Sacramento Montessori School

*MY CHILD DOES NOT ATTEND THIS SCHOOL, THIS IS MY REVIEW OF THE FACILITY*
This place is gross. The first thing I noticed was that they had a worker there who was fired from my last day care for being incompetent. In the infant area, the majority of the children did not have pants on and it’s February, beside the fact that children in diapers really should have a second barrier for simple sanitation.
It was the most unstimulating environment i have ever been in. Everything is white and oak. There was no color, I didn’t see any toys or books or arts and crafts or crayons or paint, just everyday items, like a rotary phone and a cheese grater. Pretty much every surface was covered in clutter and the entire facility looked very unorganized. When we visited the older students, (²⁄₃) their room had food on the floor and their teacher had such a think accent I could not understand what she was saying. I have nothing against non native speakers as teachers, but they are the ones that are supposed to model speech for our children. In fact, almost all of the teachers had a thick accent and one even had a very prominent speech impediment.
The outside «play» area was no better. It was messy with what looked like a lack of storage. Pavers piled up against the side of the stairs. They had school supplies stacked on the outside porch and old baby items. The «play» are did not even have a play structure. There was one swing on a iron bar. No sandbox or swings or slides or forts. They have two rabbit hutches and twice I saw children kicking them and acting poorly towards the animals. I finally corrected the children and their teachers stared at me like I had cussed them out. I don’t know if this is a Montessori thing, but I did not once see a teacher correct a child’s bad behavior. They never asked them to say please, or thank you and the children were demanding and rude.
On top of all of this, at the end of the tour I was informed that they are on a probationary license from the Department of Social Services and when I looked them up later, they had 12 of the most serious types of safety violations. This more than triple of any of the other day care and preschool facilities I had visited. And don’t let their website fool you, those pictures are gorgeous, but the real life thing is not as nice.

My daughter has been going here since she was 8 weeks old. She will be 3 in November. I have never had a problem. In fact my child is smarter than most 3 year olds because the teachers take the time to teach the children not just babysit them. My daughter loves teacher Krissy, Anna, Maria, Sal, and so many more.

My son has been attending Sac Montessori for over a year now and this place is amazing! He started in the toddler room and was moved up to the preschool where he attends now. He is a very hands on learner and very independent so this is the perfect for him. I am constantly amazed at how much he is learning on a daily basis and how many different aspects of life, education and culture he is exposed to at this school. The school staff has been wonderful to adjust baed on our needs and it feels like family. The food is amazing! Fresh fruit and veggies daily. My son has become a much more well rounded eater because he there is such a good variety of healthy foods. The outdoor play area is great — the kids have lots of things to do and a big play area to move around in unlike a lot of preschools where the outdoor space is limited. There are animals, gardens, a bike path — all things my son loves. As a parent who wants a well rounded educational experience, I am totally impressed and pleased by the school. I hope they develop a full elementary school by the time my son is that age because I couldn’t imagine putting him into a «traditional» school setting after having this experience. I really embrace and believe in the Montessori philosophy!

My daughter has attended Sacramento Montessori since she was an infant and is currently in the «toddler room» and on the cusp of transitioning to the «big kid» class. Prior to her birth we visited a dozen childcare facilities, with SM being the last. Two aspects jumped out at me right away: the facilities and the nutrition are beyond compare. There is an actual yard and garden the children tend every day. A chef cooks fresh healthy food. The school keeps chickens and a bunny and has a registered nurse on site. The care givers are also very dedicated to following Montessori philosophies; this is more than just lip service. There is a great balance between «following the child» while encouraging them to try new activities and learn new skills.
There have been times when I’ve found getting responses to emails/​monthly statement/​etc. a challenge (though, this has improved immensely in recent months)…the focus is on the children and the clerical aspects sometimes fall by the wayside. I’m OK with that. I’ve found the best way to communicate with the caregivers is to do so in person at drop off or pick up. When I speak to my daughter’s teachers they are engaged, offer great advice/​feedback, and I can tell that they’ve taken the time to get to know my child and her adorable quirks.

