preferably one whose staff interact with kids beyond feeding and changing, or at the very least one that is smaller and has a 3-1 infant-adult ratio instead of Macdonald Montessori's 4-1 ratio. Also, consider a place where walkers and non-walkers are not in the same room.

Posted 02/23/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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True the admin staff is lousy but the people who actually matter are awesome. I'd say 90% of the teachers are excellent, and the others aren't bad. My kids have been lucky enough to be in the best classes. I am very happy and this is the best school around. The only thing I dislike is having to make all their lunches.

Posted 11/21/07 | Report Abuse

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I have been so disappointed in this daycare center. Some of the teachers are very good, but the administration could not care less about the children or the parents. It's literature is full of lofty ideas, but in practice the place just does not measure up. The director does not even bother to return phone calls. She seems more worried about taking international trips on the school's budget then making sure the kids are getting good care.

Posted 08/23/06 | Report Abuse

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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MacDonald Montessori is a great school - caring, thoughtful teachers, nice families - very respectful. Great space for learning, wonderfully designed classrooms... my son LOVES it!

PROS: teachers
CONS: cost - but it is average for a school

Posted 06/29/06 | Report Abuse

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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