Casa Montessori School, DeLand | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

It has taken me a while to share this experience because I wanted to make sure that my thoughts are fact based and not effected by emotions.

We moved to Deland a few years ago. We thought a Montessori school would be a good entry choice for our son, whom had only been home-schooled at that point. We did a lot preparation work with the teacher at the school in order to make sure that the school and our son was a right fit for each other. We paid the teacher for several weeks of private tutoring prior to registering our son. It was only upon that teacher’s confirmation and recommendation we enrolled our son and paid tuition in full, about $6,000. During the first semester, never we were alerted to any serious issues. There were a few incidents of our son not wanting to participate in certainly classes or not getting along with certain kids, all were within expectation for a new kid to a new school in a new city.

By Christmas break we were actually told by the teacher of our son’s improvement and she wished us happy holidays and that she’d see us in the new year. The teacher accepted our sizable donation to her classroom with a nice aquarium system upon her suggestion and a sizable gift card for her vacation. However, upon my son’s return to school after the holidays, only a few days later, the teacher told us that our son was no longer allowed to attend the school. She then gave us some supposed incidents that had taken place last semester as the excuse, even though none of these issues were discussed with us prior and no issues had happened during the 2 days of the new semester. We were then informed that since my son’s spot was not “replaced”, we would not be refunded the tuition that we had already paid in full – even though he had only been in school for two months of the full year, and a new kid did enroll in that class. It seems very apparent that this action of removing my son from school was decided by the teacher even before the Christmas holiday, which brought us serious questions of their character and conduct.

Unfortunately, the school claimed that the newly enrolled kids were not “replacements”, and thereby we would not be refunded. The teacher further claimed that she did not know my son would need so much attention during her class hours. This statement shows either her lack of experience as a teacher (since she had tutored our son prior to our enrollment and encouraged us to enroll and pay the tuition); or some very questionable character issues.

The facts stated above are objective. We respect the school of whatever they believe their facts are. However, one very critical fact is the damage that this teacher had caused to my son. My son was completely baffled by his trusted teacher’s abrupt and self-contradicting action. He questioned why the same teacher whom had privately tutored him, whom encouraged him to enroll in her class, and even told him that she was looking forward to his return to her class, would suddenly block him out of her class completely, without any proper explanation. He questioned, at such a young age, how could he trust the words of anyone, if the teacher who was supposed to teach him scholastics and life lessons, could not be trusted! Betrayal is one of the most hurtful thing in life. As parents, we wish our son did not have to incur such a negative impact at his young age.

I am writing this post not because of the money – though we believe it was deceitful and unjust – I am writing to bring attention to parents about the tuition policy and especially to the actions of their teachers. These are young lives that they are impacting either positively or negatively. A teacher’s behavior shall not be motivated by monetary gains or the easiness of their job. It is a precious and innocent young life with which that they are entrusted. The mental health of a child is just as important as their academics and their physical health. Please do keep that in mind! I hope we all learn from this unfortunate experience for the benefit of our children, our future.

After almost a year at this school, my son came to me crying because he could not find a painting he had made for me. I asked the teacher about this and was told that all the art for everyday goes into an art tray and at the end of the day it gets thrown into the trash. I was wondering why my son never had any work to take home, as when he was in a the certified Montesorri School he always had take home work. However this is not a certified school and after requesting he be able to keep any art he made or wanted to keep, I was told by the school owner Miss Mary that she would not change her policy. She also offer our $350 enrollment we had just paid two weeks prior back if we didn’t like her policy. I accepted the next day and she said that it was non refundable even though this was something she already offered. This was also two weeks prior to the end of the school year as well giving her ample time to replace the position. I found this to be very dishonest, and not reasonable considering all we asked was for our son to be able to keep the art that he wanted to keep and created during his day at school. I was never informed that the art was thrown away. I am shocked and appalled that a school would adapt a policy to throw art away rather than letting the parents see and follow the progress of their child! After calling every Montesorri School on register, I found NO other schools are doing this. I also offered to send all the children’s art to OUR TROOPS and was told that this was an absurd idea and the art had to be thrown away. Very Confused and Disappointed for all the parents wanting to follow the progress of their children or just want some insight into the creative window of their child.

If you live in this area you are blessed with so many amazing schools. My son attended Casa for three years and we had to move away. We were able to find a good school wear we live now but Casa will always be a part of who he is. This school does everything right. They focus on creating independent thinkers and responsible learners. The academics are there but the pressure is not there like other excellerated programs. I promise you will not regret becoming a part of this family. If we ever move back both my kids will deffinitly be enrolled here!