I give the teachers 4 stars and management –1 stars, and averaged it to 1. I have never written a review before, but am compelled to write one here. I put my daughter here in the infant class initially because they use cloth diapers, offer fresh organic food, and have a beautiful outdoor space for the kids to play it.
The teachers are loving and great. However, I have witnessed kids being ignored and crying all the time, including my daughter. I spent enough time seeing the daily operations to witness many of the citations they received. Those are legitimate. While it would be easy to blame the teachers, I know enough of the operations to know that it is the result of poor management.
Management tries to strive to do everything they think is ideal (cloth diapering, organic foods, flexibility of options, electronic updates of daily activities) and tries to follow everything to a tee, including the class ratios. However, they fail to recognize what is humanly possible for the teachers and healthy for the social emotional development of the kids. The result is the teachers constantly stressed out to do everything demanded and constant shuffling of kids or adults to ensure class ratios, resulting in highly stressed kids.
My daughter was so be miserable with the instability of the environment that she was always crying. I was told that this would stop after a week or two. After 7 weeks, I took her out and placed her in another Montessori. We really missed the cloth diapers, the beautiful yet shaded outdoor space, the healthy food options, and her loving teachers. However, because her current school sets parameters that that allows the teacher to be effective (e.g. there’s buffer room with class size so it’s manageable for the teacher), the teacher can focus on teacher and having fun with the kids. This made a world of a difference for my daughter, who is thriving in her new school. She’s herself in the new school. She used to cling onto one of her teachers for dear life at Sac Montessori and refused to socialize with the other kids. Now she is back to being full of life.
Stress transfers from teachers to kids. I hope management at Sac Montessori will wake up and realize that they are setting unrealistic expectations for their teachers, which means the kids will and do get neglected. However, I do not blame the teachers there. I could not do what they do, especially in the walking infant class. Teachers are constantly chasing and cleaning after these initial toddlers/​infants (from the self-​feeding misfires or the constant diaper changes) since it is not clear if they are developmentally infants or toddlers, but are asked to be treated as toddlers.
Management should spend a couple of days doing what they are asking their staff to do to see what is operationally feasible. And they may claim to do that, but an occasional subbing for some of the activities does not count. They should role play and reverse roles with a teacher to get a full experience to learn what works and doesn’t work. I saw all that didn’t work.

I’ve debated posting a review here, but I just can’t stomach not posting anything. I really tried to be positive and give this place the benefit of the doubt. I read all the reports, talked to multiple staff members, visited several times. I even enrolled my baby, but pulled her out at the last minute. The staff are very reassuring and have a bundle of reasons why the reports are wrong, why their care is excellent, etc. I was attracted to their description of the programs and goals, but I was disturbed by my own observations on a total of four visits. This is why it is critical to visit a daycare at different times, days, etc.
On two visits I encountered half-​clothed children wandering around. It looked as though they had had potty-​training accidents, but there was no care provider directly helping them get fresh clothes on. One time I had to find a teacher to help one of the children.
In the infant room, on nearly every visit I/​we noticed babies crying during tummy time and just left there until they fell asleep on the floor. No one picked them up or comforted them. This, more than anything, was why I decided not to go here. I tried to be reassured by their promises, but after seeing babies ignored several times without explanation, I didn’t want to go here.
I also want to verify the security concerns. I was never asked to return my gate key. I found the gate unlocked several times. This is why my husband decided we shouldn’t go here.

I’m sad to see the most recent Unilocal review about this school; I haven’t had any trouble with foods or dirty diapers as described. The license issues are a headache, but we still really love the staff and they love my kids.

We have had a child in the infant room for about 4 months now and I couldn’t be happier with the care she is getting. The teachers are amazing– so patient and kind. You can tell that they really care about the children and the kids just love them back. I also like the transparency of the place. All of the other places I checked out before choosing Sac Montessori wanted to schedule an appointment for us to come take a look– this always coincided with nap time. Kathy encouraged us to stop by whenever and at different times during the day to get a good feel of the place. Anytime an infant cries there is someone there to attend to them, I am really impressed.

