Rocky Mountain Participation Nursery School

At first when the school contacted Unilocal to have my review removed, claiming I had never visited, I thought I should just drop it. But now some time has passed and I feel like my opinion is valid and may be of use to others considering this school. So here goes again, with the following intro: This review is based on my personal experience while visiting Rocky Mountain Participatory Nursery School in 2011 while we were applying to a number of different preschool programs. I’ll also add that I visited and toured 14 other programs for preschool age children and this one experience stood out to me as really truly uncomfortable, all of the other schools were welcoming, courteous, informative, respectful of my commitment of time and my interest. Rocky Mountain School was without a doubt the least diverse environment I have ever experienced and I felt discriminated against based upon my appearance, opinions and lifestyle choices during the several hours I spent there.
I learned about Rocky Mountain Nursery School when they hosted a bake sale at Duboce Park near my house. The school is located close to me and I was really interested in the cooperative model and the level of engagement that provides for children and their families, I loved the idea of being part of a close knit community. I spoke with a woman at the bake sale for quite awhile, she was very friendly and spoke highly of her school and suggested I contacted them about enrolling. I did so, and was told the next step was to come by for a «participatory visit» where parents and child spend an entire school morning as visitors to the classroom participating alongside the attending students. I could write you a play by play narrative but instead I’ll keep it short and just say that we felt very unwelcomed during our participatory visit, in fact I kept having to remind myself that we were invited guests as we were continually treated like people who had somehow just wandered in off the street. Although it appeared my daughter, who by the way was a full year younger than the other children, was getting along well and having a great time during free play with the other kids there (most of the program is spent in free play indoors and outdoors), the parents kept asking if we would remove her as she was disrupting their children from their activities, each time we did so even though we were confused by the request. The instructor and parents kept remarking throughout the day how disruptive it was to have visitors in their classrooms which really offended me and hurt my feelings because I was standing right there in front of them while they said it.
We would have taken the hint and left without staying the full three hours, except that I was very interested in joining and thought as they got to know us maybe their initial impressions would change. Only at the very closing of the session did the instructor let us know in a group setting that the program was currently full and we should not bother submitting an application, then within earshot she told another woman that she looked forward to receiving her application. I’m still not sure what we might have done to offend them, my husband and I are generally regarded as kind people and I will admit we were certainly on our best behavior that day. Our child has no known behavioral issues.
All of this is fine, I realize that we as people naturally fit with some communities and not with others. However, this program is conducted on public grounds and using city resources. The woman from the school who contacted me via Unilocal was quick to point out that they pay rent for the facility, but still I think that the city has policies in place to ensure nondiscrimination when public resources are involved. As a long time resident and taxpayer, I would prefer to see this program replaced with one that is not run like a private club with preferential treatment given to those who have connections and ascribe to a very specific lifestyle and viewpoints.