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I know this is an old thread but I have relevant information to share and Google is having issues with their review system since March. My review on google is not showing up right now and may not for some time. Folks considering MCS need to be aware of a few things about how they are run. I've pasted the text of my Google review here.
I am happy to answer further questions via PM. Thanks.
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We put two kids through this school (Milton location) over a 6 year period (10 total school years and ~$125,000 expenditure) and were part of the very first group of 5 kids to be part of their new (Gr 1) elementary program. Starting Sept 2020, one child went off to Gr 4 public and the other was moved to a different Montessori school to complete Gr 2 and 3. Our kids flourished at MCS and had great teachers along the way.
MCS Milton has a great country location and enjoys access to the facilities of Country Heritage Park which includes animals, open ground etc and the nearby Gambrel Barn was used for their annual Christmas and year end concerts. The previous local (Milton) administration (pre March 2020) did a great job of making these events warm and welcoming. COVID may have killed this tradition for the foreseeable future but it was nice while it lasted.
The teaching staff to some extent has been a revolving door over our time with MCS with no lack of behind the scenes drama. While the main/head teachers were relatively stable, extra subjects such as music, french, gym always seemed to have some level of instability with no credit or financial considerations if your child was left without a subject or service for a duration of time.
The Montessori Country School is a for-profit organization and while that in and of itself is not really a surprise, what may be surprising is that it is owned by an investment group called The Foray Group (TFG) whose sole mission is to drive profits for their shareholders. In addition to MCS, TFG also owns other educational institutions and a food catering company. If you buy a meal plan from MCS for your child, you are buying it from another arm of the same organization (Wholesome Kids Catering which was formerly Food For Tots).
Their mission of driving profits for TFG shareholders manifests itself in the attitude of the administration and their financial terms. By using poorly worded, complex forms and convoluted policies regarding withdrawals, deposits etc, your child is not their first priority in the way they operate their business. Maintaining a hold on your money is their primary goal and can make for a stressful experience if you need any sort of concession or accommodation from them or god forbid, some sort of financial disagreement.
This attitude became exceedingly clear as COVID tore the world apart. Despite the lack of in-school teaching and almost all of the extra subjects, the administration had the initial gall to say they would still charge full fees for the online program after a week or two of stumbling through it with free Zoom accounts. Only after a group of parents assembled and complained did they agree to reduce fees by 25% during the shutdown. While the online program was a success in the end, a substantial portion of the credit goes to the teacher who led it.
A week before school started, news broke that the elementary teacher had resigned her position for personal reasons which left a huge hole in their elementary program. Due to the constantly evolving news around kids returning to school etc, MCS had (surprisingly) allowed withdrawal without penalty (having your deposit refunded) by a certain date. While the administration knew for at least a week regarding the resignation of the elementary teacher, they chose to withhold this information from parents until it was too late to withdraw without penalty. Without going into more detail, we ended up in a dispute with the administration and were kicked out WITH a refund of our deposit. This was not our first time bumping heads with the Head of Schools and quite frankly we were going to leave anyway. We were quite impressed with the replacement school under consideration as well as their overall attitude and management/operation/ownership structure.
A dedicated, inspirational teacher will make all the difference. If you find that teacher at MCS, then you may just need to roll the dice and hope you never have to deal with the admin staff or have a financial dispute.
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