Explorers Montessori Coastal Cooperative (EMCC)

My eldest attended this school in 2020-2021 and my youngest also attends now! I’m grateful to the dedicated staff who take excellent care of my children. The setting is peaceful, the staff are understanding, and my daughter looks forward each school day. This is a cooperative nonprofit, so parents are able to volunteer to help maintain the school, read to the children, or serve on the board.

This is a dead honest review of the older class. The very very young ones seem well taken care of.. The really high reviews unfortunately are not accurate, liferally at least based on when they were posted.. in fact some of the reviews mentioned things that don't even occur in the school when we had our child there. The school has very high turnover which pretty much says it all.. they lost two directors and two teachers in about a year. they had exactly one teacher left that read lesson plans from a Pre-Canned Training curriculum.. communication with parents about the students progress is non-existent.. the only time the staff is proactive is when they want something like money or more clothes Etc,. It is not a comfortable environment to be in as a parent.. as a previous poster said they don't let you inside or try to encourage against it..??? there's no proactivity from the staff/teacher on your child. Nobody talked about how the parents and the teacher could work together to improve things or anything like that -that is a non topic.. we noticed that any recommendations were largely ignored.. they have rules that are randomly enforced for the parents.. the two stars are for the cost, very affordable (although you do get what you pay for) and the location is very pretty and convenient for those on the islands.. p.s. there's nobody receiving your kids when we arrived you have to walk through an active parking lot to get to the entrance then ring a doorbell and wait.. its just not safe and awkward.

My son has loved this school from day one. So thankful for no more tearful goodbyes in the mornings! The staff ratios are better than any other childcare center around. If you have questions, the director is always available either in person or via phone. The teachers are the most professional I have witnessed in a preschool setting. You never have to hesitate to provide feedback and it is heard when you do. Love this little preschool!

this review is going to be my families honest experience with this school. my son attended this school for several months. at first, it seemed so well put together and very montessori. as time went on we had several situations happen.. disclaimer- they do not allow you to come into the building unless “absolutely necessary” WEIRD first situation being - he always came home disgusting. covered in old food from lunch time, wet/dirty clothes, dirty diapers that had obviously not been changed in a while, the list goes on. second being - in the younger class that my son was apart of they are suppose to be helping potty train(sounds great) however, i have witnessed (the few times they actually allowed me in the building) my son was left unattended in the bathroom multiple times, he was playing in the training toilets (EVEN WHEN SUPERVISED) and the adult toilet. he was also unattended multiple times in helper stand (dangerous). my son and myself have never been so sick in our entire lives than we were while was attending this facility.(i know getting sick is normal for daycares but not like this) we got diagnosed with rotavirus several times from them allowing him to play in the toilets. third being - when i have brought concerns to their attention (teachers & supervisors) they always said things would get taken care of and blame it on short staffing. they also had a hard time responding to my messages on the app that we were told to use to get in contact with them. which is scary as a new first time mom not being able to reach the people who have my son. fourth being - their AC was out for most of the summer. they still allowed the kids to be there. again, the few times i was allowed inside it was ungodly hot. my son came home sweaty and red faced every single day. and finally fifth situation that ultimately made me remove him from their care was - that day i picked him up, he seemed off, tired. lethargic, not himself. i brush it off, go home. check his lunch box and he did not have a single BITE of his food. no lunch, no snack. water was still full with ice from when i filled it the morning prior. when asked they said they had noticed that and forgot to mention it to us at pickup…. point of this long review is to inform other parents of my families experience here. we do not recommend this facility. we hope things get better for them, however at this point in time i think it is dangerous for them to be open and allowing children to not be properly taken care of.

Great family oriented organization giving to the local community