Guidepost Montessori Omdömen 146

Having worked for this company in a senior capacity, I can attest to the experiences of parents from other reviews. This company places MONEY before children. It capitalizes on strategic marketing and utilizes remote workers to "sell" parents the Guidepost experience. I urge parents to explore other authentic Montessori schools. Here is why:
- Children are just numbers. They are all about expanding and filling classrooms as fast as possible. They will not treat your child as an individual. If your child needs an evaluation to receive funding for state intervention therapies, forget it. School guides (teachers) are told to decrease the undesired behavior without any specific special education training or support from a qualified professional... The company will not provide special education assistants.
- If you are hoping your child will get a quality Montessori experience, think again. Trained Montessori teachers are required to undergo a year-long post-bachelor's in-depth Montessori training. It is called the "spiritual preparation of the teacher." The training is as much about child development and how to interact with children as it is about the specific teaching content (hundreds of very detailed lessons with specific steps and purposes in order for children to use the materials properly and learn concepts). The company hires daycare and regular education teachers and gives them online training while they are leading classrooms of twenty mixed-aged students, many of whom might have ignored behavioral and/or cognitive concerns. They say their teachers are "qualified by the state and going through Montessori training"... No, your child will not get a quality Montessori experience if the school does not value trained Montessori guides and authentic training. This is also false advertising as the whole Montessori experience rests on the teacher's ability to connect with children in a direct but very respectful way and knowing when and how to plan and present specific lessons in a very specific way at specific times for your child. Providing a Montessori education is not about a bunch of beautiful classroom materials... the children will misuse materials and not meet their potential if they are not presented and guided in a certain way. They would probably be better off with a play-based, creative curriculum than with untrained teachers in a Montessori school.
- Teachers barely make livable wages with this organization and are expected to work year-round on federal holidays for 9 hours a day (not paid for the hour lunch). Low teacher morale leads to high turnover and poor quality teaching staff. Most qualified Montessori teachers are not interested in working at Guidepost because of its reputation of being for-profit, low standards of Montessori fidelity, and not caring for its teachers.
- Things you want to ask if you do visit a Guidepost school: are your guides fully trained by AMI or AMS (these are the most authentic training organizations by far... if they say they are in a MACTE accredited training program, this does not equal good quality)? What is the tenure of your teachers and assistant teachers? What is the turnover like? Do you have staffing problems? Ask questions about Montessori... is the Head of School AMI or AMS trained? if not, that is a huge red flag that the program quality will not be high because the Head of School will not truly understand what to look for and how to implement the Montessori method...
- Don't be fooled by the marketing and nice looking classrooms...

This company has a dangerous set of priorities designed to keep tuition money rolling in by doing and saying whatever they feel will keep their customers (the parents) happy and blissful. Our 3 yo child spent almost an entire year getting socially shunned by most of their classmates, but nobody in the school thought of telling us. We also recently spoke to a former employee who knows about another student in dire need of early intervention therapy, but said that the school did not want to alert the parent because they were afraid of how the parent would react at the suggestion that their child was not developing totally normally. This should be a massive red flag to any parent who wants the best for their child, and is an extremely dangerous and irresponsible way to handle a pivotal time in early child development. A school ought to be the first to raise a flag if they have any concerns so that parents can make informed decisions and seek outside help if needed. Guidepost prefers to ignore the issue and avoid their role. Yuck.

Sadly, the other reviews on this platform echo my family's experience with Guidepost Montessori in a deeply uncomfortable way. The only difference is the location, we were in Brooklyn, but the corporate policy seems clear enough. The same pattern of discrimination, the same language and lack of reasonable accommodations for children with disabilities. Shameful.

If your kid is different this is NOT the school for you.

My name is Simona Zion, and I’m the mother of Noah Boris Zion who used to attend Guidepost Montessori in Hollywood.

How do I even start with this, I’m so disappointed and so frustrated. My son is a 5 y/o boy who has a speech delay and is not as verbal compared to his peers. All of which was explained at the interview before starting the school year. At the interview, I was assured that the staff was prepared ( after all that is why that is a private and not a public school ) and I was told that the school had kids with much more serious disabilities, which are doing amazing in the program.

Yes, but not exactly. Five months into the school year, we had a parent-teacher conference in which we were informed by Miss Viviana (Head of School) that our son needs extra help and more one on one attention, and they cannot provide it because their staff is cut in half because of COVID. (Which I’m not sure how is our fault since we’re paying 100% of the tuition. Which is $2100 per month.) I want to add to this, that our son goes to speech therapy 4 times a week after school. So Miss Viviana suggested that we have to hire a “Shadow Teacher” Monday-Friday who we have to pay out of pocket on top of the school tuition. And for your information, a shadow teacher costs between $40-$50 an hr. And she basically said that if we do not agree, we would have to find another school.

No need to explain how frustrated my husband and I were after this meeting, but we were trying to find a solution that would work for both parties since our son was loving the school and his teachers. And he was (at least in my eyes) progressing so much. He is five, and he knew how to write all letters and numbers, and how to write short words too.

So we decided to hire a professional therapist since no one in the school is a specialist and hire the shadow teacher based on the suggestions the therapist gives us.

Before the therapist even got the chance to go for evaluation and a few days after the first meeting we got called for a second one, in which Miss Viviana informed us that we have to find a new school for our son (please keep in mind that this is in the middle of the school year!). When asked why, she explained that they cannot support our son the way they want and she also added that our son is not socializing like the rest of the kids, and is basically not a good fit for their community.

So I want to ask, and please correct me if I’m wrong, what example does your school gives to the kids that attend it? That when someone is different or has challenges in something we’re not helping, but we’re kicking them out and ostracizing them, so we don’t have to deal with it.

And is this what you stand for as a teacher, to give up on those who need you the most… I guess I will never find answers to my questions.

The school has a good infrastructure, and it all looks great. However, my experience was horrible. The teachers and the principal don't even speak proper English. The security is a joke. One time I was able to pick up my son and put him in the car while the kids were playing outside, and nobody even noticed.

My son, who is very high functional and autistic, was accepted in the middle of the pandemic. They took the deposit and ensured me that they are prepared to work with him. He doesn't have sensory issues and is verbal. The communication level is not as expected for five years old, but still a very well functioning child.

Few months in - the principal called my wife and me to let us know that if we don't hire a "shadow" teacher, he will no longer visit the school. Even though the cost adds $7500/month to his tuition, we agreed to that. When they realized we are going forward with their proposal, they backtracked by saying that he can't go to their school even with a shadow teacher.

It makes me sad that these people, with all of their ridiculous certifications, are incapable of giving my child an equal opportunity and proper care. I felt extremely discriminated against and offended by the way they handled the case. We went through their process and evaluation, and now that everything is back to normal and they don't need money as much, they are getting rid of the "bad ones."

Forget this school with all of its false promises for a bright future. Guidepost Montessori is a business, and money is a priority. They don't care about your kids or their success. If you want your child to be educated by people that barely speak proper English, send them to this Montessori School.

It's hard to imagine what other parents are going through when they have a child with disabilities and cannot afford private schools, speech therapies, shadow teachers, and all this other BS.