Montessori School of Durham

Wonderful educators but very malicious business practices. When they stopped having classes for Covid and switched to remote learning, they continued to charge full fees. We exchanged 15 hours of educational childcare a week for around 45 minutes of educational videos a week. When we said we would not be paying for this they seemed to okay it and now 7 months later are harassing my family for the remaining tuition. When we mentioned they didn’t fulfill their side of the contract, in this case childcare, they very quickly dropped “ The State passed legislation protecting independent schools from litigation by families as long as the schools were providing content, which we did.” Not even an apology or an admission that the service had changed well beyond what the cost had initially paid for. Not a whole lot we can do except pay the bill and spread the word.

COMPLETE NIGHTMAREnnForced to pay for an entire year of school that we could not attend. As other recent reviewers have stated, this school has terrible business practices: be very careful before becoming involved. We signed a contract back in February 2020, before the pandemic, for our son to start school there the following year. Like many others, our lives were turned upside down by Covid and we lost nearly all income immediately. We were struggling to keep our home. It was also not safe for our son to do their in-person option due to health issues, and it is a total joke to think their weekly take home packets in any way fulfill their end of the contract for a Montessori education, or justifies the full tuition cost.nnWe had no choice but to withdraw over the summer, before school began. The school not only pursued us with their lawyer for months, during the most difficult time in our family’s life, they showed zero empathy or flexibility in these unprecedented times. They refused to meet with a mediator to help reach a compromise. They received a sizable pandemic relief federal loan to keep their school in business this year, so they had no excuse to treat a family hit with such hardship this way.nnI’m glad we never actually became a part of this school. They’ve proven to be cold and uncaring if problems arise; poor communication, no flexibility, and clearly greed trumps compassion. The values of community, justice and peace that the school promotes may work for marketing purposes, but in our experience it is not something that they authentically embody. If we want those values for our children to be more than talking points, we have to live them in our choices and words and actions. It’s time to stop supporting and running businesses in ways that create hardship for other people. Fortunately the word is spreading quickly about this school and maybe it will pressure them to re-examine their practices. Too late for our family though—our experience with them has been nothing short of a total nightmare.

BEWARE! This school has a predatory business practice. They do not care that Covid makes it impossible for them perform the services contracted for.

Our family has really found a home at MSD. Our children have grown socially and academically in this environment that fosters kindness, curiosity and independence. The teachers are incredible! I’m always surprised at conference time how deeply the teachers really know my child and the many facets of their development. The classroom environment is so full of life! All around you can find sparks of creativity and collaboration happening between the children. I’ll never forget my first observation and how shocked I was at the peacefulness of the classroom. I have seen my children grown in language, in reading and writing, and practical life skills, communication and higher math concepts than I never learned in my own elementary education! This school really puts the child in the center of the classroom affording them the opportunity to uniquely build their love of learning. The school is top-notch, the teachers are experienced, the community brings a culture of diversity and inclusion and the student body will knock your socks off.

It is hard to understand why the school has chosen to destroy families like ours who simply trying to survive during a global crisis. Unlike other independent private schools in the area, MSD continues to charge full tuition from families with toddlers and young preschoolers like us. The school has decided to implement the same strategy of virtual learning it uses for school age children. We have contacted the school few times and explained the impracticality of using distance learning for our young who cannot sit still for longer than a few minutes. And since we both hold full time position, its simply is not possible for us to also perform as their preschool/ toddlers teachers and engage in this overwhelming virtual learning. There are not enough hours in the day two work two full time jobs. We could have never thought that our kids’ school can prove to be so cruel and unethical. We chose Montessori school of Durham because we thought it represented our values of justice, community, love for others. What we found is a school with ruthless management and unconscionable conduct of its principal that has shown no mercy for hurting families like us in this crisis. We have contacted the Principal several times to explain our financial challenges as a result of the pandemic crisis. The Principal responded by reminding us we already stated this the week before and proceeded to ask we will not repeat ourselves for the sake of time—I guess her time. It was unbelievable to hear the principal responding with no empathy to our situation. She did not even attempt to hide her disinterest in even listening to us. She did, however, told us that the school will use all legal actions to force us to pay full tuition (over $30k) this July for the next academic year. While it was the Montessori refutation that have drawn us to choose MSD, the school has shown to have none of the Montessori ethics during the crisis. When you need to make a choice over which school should you pay such tuition premium, one should be sure to choose a school that will stands behind its organization’s values and put your family first even in times of crisis. It is precisely during hard times that society should be guided by its principals and ethics. Unfortunately, MSD has failed us miserably during the current crisis. And we pay the price.