San Francisco, CA
Glen Park Montessori

Director's Comments

Question to director: Do you have any additional thoughts on what parents should consider when looking at your school? Is there any advice that you would like to provide to prospective parents?


How engaged are their children? How do teachers interact with children? Is the evidence of the children's learning in the classroom? Is art work at the child's eye level? are there plants/animals? What are your instincts about the place?

Parents' Comments

Parent #1
Such a beautiful classroom environment, isn't it? And there are openings? Is it too good to be true? Well, yes. Please make sure to look more deeply to avoid the pain of a difficult early childhood experience for your child. Our experience with GPM was very disturbing. Very lovely children and families attend and those who stayed remained pretty cohesive. best to you in your search.

Parent #2
The montessori teaching is exemplary, the staff very caring, and the space beautiful and peaceful. We are particularly pleased with the strength of the academic program, which built on our son's interest and math and help him really think like a mathematician, a still that has carried over into elementary school.

Parent #3
The administration and Staff are great, caring and focused on the children. They provide a wonderful connection to the earth, kindness and gentle communication between one another. Parents and outside obstacles come second, but that is as it should be when atttending to our kids! There is now administrative support in the office and that helps w/the manucia. It's a great environment, kids know what is expected and also find more than ample time for exploration, self expression and socialization. It's a lovely environment with a great group of teachers!

Parent #4
My daughter has attended this school since she was 3 years old and will now be leaving to go to Kindergarten this fall.
This school has almost everything I would want for a preschool - a very strong emphasis on teaching about the Earth and animals, a calm atmosphere, access to beautiful art supplies, great kids with terrific families. I would definitely recommend this school for a well-behaved little girl who is happy doing projects and being still.
That being said, there is not a lot of outlet for physical activity - which sometimes leads to a lot of couch-jumping in the evenings! Also, the style of the administration has been extremely difficult for me to handle.
Overall, I am happy with what my child has learned and the connections I have made with the other families. It is actually quite a shame that there are issues with the administration as the school is really great otherwise.

Parent #5
Beautiful, safe and peaceful environment for the kids.

Parent #6
We love the beautiful environment the staff has created at the school, and the Monstessori teaching methods. Our daughter has learned so much since she started two years ago. The curriculum is very much focused on the natural world, and the school itself is full of art, plants and animals, which I think is very important for kids living in the city. The parent community is very committed to the school, and members contribute their time and talents (for instance, two parents - a dancer and a choreographer - teach dance to the children in the after school program).

Parent #7
We are finishing up our second year at GPM and have been quite happy with the education our son has received. We are somewhat bittersweet to see him move to Kindergarten. He has learned so much here. The philosophy (Montessori, ecology- and arts- based program, organic lunches and snacks) and the teachers' every day guidance make this school the wonderful school it is.

There is a strong parent community - everyone feels like family. There are a few field trips per year, where parent chaperones are necessary, as well as a Winter Solstice Tea Party and a Graduation/Family Potluck Picnic for the families to attend.

20 hours of volunteer time is required per school year or a monetary donation is requested, which can be prorated for any unfulfilled volunteer time.

The biggest weakness of this school is the lack of communications. It seems as though there is no formal method of communication. Sometimes bulletins are posted in the lobby, sometimes messages are posted on the parents' Yahoo group, sometimes there are notes in the childrens' cubbies. It is frustrating for sure but most families look past this quirk.

Parent #8
I have two children--a boy and a girl--at GPM. My overarching comment on the school is that it is a calm place where my children learn to interact (share, enjoy, resolve) with children older and younger than themselves. I feel that the head of school has a strong vision for what she wants to impart on the children--a sense of respect for each other, for nature, for learning and becoming independent.

My children want to be the first to arrive at school so they can great other children. This alone makes me confident that the environment is a nurturing one. And when I pick them up, they ask if they can finish what they are working on before we leave.

My wife and I (with the kids) have volunteered a fair amount. We have chosen to paint most of the classroom walls. It's been great fun. And we see that other parents volunteer in a number of ways (some create art, others help with repairs, others with the poinsettia sale.) I have met many of the parents and feel they they are alot like me--they take an active role in their child's life and in the school.

Parent #9
The school offers an intimate environment with a fabulous parent community and a director with excellent educational and environmental vision. Communication with parents has needed improvement in the past. There has, however, been significant systematic improvement in the three years we have been here. Our child has thrived here and as we look at moving on to kindergarten, I become more and more aware of how this school has done its job extremely well.

Parent #10
The school has a beautiful space for the children. The students are encouraged to develop as capable, independent individuals and to treat each other respectfully.

