North Richland Hills Montessori

My daughter is in another preschool program 3 days a week. We were looking to make the transition to this school as we need a fulltime solution. My daughter was due to start their school on April 2nd of 2012. As part of the enrollment, NRH Montessori has your child visit the school a series of times to ease the transition. When I arrived on a Friday,their outdoor playtime was utter chaos. The teacher was trying to give me orientation, but the other teachers were not communicating between each other. The kids were jumping in mud and puddles. One of them got into fire ants (which apparently was a common thing) and was stripped down in front of the other children. Another had taken off her socks and shoes. Although they have smaller classes, it seems like the teachers were unable to keep up with their classes. At one point, the teacher snapped at her assistant "What are you doing!" It was uncomfortable. Additionally and more importantly, they discriminated against my child. My child is a picky eater. She has texture issues and only eats a specific foods like crackers, applesauce, yogurt, etc. and goes to feeding therapy twice a week to help her eat additonal table foods. I was ensured that this was not an issue as they're allowed to bring their lunch. She feeds herself. No big deal. But apparently the teacher freaked out at the mention of "feeding therapy" and equated that to special needs. My daughter is on level with everything else and is advanced in some matters. At the age of 2 1/2, she knows how to count to 20, knows her ABCs, colors, etc. She's bright. But because she has texture issues, this teacher didn't want her in her class. The teacher felt like she couldn't handle the texture issues because there's a small chance (never happened in the last 2 years) that she might gag and spit up her food. It's never happened and I ensured her of this. Apparently she thought this meant choking. Gagging does not mean choking. There's no danger involved except a bit of spitup at the worst. No other school has a problem taking my child. It left me feeling her staff was uneducated and I certainly will not recommend their school to any parents that I know. I'm glad this happened before she started as I would have been upset if she had started and I found this sort of behavior. My tips. Visit the school several times and definitely don't go into Ms. Sharon's class.