Green House Montessori School

We had a great experience in this school. We have our 30 month and 4 year old currently in the school. Our older daughter is now in third grade. She received an excellent foundation at Green House. My 30 month is becoming more and more independent. My 4 year old has already started to read. Great Caring Staff. Ms. Janet and Ms. Shah are great. Also, the diversity of the school makes it a great learning experience.

Michigan Schools Review: Seemingly a decent school. Lack of Communication by management, Poor treatment of Staff, and Child Care is mismanaged. Not your best option, look at other options.

After our Michigan rating site had a run in with the daycare on a secret shopper visit with one of our inspectors, we had noticed that for the price, we were more than willing to give this daycare two thumbs up, and at first site this Montessori school was certainly a quality place and price, which is hard to beat. Further investigation lead us to an alternate conclusion. This school is run by a marital team (wife and husband). Although we usually do not see this arrangement in higher level facilities, it certainly has shown negative effects here, by a lack of an education director (In place, we found a lead teacher) and difficulties with managing staff. Our staff member reported that both the husband and wife team did seem stressed by basic school administration, and that they became belligerent to employees on occasion (especially in front of the children, BIG no-no!). Apparently, when asked by our staff if they knew which employees would be working during that time, both seemed to be in non-agreement. The noise levels in this school were far beyond Montessori limits, and would not be suitable for strict Montessori teachings. Accommodation for children from toddlers 1-5 year old were available, which we had no qualms about. The environment seems to be suitably clean, yet with their similar but separate three rooms that gave ample space. We did find out that they do not allow outdoor activities for children during winter which can have your child bolting for the nearest playground, although there are none located nearby. At first glance to our surprise, parent to teacher ratio was incredibly low, almost alarming at times. This would give the impression that they undervalue class activities with children which we found was hard to come by. The lesson plans seemed to be decent, although not excelling from any other school we have came across. According to our parental survey, parents seem to be getting daily progress reports, although parents interviewed at the time have had some reservation(s) about the school as well. After conferring with many of the care takers, they seemed to be generally sympathetic, nurturing and forthcoming. Some expressed delight in doing what they love best, but had reservations about this school. A few pregnant, a few of older age, from young to old. All of the caretakers unfortunately seemed new, with a turn around rate being sky high (which is a red flag). Many employees were being worked scattered hours, with some part time, and many if not all reported that they were working on a on-call basis, with no valid scheduling or stability (Another red flag for mis-management, which is hard for children as well). It was furthermore shocking to find out that many workers at this facility were not being compensated properly (given checks with no stubs, and/or not being reported as W-2) similar to a sweat house of sorts. When our staff member was there, as we said earlier in the review, there was a great deal of fuss and contention between staffers and the marital team, and it added much uneasiness and discomfort to the point of where threats were being tossed carefully around the earshot of parents whom may eavesdrop.

Overall, this school weighted with the pros and cons, we can only rate this school substantially low given that we found more causes for concern than would be comfortable. Other facilities offer far better care, with a decent price.

This is an exert from their website:

Our Family

Parents often wonder about their role in providing a learning environment in their home and ways to support their child’s school. Parent, teacher, and school relationships are very important in a student’s life. An alliance based on mutual respect and support will enhance all individuals’ understanding, knowledge, and insight and offer a cohesive, prepared learning environment. We offer Parent Education meetings to become informed and knowledgeable about the Montessori philosophy, method and materials. Informed parents communicate better with the teachers by attending planned parent/teacher conferences to share insights, questions and observations and other parent activities, like mother’s and father’s nights, fieldtrips, end of the year performance, by reading the school’s newsletters and more.