Montrose Early Childhood Center - anyone sending their child?

We are considering sending our son here and curious to hear from anyone else who is doing so. It's a new school program and we think that could be good because they will be putting a lot of effort in to start, but potentially problematic because they will have to work out the kinks.

Would love to hear about anyone who has decided to send their child and what informed the decision.

Thanks!

Is this the name of what they will be doing in the old Montrose school in the fall? If so, I know my daughter's fantastic pre-k special needs teacher is being moved here. She is wonderful, and very experienced. I assume they will at least have lots of staff simply moved from established district classrooms. Hope that helps

Yes- that's it! And wonderful, great to know they are using folks already in district- thank you!

It looks like a fantastic program. We are looking into this for our almost 3 year old son. I love that all the teachers are trained professionals, versus daycare workers.

My sister decided not to apply after calculating the total costs. They would have needed a great deal of additional coverage (I think provided by the YMCA?). It didn't end up making financial sense for them as compared to the place their child already attended.

We're sending our 4 year old there and are very excited about it. He's a bright and happy kid, but has a few minor issues related to being a preemie. He'd gotten services as a baby, but didn't quite qualify for state help for the things he's dealing with now. The program sounds like it'll be a perfect fit for addressing his needs and give him a much-needed boost to start kindergarten next year. We *love* the daycare he's at now, but even they knew that Montrose would be better to provide focused help and attention. The team seems great and we're really looking forward to it.

sprout said:
My sister decided not to apply after calculating the total costs. They would have needed a great deal of additional coverage (I think provided by the YMCA?). It didn't end up making financial sense for them as compared to the place their child already attended.

I wouldn't expect it to compete with daycare preschools as much as with the local private/church-run preschools that typically offer less (if any) before/after care.

Sac, you are probably correct. I *think* my sister saw the initial information and was expecting it was a full-time daycare.

(I apologize if I'm confusing things since my info is secondhand. Also, I don't mean to be critical at all -- just a note for those interested to check the schedule, and the potential additional costs, if full-time daycare is needed).

PSA: The Board of Education announced on Monday evening that Montrose will NOT be opening on time due to problems with PSE&G. If you're planning on sending your child to pre-school there next Thursday, Sept. 3 when school is supposed to start in our district, that ain't happening at Montrose :-(

cel said:
PSA: The Board of Education announced on Monday evening that Montrose will NOT be opening on time due to problems with PSE&G. If you're planning on sending your child to pre-school there next Thursday, Sept. 3 when school is supposed to start in our district, that ain't happening at Montrose

I believe Cheryl Schneider said it would be an additional five days and at the BOE's request, I believe the district will communicate with the people that registered.

Well, they still haven't communicated that information to one of my friends, who was planning on sending her child there next Thursday and she is now scrambling for last-minute childcare, because...wait for it...she's a teacher in the South Orange/Maplewood school district!

And the five-day figure is a estimate by Schneider. As we all know when we're doing major renovations and electrical work-- that figure could easily climb. Not a good situation for working parents who were told the new Montrose pre-school would open when school starts.

cel said:
Well, they still haven't communicated that information to one of my friends, who was planning on sending her child there next Thursday and she is now scrambling for last-minute childcare, because...wait for it...she's a teacher in the South Orange/Maplewood school district!

And the five-day figure is a estimate by Schneider. As we all know when we're doing major renovations and electrical work-- that figure could easily climb. Not a good situation for working parents who were told the new Montrose pre-school would open when school starts.

I thought they also said they might see if they could use an interim space if necessary. For people with concerns, I would suggest contacting the Administration.

My son is scheduled to start here next week and I just had to find out from another parent that this was happening. I reached out directly to the district and was told that the kids will now not be starting until Sept 9th, and even at that time they will have to be in temporary classrooms in other schools.

They said the Montrose building will be ready in "later September" but really - who knows.

This is so disappointing and the (non) communication on this is a disaster.

cel said:
Well, they still haven't communicated that information to one of my friends, who was planning on sending her child there next Thursday and she is now scrambling for last-minute childcare, because...wait for it...she's a teacher in the South Orange/Maplewood school district!

And the five-day figure is a estimate by Schneider. As we all know when we're doing major renovations and electrical work-- that figure could easily climb. Not a good situation for working parents who were told the new Montrose pre-school would open when school starts.

In general, in my experience, this school district is quite tone deaf when it comes to consideration for families where both parents work... they tend to assume that every kid has a SAHM (or dad)...

We were also disappointed to hear that the building was not ready, but hopefully this will be the only major fail we see. We want to see our child happy and really look forward to this being a great experience for him. On the plus side, our kid will spend September on Jefferson, which is very close to our place and has an awesome new playground!

For a little context, here's the Village Green story. Classes start next week at alternate locations until approximately third week in September and the district will realize a large savings from not having to do some out-of-district placements.

http://villagegreennj.com/schools-kids/montrose-early-childhood-center-opening-late-saving-district-money/

We just got another notice that the school opening is delayed again. When we were first made aware of the delay, it was a PSE&G problem that was going to be rectified by the end of September. It is now middle of October and there has been another "setback." There is no transparency. At the rate this is going, I don't see my kid leaving Jefferson to Montrose for this school year.

Agree with the lack of transparency. I think it would have been better if the director hadn't continually assured us throughout the summer that it would open on time, then that it would just be a few days late, then that it would be next week, then the next week, then the next. I think people deal better with understandable delays when we feel we are getting all the information, not false promises. I'm ok with my kid staying at Jefferson for the time being, but am not impressed with communication at all.

