Admission

All children are accepted as space becomes available regardless of race, creed, color or national origin. Enrollment preference is given to:
• Returning students of any age
• Siblings of present students
• Montessori transfer students

Enrollment Ages

Enrollment ages may vary slightly at the director's discretion, but in general they are as follows:
• Infant Program: 6 weeks to 15 months
• Toddler Program: 15 months to 24 months
• Two/Three Class: 2 years through 3 years of age
• Three/Six Class: Toilet trained 3- to 6-year-old children. A kindergarten program is introduced and adjusted to individual needs.

Tuition Policies

Click the link for a detailed description of our Programs and Tuitions.

Tuition is due on the first day of each month. A late fee of $20.00 will be assessed after the 15th of the month. Charges involving checks returned for insufficient funds will also be assessed.

Children from the same family receive a 10% discount on the lower tuition rate(s).

Enrollment Procedure

The parents must first visit the school with the child and meet with the director. These visits are scheduled in the mornings on Monday through Friday, and last approximately one hour.

The application must be filled out and returned with the registration fee. This fee is non-refundable. Available space in the program is not reserved until the registration fee has been paid.

All required paperwork as detailed in our printed booklet, including health forms and immunization records, must be turned in prior to enrollment. The first month's tuition is also due prior to the child's starting date.

Student Records

All student records are confidential. Parents have the right to review and add comments. Records are released only upon written parental consent and when all financial obligations have been met. Please give the office sufficient notice if records are to be transferred.

Please advise us in written form of any changes in telephone numbers, addresses or people authorized to pick up your child so that our records remain current.

It is required that your child's health form be completed by a doctor and returned prior to admittance. The State of Illinois regulations prohibit any child who does not have a current medical form on file from being admitted to school. Your child's immunization records must be kept current by submitting validated proof as immunizations are received.

Drop-off, Pick-up and Security Procedures

DROP-OFF: Parents of all children must accompany their children into the building. They must deliver their child directly to a staff member either at the school entrance or their classroom door, and sign the child in. Please do not drop off the child at school without ensuring their arrival in their proper classroom.

PICK-UP: The child must be signed out by the person picking him or her up. Children not picked up by 6:00pm incur a late pick-up fee of $15 for every 15 minutes or portion thereof. For example, if a child is not picked up until 6:20pm, the late pick-up fee is $30.

SECURITY: We must receive a written request in advance to release a child to someone other than a parent or legal guardian. This request must include the person's full identification. The supervising staff will check identification before releasing the child. It is advisable to provide a short list of 'emergency' authorized people, and then a phone call from you will allow your child to be picked up that day.

If either parent wishes to place restrictions on the other parent's rights to pick up a child, we require a copy of the court documents referring to the actual parental rights.

Illness and Injury

INJURY: First aid will be administered if your child is injured while attending school. In an emergency situation, we will make every effort to contact you. If we cannot reach you, we will use the emergency numbers that you have provided. In the event that the injury is more than minor, we will make sure that your child receives the necessary treatment until we can reach you. An Emergency Authorization form is required to be signed at the time of enrollment. If an injury has occurred at school that is not serious, the parent wil be notified at the time of pick-up and will be asked to review and sign the Injury Report form.

ILLNESS: The school prohibits attendance of a child with a communicable illness. If your child becomes ill during the day, we will call you. The State of Illinois suggests that children with fevers of 100 degrees or more, contagious skin or eye infections, vomiting, or repeated diarrhea must be removed from school. Forest Park Montessori also requests that you do not send your child to class if he/she has excessive dicolored mucus discharge from the nose, or a deep 'chesty' cough, for the protection of all children and staff members.

Children sent home with a fever must be free of fever for at least 24 hours before returning to school, without the use of fever-reducing medication. They must also be free of the above symptoms for 24 hours.

Many diseases, such as strep infections, require that the child be excluded from school for 24 hours after treatment has been received.

Student absences due to illness should be reported to the school by to class time. When a communicable disease has been verified, it is essential for us to be able to notify other parents of prior exposure.

MEDICATION: We will administer prescription medications to your child upon completion of a "Medical Release Form" which will be provided by a staff member. Non-prescription medications will only be administered if accompanied by written instructions from the child's doctor, or if the manufacturer's recommended dosage chart includes your child's age level and a specifc dosage recommendation.

Prescription medication must be in its original container stating the child's name, dosage, date, and physician's name. All medication will be kept out of reach of children and refrigerated, where required. Unused medication will be discarded if left at the school for more than 5 days.

Attendance

Regular attendance is essential to our program. Parents of the 3/6 Class especially are expected to see that their children arrive promptly for class time. Attendance records are kept by each classroom and parents must sign their child in and out, noting the time. Please understand that tardiness may be a disruption to your child's class.

Children need consistent and age-appropriate limits. The Montessori environment provides the opportunity for the child to develop inner discipline and responsibility in a loving and secure environment.

Each classroom discusses and posts agreed upon ground rules, as well as those set by the teacher. Behavior not consistent with these rules will be stopped with a verbal reminder of the rule. In some cases, it will also be necessary to re-direct the child to choose an alternative material or classmate to work with. Working alone or sitting in a chair, within the classroom proper, is used for children who need time to gain control of their emotions and/or need time to observe role models among their classmates. The goal is for the child to recognize when he/she is ready to return to classroom activity.

In keeping with our general philosophy of respect for the child, abusive discipline such as physical and verbal abuse or the withholding of food is not permitted.

If difficult behavior becomes excessive, as determined by the staff and Director, a conference wil be arranged with the parents. It is the Director's sole decision when a child's behavior is not manageable by the Forest Park Montessori staff, and the student may be asked to withdraw.