Is anyone sending their children to either the Armitage or Seward Montessori Schools? (Minneapolis: public schools)

[Danfix99]

Hello everyone. My wife and I just moved here and we are looking into schools. We like the Montessori model of education, and were wondering if those two public montessori schools were good schools. It seems like everyone we talk to thinks we should look at the Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie schools, but we would really prefer Montessori. Any opinions? Thanks.

[uptown_urbanist]

My mother worked at Armatage, and both of my brothers attended Seward (I went to the Seward program before it was located Seward). While my personal experience is outdated, I believe that some of the same teachers (now much older!) are still at Seward. They were wonderful, and the Montessori program certainly worked well for me. That said, my mother said that based on her relatively recent experience working in the schools she thought that she'd now prefer Armatage to Seward. I'm not entirely sure of her reasons, but think it's partly because the Armatage program is smaller and doesn't go through eighth grade. In any case, your children can certainly get a great education in the Minneapolis Public Schools, equal to that of any of the suburban districts. My own son is still a toddler, but we'll be going with a MPS option, and due to my own positive Montessori experience we'll definitely be taking a close look at the both Armatage and Seward.

Not sure where you're moving from, but one nice thing about the Twin Cities is that the core cities actually do have good public school systems. Some people might tell you otherwise, but there's no need to go to the suburbs solely for the purpose of a high-quality education. Minneapolis has a strong history of parents choosing (meaning parents who could go private or move to the suburbs) to stick with the city public schools. I'm guessing that those who tell you otherwise don't themselves have children or other personal experience with the MPS system, let alone at Seward or Armatage (and both are very popular and highly-regarded programs).