We have been incredibly frustrated as well. My wife has taken an active role in reaching out to Renee about the critical need to improve the rate and quality of their communication.

I believe that they're doing their best and as a new program struggling with unforeseen setbacks, they're more disorganized than anything else. I think that they're sincerely working hard for our kids and are genuinely clueless about the need for constant and clear communication. For example, why did we find out at the last minute about school being closed for a teacher training?

I don't want it to be "us vs. them" because again, I believe their hearts are in the right place and from our experience after Mrs. 37's outreach, they seem open to hearing and addressing our needs.

I think it would help if parents were able to organize ourselves and make our concerns heard clearly and respectfully. Right now, we're all new and kind of on our own (and in the dark!). Better to pull together and make sure that we're all in the loop and on the same page. Right now it's a communication issue, so let's work on that together.

That said, I'd invite any of our fellow parents to PM me so that we can get that going.

Is there a Montrose PTA? If not, maybe its time to start one.

I would be happy to be a part of a Montrose PTA. MDonoghue, are you part of the school administration? The note we received just stated a setback and did not mention the air condition issue. I am really holding back from reaching out to the director because I am sure she has a lot on her plate. The communication has been lacking throughout this process. Each week we receive a note saying "not too long now!" It's been six weeks into the school year.

A couple of us are trying to start up a Facebook group for Montrose families. Look up "Montrose Preschool Families" on Fb. Might be a good way for an informal start to a pta.

The latest news I got as of Friday is that is will be several more weeks. I don't see the kids getting into this school until January. I just don't know what to do. My kid is so confused on what school he goes to. I will look up the facebook group. Thanks again to everyone for letting me vent my frustration.

*Sigh* I don't really have any patience for this anymore.

We just received an e-mail "reminder" this morning from my son's teacher informing us that tomorrow (Wed 10/21) is a half-day.

One small problem: They'd never mentioned this to us in the first place. My wife *happened* to find out about this last Friday from the aftercare providers. We'd received a letter from the school mentioning the back-to-school night for Wed 10/21, but there was no mention of a half-day.

Fortunately aftercare is available to cover the day, but this latest communications gaffe (and it's a BIG one) is eroding whatever goodwill I had left.

Mrs. 37 checked the district calendar and there's no update with the Montrose program on it. The date is completely blank, with no mention of a half-day or back-to-school night. There's a closing in January that we'd learned about and the staff promised to inform all parents in the recent letter. Wasn't done - no communication and it's not on the calendar.

This problem is serious and has to be addressed. I urge any Montrose parents seeing this and attending tomorrow's event to express the need for a better communications effort. Actually, any communications effort would be good at this point.

project37 said:
*Sigh* I don't really have any patience for this anymore.
We just received an e-mail "reminder" this morning from my son's teacher informing us that tomorrow (Wed 10/21) is a half-day.
One small problem: They'd never mentioned this to us in the first place. My wife *happened* to find out about this last Friday from the aftercare providers. We'd received a letter from the school mentioning the back-to-school night for Wed 10/21, but there was no mention of a half-day.
Fortunately aftercare is available to cover the day, but this latest communications gaffe (and it's a BIG one) is eroding whatever goodwill I had left.
Mrs. 37 checked the district calendar and there's no update with the Montrose program on it. The date is completely blank, with no mention of a half-day or back-to-school night. There's a closing in January that we'd learned about and the staff promised to inform all parents in the recent letter. Wasn't done - no communication and it's not on the calendar.
This problem is serious and has to be addressed. I urge any Montrose parents seeing this and attending tomorrow's event to express the need for a better communications effort. Actually, any communications effort would be good at this point.

Send your concerns: to Let's Talk to central administration. You can choose to send to the Superintendant or whomever oversees the program. Link is on main district website. You will get a response and also get a chance to rate the action or response so many eyes will see it

This is a new communication tool being piloted now. It is getting a lot of attention so is s good vehicle to use to get your concerns aired

mod said:
Send your concerns: to Let's Talk to central administration. You can choose to send to the Superintendant or whomever oversees the program. Link is on main district website. You will get a response and also get a chance to rate the action or response so many eyes will see it
This is a new communication tool being piloted now. It is getting a lot of attention so is s good vehicle to use to get your concerns aired

Thank you, mod! I just sent a very long letter to the Superintendent. Fingers crossed.

project37 said:

mod said:
Send your concerns: to Let's Talk to central administration. You can choose to send to the Superintendant or whomever oversees the program. Link is on main district website. You will get a response and also get a chance to rate the action or response so many eyes will see it
This is a new communication tool being piloted now. It is getting a lot of attention so is s good vehicle to use to get your concerns aired

Thank you, mod! I just sent a very long letter to the Superintendent. Fingers crossed.

Glad I could help. I encourage Anyone with concerns to also send them via Let's Talk. Administration needs to know what is working and what is not working

I will also send my concerns about this very same issue. I got the same "reminder" and scrambled until making a ton of phone calls and finding out the Y covered the after care, thank goodness. I also wondered if I had just missed something in correspondence, but know that I am very diligent about putting the kids' schedules and time off from school on the calendar. The communication isn't just poor, it's completely lacking. To make teachers the bad guy and send a faux "reminder" isn't fair to them.