The New School Reviews (%countItem)
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The New School Rating
Description: SCHOOLS - PRIVATE
Address: 5617 Sunset Lake Rd, Holly Springs, North Carolina, United States, 27540-4348
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Be very careful when enrolling your precious child in this school. Most of the teachers are great but others are very questionable. The class sizes are too big (25) in the Children's House. My daughter attended there when she was three. By the time she was five she was scared to go to school. I couldn't understand why she wasn't progressing academically. One day I decided to let her stay home for a few days to give her a break. When it was time to go back, she screamed that she didn't want to go back and asked her father did he have a gun because his job was to protect her. We later found out that the teacher was shaking her when she got an answer wrong. Fast forward 3 years later, my daughter is still in therapy, weekly, and scared to get an answer wrong b/c she's scared that she's going to upset the teacher. Even though this school has great qualities, it isn't worth gambling your child's social/emotional well being.
This review is currently being handled by our attorney, ***, as it contains false and libelous accusations.
Ms. has posted this immediately after receiving a collections notice from the school. She also called the ***, who have investigated the case, and have sent a letter clearing the teacher and the school of this accusation.
Best,
New School Administration
The response has been added for full disclosure and to take this opportunity to provide feedback. Our school prides itself not only on providing an outstanding educational experience, but our commitment to ensuring a safe and nurturing environment is tantamount in importance and is never compromised. If a staff member displayed traits we deemed unsafe or not aligned with the school's policy of providing an emotionally secure classroom, they would be dismissed - regardless of tenure.
Essentially, this complaint was filed as a response to our efforts to collect a debt.
This family enrolled their daughter in The New School in 2014. They requested the classroom chosen due to the wonderful things she had heard about the teachers. She remained in the same class, with the same teachers until February 2017.
Over the course of two years, all was great in the classroom. The family also enrolled their son, thrilled with the the school and the education their daughter was receiving. In October 2016 mom asked the teacher if she was ready for kindergarten. The teacher told mom that we did not believe their child was ready for kindergarten. This news caused a great deal of tension with the mom. Mom started coming into the classroom, choosing what the child should learn and pushing her through the work, which again elevated the tension and pressure on the child. After a few months of struggling with this, where we believe our evaluation was confirmed, the parents claimed the child was scared about going to class. We thoroughly investigated this concern, but our experience with the child did not demonstrate any anxiety with her teachers.
We also noted that after switching classes, the child would often run down to the previous classroom and teachers to give them hugs and say hello. After 3 weeks in the new room, the parents requested to remove the child from the school. This was not based on any incident, and indeed mom had a good connection with the teachers in the room.
In February 2019, we reached out to this family regarding a balance remaining on their account. In response to this, the family filed a complaint with ***. As expected when children are involved, *** properly and fully investigated the claims. issued a letter confirming there were "no violations of child care requirements were verified."
After the investigation was concluded, our lawyer reached out again to the family regarding payment. In response, they made this review.
Providing a safe and enriching environment for children is our mission and our passion. Regardless of how long a staff member has been with the school, we would absolutely not tolerate nor support anyone who we felt harmed a child in any way. Our policy is to immediately dismiss any employee with whom we have a concern. We have followed this policy consistently and without compunction.
If a family's opinion of the school is negative, they have the right to express their opinions, and we seek to use this information to improve and continue to grow. However, this review does not express an opinion, but rather a false and defamatory statement that aligns with a dispute over billing.
New School Administration
This administration at this school is highly disorganized, the billing system a mess, and they crowd the classrooms and overburden the teachers. I would not recommend this school based on my experience with the administration (despite a couple of wonderful teachers) and the crowded classes. I am 100% for the Montessori teaching philosophy, but would definitely recommend to steer clear of this one.
Dear Ms.,
Thank you for your post. We are in the midst of reorganizing our billing systems and have thus needed to reissue past due invoices for outstanding accounts. We understand that some parents may be upset at receiving old invoices. We regret any lapse in time between when these invoices were first delivered and now, but as mentioned, auditing old balances is part of our current overall billing improvements.
We absolutely loved having your children here and remember such a positive experience with and support from your family. We appreciate the support and positivity you provided our school community. The teachers who taught your children are still here and doing very well.
In terms of classroom sizes, our Children's House classes never exceed 25 students. This is a fairly standard Montessori configuration based on the multi-aged demographics of the classes. For example, some highly respected schools in other states, based on Montessori practices, believe the ideal number of students in a mixed aged Montessori classroom is 27 or more.
Your family departed on such a positive note after 4 years as part of our community. We hope that the recent invoicing does not cloud the positive educational experience we provided for your children. We always embrace any concerns and questions about our philosophy and our school. Please feel free to contact us directly or send others our way with questions or issues.
Respectfully yours,
***
School Director
This is a terrible representation of Montessori. The administration is highly disorganized, the rooms are filthy with dust and bugs. It is basically day care -- and paying a premium for a Montessori experience at the New School is tantamount to misrepresentation and false advertising. Very discouraging experience and so sad to have deal with the owner -- for over a year with billing issues. It has reached the point of aggressive harassment. The owner has never once reached out and apologized for our terrible experience at his school. Just a very sad situation all around....