So No One Seems to Know Anything About Montessori at Bowser in Richardson?

www.greatschools.org

they have all the info ive ever needed on any school.

I agree with what others have said here. I think talking with parents that already have children enrolled at this school is the best idea. One issue with reviews is that some schools have their employees post glowing reviews of the school to drum up busines.

Don't forget that this is a national board, so while there may be some members from your city, there just may not be anyone on here who's used the school. Have you tried your local board?

Google is your friend - I just found this link: http://tinyurl.com/3qzxg9u, with 24 reviews/ratings of the school you're asking about :-) There are more than 3 listed.

Also, if they are a licensed facility, they get inspected by the health department. You can search your county's records to see how their track record is.

you must not be making your question specific to your region.

Hi E.,

It says on this website that there are only 46 students in the entire school.
http://www.privateschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/36235

It also looks like the school started in 2008, so it hasn't been opened very long.

The odds of one (or more) of the parents being on mamapedia the same day you ask your question are very slim.

I would call the school and ask if they have a parent (or parents) that you can talk to - they should.

One note that you should ask when you call. Nowhere on their website does it say that they are ACCREDITED as a Montessori school. It simply states that they use the Montessori PHILOSPHY. I looked on the careers section and only the Lead Teacher needs to have a Montessori Certificate. The Assistant Teacher and the "helper" it doesn't look like need to be certified. This is a red flag to me.

In Illinois to be a Montessori School they are accredited by the
AMS (American Montessori Society)
AMI (Association Montessori Internationale)
IMS (Illinois Montessori Society)
as well as the Illinois State Board of Education.

Their Website indicates they have none of these accreditation, so I would be leary if they are 'really' Montessori or just teaching 'in the spirit of the Montessori methods' as MANY schools will try to do.

It may still be a fine school - and the methods are great, so using them will ONLY benefit your daughter. My daughter attends a Montessori School and I LOVE IT.

Good Luck.

You can check out the state's website for them and see what kind of inspections they have. That would tell you from that aspect. The website is http://www.dfps.state.tx.us. Also ask for some references or go about the time parents are picking up and stop and ask them their opinion.

I am the Owner of the place. I would appreciate if you can come and see us. Reviews are there for parents to get first hand feeling. Best would be come and see us to get first hand information. Talk to parent who come to our facility.
It would be hard to give phone number of parents as law prohibits from doing that.
Not all the review could be wrong. All the review posted are views of parents. There is one bad review posted multiple times. That was posted from Canada. We know this because we traced the IP address to Canada. There are other review which gave us 4 star and we are OK with that.
We work hard to bring good service to parents at reasonable cost.
As far as certification goes - Montessori is philosophy, methodology of teaching. There is no certification required but only methodology have to be learned. Even if you get certified, dealing with children is an art. If you have certification and not art, then that certificate is no good (that is my thought). Also for certification, there is cost involved that is passed on to parents. Please understand many businesses say they have qualified AMI teacher but fact is their Director is AMI qualified, rest other teacher are Montessori certified.
As far as DFPS website information goes, that is also fussy. Let me give very practical example. I purchased a running business. DFPS came for initial license review. They did not find anything except background check of employees was not done under our business name. For background check I require personnel information of associates. That I can not get till I have the business. I can not have the business till DFPS has given me licensee. Catch 22.
We have qualified teacher who knows how to teach, mingle with children.
Hope this clarifies some of the points brought up.

I have toured the school, it seemed very calm and caregivers seemed dedicated.
Our problem was it was to expensive for our budget.

Hope that helps