What Happened to Park Slope’s Montessori School?

Over the summer, Park Slope’s Montessori School closed abruptly, leaving many scratching their heads. The “For Sale or Rent by Owner” sign is up at 105 8th Avenue, but the question remains: what happened? It’s not like Park Slope has a dearth of potential students.

The closure might be connected to Lina Sinha. Sinha, one-time principal and teacher at the Montessori School of New York in Manhattan, was found guilty of sodomy and other charges relating to her sexual relations with a 13-year-old boy and was sent to jail in July of this year. Sinha’s parents, who had three branches up and running at this time last year (in Manhattan, Queens and Park Slope), appear to have been stretched thin financially by their daughter’s legal bills.

The Manhattan school, established in 1970, is the subject of controversy and scathing online reviews. To add to the mystery, there is little information about the Park Slope school online, aside from two reviews – one positive, one negative – on Park Slope Parents from 2009, and similar reviews on Great Schools. A Google search for the Queens branch reveals it, too, has seemingly fallen off the edge of the earth. Neither of the 718 locations are answering the phone.

The three-story building has one commercial unit and one residential unit, and the number on the sign is 917-443-7844, if you’re interested in checking it out.