California Montessori Project

We have attended CMP Capitol for 3 years and have been so impressed with the school. The teachers are smart and friendly. The staff is helpful and professional. If I have a concern it is addressed and handled well. We love how emotionally informed everyone is. I highly recommend this school!

An administrator at the Capitol Campus forced my daughter to sit on a stool in her office for hours. Ms. O said she forgot my daughter was in there. Forgot. My child. She left her and went outside. She left one voicemail message for me stating that my daughter was in trouble and I needed to call the office. No other attempts to reach me were made, even though I have 5 different emergency contacts available and the school readily called them all if one of my children was ill.I showed up to the school for an event and saw my daughter sitting, on display, in the administrator's office. She was alone and I had no idea she was in there and almost walked past. She immediately burst into tears BECAUSE SHE NEEDED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM BUT WAS TOLD NOT TO MOVE. Ms. O was told to apologize the next day but "forgot". I'm not even kidding. She finally did apologize (guess what- my daughter hadn't even done what they accused her off, which really doesn't matter because even if she did this was child abuse). CMP's response was to promote Ms. O to Principal of her own campus. I would never trust this administration. They can keep deleting my reviews all they want but I will keep returning. Parents deserve to know.

This used to be a great school. Unfortunately, once this new Superintendent started, things have increasingly gone downhill. He says one thing and does another. He is big on patting himself on the back, but that is about it! Parents are looking for other options, as we all fear the good teachers will leave.

Had two step-kids go to this school, one in Calico class, the other was Eureka and has since moved on to junior high. This is a FREE charter school.The oddest thing about this school is that there's virtually no discipline or punishment enforced, yet all the students are silent and well behaved. The kids don't know how to tease other kids. They don't understand why someone would do "the wrong thing". The indoctrination of Montessori values and traditions works really well. Kids are not separated by age level, but by classes with three different age levels. For example 4th, 5th and 6th grade kids will all be in the same class. My only complaint is the school dress code. If you're going to have a stringent dress code and put out policies and reminders and such, why don't you enforce it? I feel like such a bad guy at home enforcing your dress code rules when the majority of kids don't get gigged for wearing the wrong things. I recommend changing the dress code so it's a little looser (i.e. colored socks, colored or patterned backpacks as long as there's no logos, shoes with colors or designs as long as there are no logos.)

I'm a fan but the fact that you have to have Montessori experience puts my son down the list even if he was lucky enough to win a spot from their lottery.One "verifiable" year of Montessori experience usually means that the child went to a private Montessori preschool ( at least in this area) Private Montessori preschools are expensive and so it puts many people at a disadvantage in their lottery system.I understand that they want kids (first and foremost) with Montessori experience but on the other hand this is a publically funded school so it seems elitist to me.Because of my son's visual/ tactile learning style, I know he will not be happy in a traditional public school setting that teaches to the test and is heavy on "workbooks". We didn't get in this year and will try next year but sad we have few choices.

This is a very nurturing, kind approach to education. I moved my son here after two difficult years at Phoebe Hearst where he was bullied and teased by teachers and students alike. After a year in Redwood class he relaxed and discovered that school could be fun and that homework could be relatively light, but that learning and testing would go on... his test scores are still high but he isn't drilled daily on the importance of taking tests. This isn't right for every family but it was perfect for ours. Parent hours ensure the families are engaged and the neighborhood is quiet and safe. The teachers are here because they believe in the Montessori method; they earn less than traditional district school teachers but the rewards are obvious.

Excellent school. I highly recommend it. For those who don't realize, it is a charter school which means it is FREE! Has a kind of long waiting list but totally worth it.

The Carmichael Campus of the California Montessori Project is horrible! The school is extremely disorganized. Communication between the administration is lacking and what you do get is guarded. Things are changed at the last minute, without giving parents any advanced notice. They emphasize a small class size to get you in, but then increase the class size a few weeks into the school year by closing one class and distributing it among other classrooms. At that point you are stuck there. The principle Ms. Kim is disrespectful and condescending to the parents and many of the teachers. There is a very high turnover of teachers. Ms. Kim runs this school like a dictatorship, she doesn't care about parent or teacher opinions. Although they claim that you can only get into this school by lottery, everyone gets in because they have more spots than they can fill. I wonder why that is...

I like this school a lot because it is a free charter school. My kids are very happy that go here and say the teachers are all very nice. Except my daughter was in class one day and there was a substitute teacher in and my child said the teacher was sleeping in class. My daughter simply asked if she could go outside to work on her science fair project and the teacher was very rude to her and said no. Another complaint that I have was that a couple months ago my child ordered hot lunch in the morning and then when my daughter and her friends went to go get their hot lunch the lunch lady said there wasn't enough food. I was very upset about that because my child didn't get lunch that day and I still had to buy the lunch. Thankfully the teachers gave my daughter some crackers so that she wasn't starving. I also don't like the way the school's tolerance level is, my son got hit in the face by a special needs kid and then the teachers told the special needs kid that it was ok. My child got hit in the stomach because of this and the teacher told me that it was ok and that the only thing we could do was have a peace talk. This school is definitely not right for some families.