Miramelinda Montessori School — Local services in Cambridge

Be extremely careful of what you are getting yourself into.

The agreement that we were asked to sign is so draconian and extorting that we left the place extremely terrified. The agreement is completely biased against the guardian’s interest and gives complete dictator-like power to the school. For example, the school can terminate a kid on their whim and the guardian will still have to keep paying the tuition fee for the whole year which is on the par of 30,000 USD.

The following is a word-to-word copy of a section from the agreement. The other sections are nothing better:

“This agreement may be terminated by the School immediately for good cause. Good cause includes: (a) the Student is destructive, violent, or abusive to students or staff or otherwise unreasonably disruptive in the judgment of the School, (b) a Guardian’s behavior is unreasonably disruptive in the judgment of the School, ( c) any payment due to the School is more than thirty (30) days delinquent, (d) the Guardians consistently fail to engage in guardian events or violate the clauses in this agreement. Our intention as a school is to support the children’s developmental growth in a peaceful, loving, and nurturing environment. The head of the School do all in her power, working with the families and children, to help each child reach their highest potential and succeed. In the event of a termination for cause, the Guardians will not be entitled to a tuition refund, and will remain responsible for the full amount of tuition for the full...

Our two year-old attends Miramelinda, as did his brother (now four). I don't think we're planning to have a third (gulp!) but if we did, they would go to Miramelinda too. It's a beautiful little space (tons of light, plants, etc), a compassionate, expert set of teachers, and there’s a robust and engaged parent community. Can’t say enough positive things about it. Both of our children absolutely loved it. My wife and I love it too - we love the notes we get notes about our child's day, every day, the communal rotating weekly snack system, the ~monthly family education nights (the last one was a parent of a former student who's a pediatric dentist - he spoke for a little while and then took about an hour of Q&A), and a lot more. Even though we don't speak Spanish at home, both of our sons (especially our younger) have picked up quite a bit of it at school... our 2 year-old actually thinks my bad spanish pronunciation is funny (because his spanish is better than mine). I've watched both of our children learn and grow - the school is serious about their Montessori programming, and it shows. Both of our children have also formed many lasting friendships at Miramelinda, and group trips to the park after school, etc are a mainstay. Can’t recommend...

Miramelinda is a very special school. It provides a safe and nurturing environment to its students — and a community for families! As first-time parents, we learned so much from Lymi and the staff at Miramelinda, not only about the Montessori method and curriculum, but also about navigating important and challenging phases of our child’s development. The Spanish immersion element was also fantastic, and influenced our decision to continue with language immersion in our children’s education to the present day. We are eternally grateful to Miramelinda for the unparalleled gift they gave our family. We made life-long friends through the school, who we continue to treasure long after we moved away from Cambridge. As a “Montessori kid” myself, it was so special to watch our child learn in such a great school that stays so true to the philosophical legacy of Maria Montessori. We have continued with Montessori education with all our children. Although we have been so lucky with the schools in which we enrolled our children, we are particularly fond of our experience with Lymi and...