Description: The mission of Discovery Montessori School is to keep alive each child’s natural curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, to support balanced social and academic skill development, and to foster community minded, compassionate and intrinsically motivated students. We want your child to feel like they are in a warm home, where they can learn and play in our organic garden, learn to cook in our kitchen, and read their favorite book in our classroom.
Where possible, ChildcareCenter provides inspection reports as a service to families. This information is deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed. We encourage families to contact the daycare provider directly with any questions or concerns, as the provider may have already addressed some or all issues. Reports can also be verified with your local daycare licensing office.
| Date | Type | Violations | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-03-27 | Unannounced Inspection | Yes | |
| 2024-03-27 | Violation | 303 | .1801(a)(1-5) |
| Children were not adequately supervised at all times. On 3/14/24 at approximately 4:00pm, a one year old child was left on the playground for less than five (5) minutes. | |||
| 2024-01-23 | Unannounced Inspection | Yes | |
| 2024-01-23 | Violation | 9995 | |
| A violation was found for which there is no item number. On 1/17/24, a heating outage occurred that affected classroom space 8. The classroom continued to operate and children were cared for in the space while repairs were made. | |||
| 2023-11-30 | Unannounced Inspection | Yes | |
| 2023-11-30 | Violation | 805 | .0604(t); .0302(d)(5) |
| Fire drills were not practiced monthly and/or the drill record was incomplete. The last fire drill documented on the Emergency Drill Log occurred on 9/28/23. | |||
| 2023-11-30 | Violation | 841 | 15A NCAC 18A .2820(d) |
| Medications including prescription and non-prescription items were not stored in a locked cabinet or other locked container. In classroom space 8, two (2) bottles of Tylenol were stored on a shelf inaccessible to children, but not in locked storage. | |||
| 2023-11-30 | Violation | 1045 | .1101(a) |
| New staff, who had contact with children, did not receive at least 16 hrs. orientation within first 6 weeks. Three (3) new staff members did not have documentation of orientation training on file. | |||
| 2023-11-30 | Violation | 1048 | .1102(c) |
| All staff did not successfully complete certification in First Aid appropriate to the age of children in care. Verification of staff completion of First Aid training from an approved training organization was not in the staff file. One (1) staff, date of employment 9/30/21, had a First Aid certification on file that expired 10/2023. | |||
| 2023-11-30 | Violation | 1049 | .1102(d) |
| All staff did not successfully complete certification in CPR training appropriate to the age of the children in care. Verification of staff completion of the CPR course from an approved training organization was not in the staff file. One (1) staff, date of employment 9/30/21, had a CPR certification on file that expired 10/2023. | |||
| 2023-11-30 | Violation | 1834 | .0801(b) |
| Application did not have a medical action plan attached for any child with health care needs such as allergies, asthma, or other chronic conditions that require specialized health services. One (1) child enrolled in classroom space 8 did not have a Medical Action Plan on file for allergies requiring an Epipen. | |||
| 2023-11-30 | Violation | 1867 | .0605(k)(1-4) |
| The depth of the loose surfacing was not based on critical height of the equipment. On playground spaces 1 and 3, mulch around the climbers measured less than one (1) inch in various places. | |||
| 2023-11-30 | Violation | 1874 | .0608(d)(1-4) |
| The Prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma policy was not reviewed with new staff prior to providing care with children and/or a signed acknowledgement with all the required information was not maintained in the staff person's file. Two (2) new staff did not have a signed acknowledgement for the Prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma policy on file. | |||
| 2023-06-05 | Unannounced Inspection | No | |
| 2023-05-25 | Unannounced Inspection | Yes | |
If you are a provider and you believe any information is incorrect, please contact us. We will research your concern and make corrections accordingly.
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Wonderful school, wonderful staff
*Notes of caution when considering Discovery Montessori*
My family and I moved here from another state last summer and recently enrolled both our children at this school starting in December. We had a tour and asked our questions, being sure to emphasize what their mask policy is for enrolled children (as it was important to us to find a school that would allow our children to be mask-free for exemption reasons). We were assured our children would not be asked to wear any masks. So we enrolled them both, overlooking the extra fees and add ons that made our first payment $1700 for a short month with winter holidays.
