New Albany Montessori School

The main reason this school gets 2 stars from me is because of their very high tuition rate to the number of days they are actually open to teach our children. They'll seem similar to other private schools at the first glance, but look at how many times they are closed during the year and you will see what I mean. They start almost a month later than a public school, they finish a month earlier. Closed for every holiday above and beyond what is observed by public schools. Closed at least one day every other week for "professional day, preparation for new students"¦ they'll find a reason to be closed. For winter break, they were closed 3 days more and for spring break - 1 day more than their public school counterpart. I have my children in both schools so I can compare. They have no school on parent- teacher conference days. Why? Public schools hold their conferences in the evening, after kids are done with their school and parents are done with their work. But no this school - they just have no school. Be prepared to spend a LOT of time with your child at home while you are still paying for school. I especially feel for the full time students - they pay a whole a lot more to keep their kids in school for a few extra hours but often all kids get dismissed at noon anyway for whatever reason. I forgot snow days! If there are few snowflakes on the ground they'll close and I don't know why: they don't bus our children, they're a private business, but they jump on every chance not to work. I won't be sending my children to this school come next year. It is a fraud in terms of cost per hour if you bother to count up the hours they actually work.
On a separate subject: another negative experience that I had with this school is related to their policy that does not allow parents to drop by and observe their child in school. They do not welcome it, they require that you set up an appointment first as if they are worried that you might see something that should not be going on. The classrooms have one way windows where you can look inside the classroom but the kids cannot see you and still they don't want you to come. I could not come to any party (fall or spring), because every time i was told that they "had enough parent volunteers" and that there was no room for other parents. This is nonsense - I had to explain to my child every time why i did not show up - very disappointing.