Discovery Garden Montessori School

1515 S NATIONAL AVE

Springfield, MO 65804

5 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK-4
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on September 10, 2023

The school is very well ran. Structured, scheduled, organized… but yet allows the students freedom to pursue their own unique interests. The administration and the teachers have all been super easy to communicate with. They do an excellent job of communicating and disseminating information to the parents. We also love the sense of community we get being apart of the school while our children attend.
Submitted by parent on July 31, 2022

DGMS is a poorly run school. Both the school Principal and the school board are ineffective leaders. Pressing school related matters are not addressed in a timely manner. For example, once the Springfield Publics schools lifted all covid restrictions, DGMS kept their restrictive mask and covid policies in place, despite having a significantly smaller school and classroom size than their counterparts. In fact, with the exception of removing the mask mandate for teachers in April, the school still had a covid quarantine policy as of the last day of school. The school board is the Principal's echo chamber. There is a group think mentality and anyone who challenges the status quo is quickly attacked and vilified by the board.Many of the school's teachers are not certified Montessori school teachers and are not in training to become certified Montessori School teachers as is required per the school policy handbook. My kindergartner's classroom was a zoo. Some of the classroom Montessori materials used were broken or missing pieces, students constantly screamed and caused disruptions in the classroom. There was no clear action plan for how to address the same children, who caused all the disruptions. This was not an environment that was conducive to learning. My kindergartner went from loving school (his previous Montessori school) to hating his new school in a matter of days.One major concern I had about the school was the presence of a teacher who had woke paraphernalia in her classroom and on her person. There is a push to embrace woke ideologies by staff members that was not addressed with parents by the Principal and is not in accordance with the teachings of Maria Montessori. There is a great interest for Montessori education in the greater Springfield area. Unfortunately many people like myself, tried to help this school succeed and were very disappointed with the lack of progress.
Submitted by other on May 11, 2021

Compassionate teachers, well-run school - this is a top notch institution.
Submitted by parent on July 24, 2019

Discovery Garden Montessori School provides the best early childhood education in Springfield! The teachers are fabulous and spend so much time getting to know the kids. The Montessori education helps promote self-sufficiency and helping others. The kids move at their own pace with help and guidance from the teachers and their peers. Such a great way to educate! Highly recommend this school!
Submitted by parent on December 02, 2017

If you go here, 'make sure you're friends with someone on the board because apparently, that's all that matters.