Preston Park Montessori Academy, Plano | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

Edit: There was never a discussion around “an amicable separation due to the needs of one of our children” as stated in the response. This is 100% false. When we put in our notice that we were leaving the school, no one from management engaged us to understand why or asked questions. There was also no discussion held leading up to our notice. The response from the school is not factual on how our children were split up and the timeline doesn’t match up. This wasn’t even a concern I raised in my review. But since they raised it I will close the loop: we had our children in the same class per request and loved our original lead teacher. While she was still there, they separated our children and put one in a different class without informing us or asking. We found out by chance and still gave it a shot. After a 1 week trial we still preferred the original teacher so they agreed to put our child back with our other child in the original class. It wasn’t an issue for us so not sure why they brought it up here publicly.

I did want to add that the teachers were great while they were there and our children learn a lot from this school. Again, we left due to high staff turnover and lack of consistency.

Original post: Our children were enrolled at PPMA from January through May. It started off wonderfully and we loved their lead teacher. Unfortunately our experience declined as there has been lots of staff turnover during this short 4.5 month period. We went through 2 lead teachers (plus a 3rd we tried out temporarily), 2 assistant teachers and 1 floating teacher that are all no longer with PPMA. Recently we had received notes that the children from their class are redistributed to other classes every so often due to abnormal staffing shortages. We didn’t like the inconsistency and chose to pull our kiddos out. When we started the school seemed different and exciting, towards the end we observed stressed staff that need more support. To us it was apparent they are under-staffed or perhaps to the bare minimum which does not meet our expectations. Additionally, what I did not appreciate was when I raised a concern to the school that I had not received a single update on our children on a particular day. Drop-off was at or before 9am and it was almost 5pm and the only app update was that we signed them in. I messaged for an update and didn’t hear back. I followed-up with a phone call and the director explained that the teachers are focused on child’s safety before sending updates – I get that and agree but it had never been this bare minimum during our time here. It had been almost 8 hours and nothing, that’s not okay. When we picked them up one of our twins had a busted upper lip and nose with dried blood. The aid teacher explained it happened at lunch and they shared the incident with the floating teacher and director to send us a note on the app, she was surprised we didn’t know about it. No one in management was in the office at this point as it was past 6pm so I sent a follow-up message on the app with my concern. The next morning I received a message from a staff member stating they knew about the incident and downplayed the fact they never informed us. The owner called and apologized that the report should be sent in real-time and the response I received on the app from the other staff member was not appropriate. I did appreciate this but was already frustrated overall. We noted on all our paperwork that our boys are allergic to eggs and cannot eat anything containing eggs. On 2 occasions the 2nd lead teacher had fed them ranch dressing which contains egg. They sent a picture on the first instance and my child’s face was covered in a red raised rash. We refilled paperwork per the school’s request to note dietary restrictions (which is duplicating what we’ve already informed) and it happened a second time.

I deleted my original because the owner replied making it seem as if i was just a terrible person and mother and put all blame on me. but i decided i would like to share my experience, regardless of what picture they paint of me. i would give 1 star, but the 2 stars? for the teachers and teachers only. i have nothing bad to say about the actual teachers that are in the classroom. Administration told me my child was a danger to the safety of others, my only issue is that i wasn’t told this until he was there for 9 months. They claim i wasn’t concerned by this, but again, I got incident reports both of my child hitting, also my child being hit. I hadn’t gotten one in months so i assumed everything was going well but i was obviously wrong. i didn’t particularly enjoy this school but was trying to stick it out until my son went to kindergarten but im glad they gave up on my child. it forced me to find another daycare that will be a way better fit for him. i walked in 5/22/24 (i believe it was around 11 am.) and my child was facing a wall by himself in a desk. administration is unprofessional (not natasha, ive had 1 conversation with her my entire time being there. she’s not there the hours i pick up or drop off) but the other one talks to you like a child and comes off very “karen-ish” and then they are upset when you react. They tried to say I didn’t want to get help for my child’s ADHD but when i asked for resources i was never given them?? a staff member told me everyday administration watched the cameras to watch my child specifically (5/23/24 around 7:30 is when i was told) and the member told administrators my child in fact isn’t the only problem in the class. i added time stamps because the owner will reply back saying they have audio and video that will say i’m lying, but im not and since she’s not there to witness everything she can go back and look and see that i’m not??. I’m not venting at all, just sharing my experience. i feel like a weight is off my shoulders washing my hands with preston. they probably do great work for kids 3 and under. i’ve noticed the work is more tailored to younger children. ??

edited: as you can see from their reply they obviously didn’t read anything I wrote. I asked for resources but was never given any. haven’t had a report in months and when i was given one half the time it was because my child defended themselves. i’m not mad at all, im grateful for this experience so i know what not to look for in a school.

Literally within two days of starting our son here, the entire staff recognized my wife and I, and they also knew our son’s name. It really really made us feel like they were attentive and that we had been welcomed into a community.

As far as the actual learning processes and activities go our son has grown by leaps and bounds since we started him here. The caretakers have been at this institution for a very very long time and they’re incredible at engaging with the children. Activities are structured and the children are given instructions and activities in both English and Spanish. My son is happy when I leave him and is happy when I come back to get him at the end of the day. Additionally the meals are cooked fresh and healthy. Sometimes we are arrive towards the end of breakfast, but the staff will always check to see if our son needs any additional food before he starts participating in activities.

At previous places he would cry or be upset and there seem to be issues with some consistency. Here that is not the case. I can really tell that he loves attending daycare here and I can also tell that he’s well taken care of by the staff and caretakers.

I honestly cannot recommend this place highly enough. They are exceptional at what they do and you will really feel like you’ve been welcomed into an amazing place for your children.