We are an immersive bilingual Montessori school with an emphasis in English and Mandarin Chinese.

Global Montessori International School

Our son went to GMIS for preschool and loved it. Caring, gentle teachers, a strong parent community and Mandarin - all that we could hope for.

Our family has had a difficult journey with GMIS and we feel that it&#39;s important to share this with perspective parents considering the school. We shopped around *a lot* for a preschool for our child, starting when she was 6 months old. This was before the pandemic so we toured each school. We eventually realized we wanted a bilingual immersion Montessori program for our daughter, and looked into several in the east bay. We chose to apply to GMIS because the cultural programs were appealing and we liked the facility. We toured and liked the teachers. We were set to enroll last year, and paid a $2k deposit. As the time drew closer for our enrollment a series of things happened to make us question our choice. First, the school was not transparent about their COVID protocols or staff vaccination status. We called and emailed the school several times, but didn&#39;t get a response at all during the three weeks preceding our start date -- nothing from school administrators or the office. No reply at all. The only thing we heard from the school was from their third-party billing agency, letting us know we were due to pay tuition. We also had a couple basic questions regarding some state-mandated documents notifying us about a claim of physical abuse by one of the teachers, who was accused of physically punishing a student. We asked for more context but no response. At this point, it started to feel weird; we were about to drop $18k on preschool but couldn&#39;t get a call or email back about basic facts about how the school was responding to issues about our child&#39;s physical safety. The protocols were eventually published into the website, a few days before the first day, but at this point the lack of response led us to notify the school to let them know that we were going to withdraw our kid. I This is when it got super weird. Out of the blue we got a call from Vivi, the schools &#34;executive director.&#34; (Executive director of a preschool? Eh, ok, sure.) During the next hour, Vivi talked non-stop in a frantic monologue -- skipping around between information about the incident with the abuse, COVID, her school&#39;s financial stability, the Chinese cultural programs, her problems with the office staff, etc. I mean, at least an hour and we could hardly get a word in edgewise. At this point we were freaked out--I told Vivi we were fine to lose the deposit, but wouldn&#39;t be enrolling our child. This news made her more agitated and she was talking a mile a minute about her legal standing with the abuse claim and the policies about our deposit and the process for removing a student, etc. Totally manic. We loved the school when we toured, but this felt shady. Several months later, we got a check in the mail with our deposit, no note or letter, written in this crazy writing... (?) OK, great, but the whole deal was so weird, so lacking in basic professionalism, and unhinged, that we were glad to move on. I&#39;m sure there are some great teachers here and don&#39;t doubt the positive experiences of others, but for our family, this place was way too sketchy to entrust with the well being of our child.

We did an exhaustive search of Mandarin-immersion preschools in the East Bay and SF--combed through websites and reviews and attended every single open house. At the time we were still pregnant so we had time! ;) We had many conversations that began with, &#34;How old is your child? Are you looking to join in the fall?&#34; And then my husband explaining, &#34;Well...our son isn&#39;t born yet but we heard that waitlists can be long so we wanted to plan ahead.&#34; Yes, we were that couple. Choosing GMIS as our top preschool option was an easy choice. The school itself is bright, spacious, beautifully organized and the exterior grounds include a playground, large gazebo for snacks and lunch al fresco and an impressive fruit and vegetable garden! Now that we have been a part of the school for nearly 2 years, we recognize that it is the teachers and staff that really make the school shine. I am continuously amazed at the thought that goes into coursework, arts and crafts activities and special occasions. (They could sell tickets to their Chinese New Year celebration!) Plus, the rigor and commitment to creating a safe environment for our children to learn and thrive in the midst of a raging pandemic is admirable--words can&#39;t express the gratitude we feel for all the hard work and dedication of the teachers and professionals at the school. The most meaningful and sincere assessment of the school comes from our son. He has grown tremendously both cognitively and socially and he enjoys learning and playing each day. As you know, toddlers are incredibly honest and will let you know immediately if something is amiss! In a couple months we&#39;ll be sending our daughter once she turns 2--we&#39;re so fortunate that she&#39;ll be able to experience GMIS too!

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