Gwinnstone

Overall, my first child is succeeding, but I do not feel she is being challenged enough to prepare for more competitive environments. The performance numbers have declined in our 5 years here and we are exploring other options.

The best thing I did was withdraw my child from this school.

I wanted to share our experience because it might help other parents of advanced learners. When my daughter attended this school, I repeatedly asked about gifted testing because she was showing early reading and math skills far beyond grade level. I was told she wasn’t showing gifted ability because she was “having trouble adjusting.”After transferring schools, she was assessed and scored in the 99th percentile overall, performing above grade level in phonics, phonological awareness, and high-frequency words. These results confirmed exactly what I’d seen all along.A child can struggle to adjust and still be gifted. Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive. I hope the school takes situations like this as a reminder to look deeper before dismissing a parent’s concerns — some kids just need understanding, not limits.

This school has changed tremendously since the last principal left. Most of the staff not all, but a significant portion are extremely rude, and as an African American woman, the attitude and dismissiveness I have experienced from several staff members is absolutely unacceptable. I have three children who have all attended Norton, and I have lived in Snellville for more than 15 years. Over time, I have seen both the area and some of the schools decline. Concerns are often left unanswered or unresolved unless you take further action, such as reaching out to the district.The school also lacks diversity among staff, and there should be a stronger effort to reflect and represent the student population.At this point, I am planning to move by 2027, as I am done with the schools in this area. I strongly encourage leadership to either provide additional coaching for staff or consider necessary changes where appropriate. These children are our future and deserve better examples and a more respectful, responsive environment.

The enrollment process needs to be better l. I don’t understand the purpose of online and in person enrollment to bring the same documentation

DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO THIS SCHOOL!! I WALKED OUT AFTER THE DIRECTOR TOLD ME THAT I WAS NOT ABLE TO OBSERVE MY DAUGHTER IN THE CLASSROOM!! This was my first encounter with the Montessori schools, so with it being my child's first day, I wanted to observe how the teacher would interact with my daughter and how my daughter would interact with the other children. I told the director that I would like to observe and she asked, how long?" I replied that I wanted to observe and she told me "that's not how we do things. It's just a drop off and go". I told her I understand that when it's an every day basis, but with this being our first day, I wanted to see how the teacher works with children. She said, "Montessori is not like that. And we don't do that here. We're not going to start class until 9:30a". (Clearly your paperwork with the curriculum states 8:30a). I asked her what does she have to hide???!!! What parent just drops off their child without the opportunity to observe their child in the classroom setting for the FIRST TIME in the school??!! Not me!! Needless to say, we did not stay!!