Parent #11
I would just not recommend this school.
For starters, the facility is too small for kids to run around in. There are just two small rooms and the playground is almost non existent. The kids do not learn much at all. This is more of a daycare than a school. The kids are not at all chanelled or challenged. Our daughter is in a new preschool and she's learning so many new things. She comes home and is full of happiness to talk it over and role play what she did in school that day. This is in stark contrast to GPM where she would come home and say all she did in school was read books. No attempt would be made to form playgroups or to involve kids in any creative activity. If your kid is on the shy side, then this school is definitely not the one for you. Field trips were EXTREMELY rare and would be always be to this one 'meadow' (if you can call it that) near school. Against that, our daughter has been to 8 daytrips (and counting) in less than 3 months in her new preschool (main public library,pumpkin patch, museums etc) .

Pros:
Against that, the parents were just wonderful and being such a small school it was easy to form a relationship with the parents. The food was all organic. Location is great, close to BART and public library.

Parent #12
Overall, this preschool is great; it's a very creative environment where kids have a lot of fun but also show a remarkable amount of discipline and respect for others. The space, natural lighting, decor and play opportunities are unparalleled in all my school visits. The teaching staff is excellent with the kids, have low turnover, show incredible patience and good discipline with the kids and seem to enjoy working with one another as well. The curriculum, which focuses on the natural world and peoples of all continents, is engaging and educational, offering loads of creative and artistic play opportunities in group, small group and individual time. The other parents are super; there are lots of interesting, artistic and engaged people participating in all sorts of ways -- from teaching dance classes to chaperoning day trips to improving the school during parent-work days. The administration is warm, caring and very good with the kids; they treat them well and expect good behavior in return; they enjoy working with her and respect her (and the other teachers) in kind. The one area of improvement that comes to mind is administration-to-parent communication. Prospective parents need to be active and assertive with their needs or requests and take responsibility to initiate the conversation. The hours (8:30-5:30) are good for those long work-days, the cost (less than $900 a month currently) is reasonable and less expensive than most places we visited and the location (2-4 blocks from bart, 280 freeway, O'Shaugnessey) is pretty central.

Parent #13
This is my daughter's third year at the school and there have been some ups and downs. There was a very difficult time at the end of 2006-beginning of 2007. Before that point and since then things at the school have been fine. At all points my daughter has done well there and has made many good friends. I also have really enjoyed the families that are at the school and keep in contact with families that have moved on.

The curriculum at the school os really excellent and they have recently added to it with some Spanish language enrichment during the instruction period and extra science units in the afternoon program.

The children are consistently happy and well treated and engaged in what they are doing. The children are taught in the Montessori way and have many opportunities for self directed learning in a well structured environment.

The main weakness of the school is some disorganization but that has been better recently.

There is a fairly active yahoo group for the school and it has become a major source of communication.


Parent #14
It's a smaller school with a calm atmosphere. There is a good ratio of teacher to children. Children are given space and opportunity to play with other children as well as play on their own which many preschools do not let children do.

Parent #15
It is a large amount of space, kept clean and organized. Drawbacks include very small library, and no student artwork or photos posted (though a prior year's artwork was quickly put up in time for a prospective parent orientation). Call licensing if you are considering this school.

Parent #16
I really appreciate the focus on polite and controlled behavior, and also the emphasis on creativity and scientific exploration. Parent-teacher communications are good but could be improved.

Parent #17
I believe the school is looking for very docile children and not up to the task of working with extremely outgoing and physical kids, especially boys.

Parent #18
Strengths - Beautiful and clean facility Weaknesses - Everything else. Poor/no effort made to transition students. No Montessori curriculum in younger classroom. Very strained parent community.

Parent #19
Consider checking with licensing (CA Dept of Social Services) about violations. Of concern to me is maintaining adequate child-adult ratios and with ensuring a certified teacher is with the students at all times (as required by law). On the positive side, the facility is clean and beautiful.

Parent #20
There are some strong reasons to think twice about this school. The entire staff will be new next year. In addition, the administration has extremely poor communciation skills - both not communicating any information in a timely way (such as the school calendar or meetings), but more importantly has sever difficulty addressing concerns in a productive manner.

Parent #21
The administration is extremely unprofessional in handling concerns. There has been signficiant staff turnover.

Parent #22
Communication and conflict resolution are particularly challenging areas.

Montessori? Waldorf? Play-based?

What school type is right for your child? Is one model better than another? What does the research say?

View an example from the Savvy Source guide to learn more.

Trace around your child's foot, with shoe on, on a piece of white construction paper or card stock. Have child cut out the shoe print and add a spooky face. Glue it to a popsicle stick and you have a ghost stick puppet!

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