We learned from a junior teacher that teacher Katie abused our child by gripping and grabbing her roughly by the shoulder and dragging her across the room, pushing her into a chair. Then she withheld lunch as punishment. We observed bruising on the shoulder in a handprint shape. Our daughter’s story of trauma was consistent with this account. I understand my daughter and another child were playing with toys instead of their assigned task of preparing the lunch table. We were also told of verbal abuse by this teacher. We complained to management and removed our child immediately. The director hired an investigator who did not even speak with us or our child, and didn’t take photos. It was clearly a case of how can we make this problem go away — hear no evil see no evil. Teacher Katie is still on the job, so be careful if your child is in the Early Childhood Education building. The whistleblower is out of a job because they did not follow protocol for reporting the incident. But we’re so thankful that person had the courage to speak up. The director is obviously over her head in managing this facility. I am adding an extra star because I recognize that there are some good staff employed there. But overall, management gets a big thumbs down.

My family recently graduated from SMS and we will be forever grateful for this kind and safe haven. We were pleased with all the wonderful aspects this preschool has to offer. The teachers are highly experienced and patient to no end. In addition to the healthy and delicious food offered, Chef Steve had a knack for getting my kids to eat vegetables. The administration staff is highly educated and dedicated to helping children excel. The facility is clean and spacious, and the beautiful yard is not only a playground for the children, but the gardens provide a tasty learning area. Thank you SMS for many years of happy memories!

My step son went there from ages 2 – 5. He thrived in that environment. Never found the gate unlocked like the one review says. I always saw happy kids with a great outdoors area and know that the food provided was healthy. I now have an infant and have visited a few infant care places downtown and Sac Montessori seems the best. Cleaner than the other top rated infant care I visited and a nicer feel.
The administration is a bit spotty– hard to get info sometimes. That has nothing to do with the care the children get though.

This is a wonderful, family environment. The children tend to a garden and eat the food they grow. Such warm, caring staff. I highly recommend this school.

We recently started here with our 16 month old daughter. I read about the dropped lawsuit regarding licensing and decided since it was dropped it was unfounded. The teachers are awesome! The school is clean, the kids get great food. Plenty of adults to watch the kids and they are having fun. I highly recommend this place. Cloth Diapers, Organic Chef, Clean Campus, Loving Teachers… what’s not to like.

My daughter has attended Sacramento Montessori for three years. I love the family atmosphere, the organic meals prepared on site (no tater tots and hot dogs!!) and the loving staff.
I love the location, very close to my job. It is gated and secured. Very rarely are any of the gates left unlocked and when it does happen, it has been the fault of a careless parent.
In the infant room, my daughter was free to roll on the floor and interact with the other babies. She was held and rocked throughout the day. As she transitioned to the toddler room, she got more outside time, which she loves. Now that she’s in the «big girl room», she is learning important life and social skils.
This school has been a wonderful fit for my daughter.

We visited this daycare center for our daugther in cloth diapers. The website made it seem like the perfect place for us. I was very wrong. First, the place is located in downtown. The gate was UNLOCKED to where the children were playing the frontyard (super scary). Second, the infant room was pure chaos. Okay, infants are already chaotic, but other (better) centers had well-​controlled chaos. There were many children on the floor crying with nasal discharge and wet diapers. I saw one person feeding one baby and another person changing another baby. It was definitely a high provider to baby ratio. Third, they told me that she would need many changes of clothes since the cloth diapers leaked urine all the time from being washed a lot. Gross. Who knows how much bacteria is lying around. My cloth diapers from home never leak. Last, the refrigerator where they keep the baby food and milk was so small, congested. It didn’t look organized or clean. Overall, there were many reasons why I didn’t enroll my daughter here. For the same price, you can get much better service in other centers.