Big City Montessori School

Reviews

• PI

  Pamela Iluore

  Apr 6, 2026
  1.0
  For your family’s peace of mind, consider another school. We were at Big City Montessori School when our child was 2.5 to 4 years old. Initially, the experience was positive, with good communication and a welcoming parent community. Over time, however, it became increasingly disruptive and stressful. Separately, our child sustained a visible injury—a laceration near the groin—while in their care. We were not informed at pickup and did not receive an explanation or incident report, even after asking about it. That was deeply concerning. A few months in, the school began raising concerns about whether the program was a fit for our child stating that he had ‘a lot of energy’. We followed all of the school’s requests, including pursuing outside evaluations, additional support, and recommended activities. All medical and behavioral specialist said he was exhibiting behavior normal for a young boy. Nevertheless we asked for clear, timely communication so we could plan if needed, but that clarity never came. We did not receive a definitive answer until after private school application deadlines had passed, leaving us without alternative options. Before his final year, we explicitly confirmed that he would be able to stay and were told yes. That later changed. We were first given about two weeks’ notice to make other arrangements, which was then abruptly reduced within days to only a few hours. With virtually no time to plan, we had to immediately pull him out, miss work, and scramble to find last-minute childcare. That experience was extremely stressful for our family. Having only a couple of hours to arrange care for your child is not just inconvenient—it creates real disruption and anxiety, especially when you are balancing work, no family close by, and limited childcare options. If you are comfortable operating under that level of uncertainty and last-minute change, this may work for you. If not, it is something to seriously consider. We also experienced frequent staff turnover, with assistant teachers changing often—sometimes every few months. In addition, we observed other children being asked to leave shortly after starting, sometimes within just a couple of weeks. Imagine explaining to your child why their friends and teachers frequently disappear. Together, this created an unstable environment and ongoing stress, as it felt like we could be next at any time. Additionally, in our experience, communication and follow-through were inconsistent, making it difficult to trust and rely on what we were told. I encourage prospective parents to read other reviews that discuss concerns about policies and communication, as our experience aligns with those themes. If the school responds to this review, I urge families to read the other negative reviews as well. Many of them echo the same concerns we experienced. We also assumed those situations wouldn’t apply to us—but they did—so I would encourage families to weigh all feedback carefully. I deeply regret enrolling my child here and wish we had chosen another nearby option, such as San Francisco School, a home-based daycare, or Primeros Pasos. For families who value consistency, transparency, and reliability, this was not our experience. We cannot recommend this school.
• TH

  Taaha Haq

  Aug 2, 2025
  5.0
  Our daughter joined BCMS just before she turned three and will be continuing on. The teachers and staff are truly exceptional. She loves the school, her teachers, and her friends. We have seen her grow so much since starting. We have also met some wonderful families through the warm and welcoming community the school fosters. We are so grateful to be part of it.
• SM

  Sohum Misra

  Aug 15, 2024
  5.0
  Our daughter is about to complete her second year at BCMS and we plan to send her there for another year before enrolling her in a K program. We have enjoyed our experience at BCMS so much that we are going to be sending our son there next year as well. Both our kids are/will be in Miss Amanda's class and we have nothing but positive things to say about my daughter's experience so far. We have seen her grow and learn and develop a real curiosity and interest in learning more. She truly enjoys going there every day, sometimes even wanting to go on weekends. She doesn't like leaving early in the day either. Some things we love: 1. Communication: We get a constant stream of updates every day of the activities the kids have been up to through Brightwheel. This is amazing as we can follow along with what they are learning and talk about it with her after school. We can also message the staff on the app and get responses usually within minutes. 2. Variety of activities: The Montessori method likes the children to be at the forefront of what they want to learn. Instead of having a rigid schedule or just play time, there is a combination of structured learning and then unstructured learning where kids can choose to do a lesson or work on a particular type of activity they find interesting. 3. Support for parents: Miss Amanda is happy to set up time to talk with any struggles we have when parenting our kids, especially at home, and is an excellent partner in making sure our kids learn how to make the right decisions by themselves. 4. Availability: There are no long school closure periods. The largest closures are 2 weeks in the winter and 1 week in the summer. Additionally the school operates from 8am-5:30pm offering great flexibility to working parents and no need to think about significantly long camps during vacations. 5. Parent community: There are so many great parents and the school makes a real effort to keep parents committed. There is no pressure for parents to fundraise and many/most parents come mainly for the social opportunity. Really the biggest measure of how happy we are is how happy the kids are. My daughter comes back every day with a smile on her face and she is never unhappy to be dropped off (after a few days of adjusting up front, of course). She adores her teachers and her friends. Also, reading some of the negative reviews, I do have to set the record straight with respect to the allegations of "borderline racism", which in my opinion are objectively false. In our daughter's class there is a broad mix of ethnicities and we (as an Asian family) have not faced any racism whatsoever. And the argument that "Hispanic staff members... are relegated to roles such as doormen and kitchen staff" is just... blatantly incorrect. All the teachers in Miss Amanda's class are of Hispanic descent and the school's co-director and Spanish teacher (Miss Hilma) is of Hispanic descent. Besides that, all staff are treated with the utmost respect (that they deserve) and it is demeaning to define their roles as "relegations" as if they are not critical to the functioning of the school.

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