Downtown Community School

This school might be amazing, once your child is attending, but the Director is very secretive about having families tour during school hours. She only conducts tours when the children have gone home for the day, so parents are unable to observe any teacher-​student interactions or pedagogy. When I asked if I could observe during school hours, I was told she doesn’t allow this because of their small size and it feels like a disruption. However, she does allow this once you officially register and pay the non-​refundable $ 75. She said she wants parents who are committed and doesn’t want to be «spied on.» She further told me that other parents «just trust her» that what she tells them about the school is infact the truth. Anything you read about preschools will tell you that if a school doesn’t want you to observe while teachers and students are there, it is a big red flag. All other schools I visited were more than happy to have me visit during school hours. If I am going to send my child whom I love more than life to be cared for by someone else, I am going to make sure I see them in action first. Even if I did «just trust her,» there are so many intricacies that occur during a school day that could never be explained, be they positive or negative. These can only be seen through direct observation. They are a «Teach Through Love» school, but the director did not follow this model in her conversation with me, which only tells me she would not be open minded to any new ideas should parents have concerns while their child is attending the school. My suggestion to the director: 1. believe that when a parent wants to observe, she is only trying to look out for her child, and is not «spying.» 2. Allow observations, but set some parameters like: only one parent/​guardian observing at a time. Save questions for after the observation. Try to be a fly on the wall and as invisible as possible. Any teacher will tell you frequent observations of them while teaching is the norm and kids get used to it. They come to expect observers and are not disrupted by this. When I observed in other preschools, the students paid no or little attention to me and carried on with their play both in and out of the classroom. If I was with the director, they knew I was ok and were used to observers. If you aren’t permitted an observation during school hours at any school, look elsewhere. What are they trying to hide?