Marva J Daniel Futures Preparatory School

My daughter is in her third year at Bennett Park Montessori School. Despite having shorter days it has been a great place for my daughter. I really like the peer learning/teaching environment, I believe one can learn a lot from teaching. She's now in the 5-7 age group; having just turned five I believe she will get a greater challenge being exposed to older kids in her class rather than a traditional Kindergarden. I've been active parent and have met many of the staff and other parents, as with anything in life there are good and bad, but I believe the good outweighs e bad and the non-traditional learning environment helps kids in the long run. You can definitely get back what you put I to it.

Loved this school back in May, 1972. It was my first day subbing for the BPS. I had to knock on the windows outside the office so that they would let me in to teach...Ha! Then the assistant principle escorted me to the room. He unlocked the door to my classroom from the hall. After we entered the room he introduced me to a teacher's aid and wished me luck. Those kids went on to become engineers, attorneys, physicians, professors...What a great, great school in a shining city by the lake.

Makowski used to be a great school when my nieces and nephews were younger...however it has gone down hill constantly. I have 3 children in Makowski (including a set of twin). All my children have peanut and tree nut allergies..on the first day of school I took them to let the teachers know (the clinic in the school is amazing they know my children by name and face) despite telling her teacher my 5 year old was given a peanut butter cracker...my 7 year old told her teacher she thought she ate something with peanuts she told her she would be fine and put her on the bus...my twins have been there since pre-K every year is a toss up if my son has a great teacher my daughters is terrible and vice versa...my 7 year old daughter is bullied daily when I asked to change her class they told me no because they had already denied other parents and it wouldn't be fair...they put my daughter (who is reading at a 5 grade level)in remedial reading and my son (who does multiplication despite being in 2nd grade) in remedial math just for the funding..if you care about your child's education DO NOT SEND THEM TO MAKOWSKI!!!

Applewild is not the school it was 5,10, even 20 years ago and they are trying to survive on old luster. Staff is over stretched and students are no longer getting the rigorous approach that once was. Last year in grades 4-5 there was no standard writing curriculum for students so those grade levels are behind in their schooling. There are administrators who are more interested in filling boarding student houses while forgetting the every day workings of the day school. Bullying is pushed under the rug and nothing is ever done about it. Racist comments happen and somehow those go unnoticed or fall off deaf ears. The comments seem to come from the same group yet they are still enrolled at the school. When parents bring up issues that need to be resolved they are presented with “we think your child should see a counselor because they have anxiety. When in reality it’s the Applewild environment that is creating the unneeded anxiety for the student. These family then becomes the “crazy” family because they’re trying to address their child’s needs. Administrations lie to the parents and students constantly and find they’re favorite way to bully and belittle daily. Teachers are intimidated by administration for fear of losing their job on a daily basis. There has been a huge teacher turnover from 2019 to present and only 3-4 original Applewild teachers remain. The Devens campus was substantially downsized last year leaving parents in the community only weeks to figure out what to do with their children for the following year and the option they were given was to come to the Fitchburg campus for a much higher added fee for next year. Parents had to scramble to find after school care very quickly with very little explanation or notice. Their foundations program for Language based learning programs needs an entire over site and this school needs to look outside of their walls for proper training. They don’t have properly trained teachers in the areas of struggle needed. There are no occupational therapist or speech and language pathologists. There is also no full time counselor to support children’s emotional needs with learning challenges, . There are many valuable resources in this area that could help them but the head of school said that all training can be done with the professionals they have now. Also, board has no oversight and is said to work for ahead master and not in the best interest of the institution. Major over site is needed ASAP.

my old teacher who was amazing at not only teaching but just being their for you, moved to this school, she was an amazing science teacher who helped us with math, ELA and every subject we asked her to help in. she always helped you, gave us open notebook tests, i have adhd and she never judged me and pointed it out. in my opinion she is, and will always be an amazing teacher.