During the first 2-3 days, we were made aware of a handful of issues with the teachers and how they interact with their children. For instance, they were rewarding children who would lay down for rest time with a sticker as well as having daily media in the classroom, which is very unlike Montessori practices and not something we were okay with.
After day 4, we were informed that our oldest would be required to wear a mask from then on, and they would not honor our exemptions for her. She and only one other child in the entire class would be required to wear one while the rest of the children would be mask-free. We requested that our exemption be considered and were told no. So, we unenrolled our children immediately that day and asked for a reasonable refund for the unused days that we had paid for. We were then told a refund wouldn't be possible per their policy, even in this extreme case.
Not only are their teachers not upholding Montessori practices in their classrooms, but they would not accommodate us in any way in this difficult situation. Leaving our family without childcare for the immediate, and having paid $1700 for literally 4-5 DAYS of care.
Our family is extremely disappointed in this experience, our first experience with a private Montessori which was a big factor in relocating to this area. We will be letting other family's know what is possible to experience here and sharing our story in hopes that other families won't have to be put through this.
First I came here to review my kids school. Then I read JavAv review so I'll be correcting his review first. My child shared a class with JavAv child. The teacher was removed because she berated a parent in front of the class to the point of the mother crying all because her son had an accident at school. I was one of the people who made sure the administration would not let someone who couldn't show adults the respect they deserve teach kids. Comments like "If someone with 30 years of experience have lack of compassion that will show on references and previous experiences (don’t you think?)" show that this person obviously never spoke to the teacher who I think needed to never work with the public again. Being Montessori trained does not give you the ability to treat other people with disrespect.
Now onto my actual review. This school is excellent. My kid loved it and left kindergarten reading at a first grade level. The staff are attentive, involved and willing to work with you. The administration running the school have great compassion and respond to parent's concerns quickly. The school isn't a full Montessori program but does have a Montessori trained staff member in every classroom and the work time mostly revolves around correctly using the Montessori works. They also included gardening, painting, music and art into the Montessori style providing what I think is the most well rounded education. I only wish this school was open for all my other children.
The rooms are great (some poop smell which is common on some pre-schools), playground is very nice and clean, some rooms have Montessori elements but not all the teachers use them (probably because they are not well trained on that philosophy).
What a big disappointment! This is a typical pre-school in where Montessori is just a name/marketing strategy, added to attract parents.
We enrolled our daughter when the school started. Sooner than later we realize that the teachers where no trained on the Montessori principals. We accepted that fact for a while. Finally they hired 2 teachers that were well trained. Our daughter was assigned to one of them. It shows! The teacher was great!
Unfortunately they fire her (she got 30 years of experience on Montessori) because they didn’t like how she was teaching it (go figure). They also send an e-mail to the parents to inform about the reason of the termination. The e-mail was an explanation about the lack of compassion of the teacher as reason of termination. If someone with 30 years of experience have lack of compassion that will show on references and previous experiences (don’t you think?)
I accepted that fact but I send a few e-mails to the director, just to explain about my view of the termination of one of the most wonderful teachers that I have ever met. They gently invited me to look for another pre-school for my daughter. In the meantime they assigned another teacher to my daughter’s room. She was holding the fort until they got the new lead teacher who I believe is trained in Montessori principals since 3 years ago.
New teacher structured the class in a way that I believe is not in line with the Montessori philosophy which is center on the children and not on the teacher’s needs.
I send another e-mail to the Teacher explaining my concerns and I also suggested for future changes to accommodate my daughter’s needs and other children's needs. Soon enough I got an answer from the director with another invitation to go to another pre-school for the second time.
She also lectured me about dropping off time and Montessori philosophy which clearly she is unable to understand.
Discovery Montessori Asheville??? Not for me. If I can put o stars I will do it.