Children’s Learning Path Montessori School

We moved to Northbrook last year and I toured 4 – 5 schools for my two preschoolers. There are so many wonderful options in the area, but CLP felt like home once I stepped in the school and my oldest was already in Montessori at our old home, so we knew it was the right fit for our family. My son and daughter have such different personalities, but CLP has been able to nurture both of them as individuals. It is a small school and I love that all the kids know each and every child in the school because of this. I did have to adjust expectations about electronic communication since we came from a much bigger school, but the director and teachers are easily accessible, so I get all my questions answered the same day.
Also loved the summer program since it was what I consider «Montessori-​lite» and the kids were able to do swim lessons at the Y twice a week.

We sent our kids to this school for nearly 2 years but decided to leave after repeated negative interactions with the Administor and what we viewed to be unsatisfactory staffing hires. The signs were there all along, but we thought most of the teachers were great so stuck it out. We have found that any question asked was met with paranoia, hostility, rudeness and eventually direct instructions to the staff to not speak to the parents. Any school that takes issues with parents asking basic, simple questions about their children’s enviroment (e.g. food menu, new teacher background/​history, sleeping arrangements, camp safety, etc) should be a huge red flag. There was an enormous amount of teacher turnover in one of my kid’s rooms (3 lead teachers, a few assistants) this year and with each teachers departure and arrival there was absolutely no notice given. In fact, I often learned that my children got a new teacher when they started talking it, and one time I learned only after inquiring who that person was that I saw in the parking lot. I learned that the old teacher left 2 weeks ago and that person walking through the parking lot was my child’s new teacher. This complete lack of communication I found unprofessional, but I am more troubled by the hostility I faced when confronting the Administor about the need to better communicate important news like this to the parents. Clearly, this is not a place where parental questions (over the most basic matters) are well received. Other incidents occurred which caused us to give the school 1 month’s advance notice that our kids would not be returning. The very next day during morning drop off, the Administror tells us to take our children home immediately and to not return (going against professional manners and school licensing standards). My children were kicked out not because they did anything wrong, but because they had parents who asked one to many questions for their liking and ultimately decided to find a new school not shrouded in secrecy and open to parental communication. Unfortunately, despite some very good teachers here, this is not a school that I would recommend.