Schools › Metropolitan Montessori (MMS@Calhoun)
Manhattan · Upper West Side

Metropolitan Montessori School

Now the "MMS@Calhoun" Montessori track after merging into The Calhoun School in 2023.

Merged  This school has merged

Metropolitan Montessori (MMS) merged into The Calhoun School in July 2023 and now operates as the "MMS@Calhoun" Montessori track (roughly PreK–3) within Calhoun's PreK–12 program. From 2025–26, Calhoun's lower school is unifying into a single Montessori-inspired program. Admissions, tuition and leadership are handled by Calhoun — calhoun.org ↗. Former MMS head Racheal Adriko has since left (now Head of San Francisco Day School).

Amber  Staff transparency

Leadership and staff are now published under Calhoun rather than a standalone MMS site — worth confirming who leads the Montessori track for the year you're applying.

At a glance

Snapshot

Location325 W 85th St, New York, NY 10024 · Upper West Side · map ↗
Now part ofThe Calhoun School (PreK–12) — "MMS@Calhoun" Montessori track
AgesMontessori track ~PreK–Grade 3 (within Calhoun PreK–12)
TuitionSet by Calhoun — confirm current figures directly
LeadershipGoverned by Calhoun (Head of School Celeste Herrera)
AccreditationVia Calhoun (NYSAIS / NAIS); MMS was formerly an AMS member
ApproachMontessori track → transitioning to "Montessori-inspired" (Calhoun)
Contactcalhoun.org ↗ · (212) 579-5525
Status
Merged
2023
Now
Calhoun
MMS@Calhoun track
Track
PreK–3
The neighborhood

Upper West Side

Stylized illustration of the Upper West Side: prewar apartment buildings and brownstones beside a green park edge

The former MMS building sits on West 85th between West End Avenue and Riverside — a quiet, residential UWS block near Riverside Park.

🏛️ Prewar + brownstones🌳 Near Riverside Park🚇 1 · B/C👶 Family-dense

What changed

For decades Metropolitan Montessori was an independent UWS Montessori known as the strict, academically-serious, "most authentically Montessori" of the neighborhood's options, running through the elementary years. In 2023 it merged into The Calhoun School, a progressive PreK–12 independent school. Its program now lives inside Calhoun as the "MMS@Calhoun" Montessori track for the early years, and Calhoun has announced it is unifying its lower school into a single Montessori-inspired program starting 2025–26. If you're considering it, evaluate Calhoun — its admissions, tuition, leadership and how fully "Montessori" the track remains.

Heard around town

Signals from public parent forums and listservs and our own parent & alumni interviews. Forum chatter is opinion — often anonymous and years old — so take it with a grain of salt; interview quotes are first-hand and shared with permission.

"Metropolitan: strict, quiet, calm, very Montessori, ongoing up to 6th grade… the most expensive of the three." StreetEasy Talk · ~2009 · pre-merger
"Be careful of Calhoun and MMS — if neither is right for your kid, you may not get much help going to another private." StreetEasy Talk · ~2009 · pre-merger

All of this predates the 2023 merger; no candid post-merger community chatter on the combined "MMS@Calhoun" experience has surfaced yet.

Admissions

Handled entirely by Calhoun now — apply through calhoun.org on the ISAAGNY calendar. See our admissions timeline.

Sources: calhoun.org (merger & program announcements); Private School Review; StreetEasy Talk; San Francisco Day School (Adriko). Verified July 2026. Independent profile, not affiliated with either school.

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All NYC Montessori schoolsMontessori vs. Montessori-inspiredNews & Data
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Join the discussion

Reader comments · submitted by visitors and moderated before posting. Community contributions, not part of our editorial profile — add yours in the box below.

  1. UWS parentJul 16, 2026

    Thanks for this informative page!

  2. UWSJul 16, 2026

    Thanks for such an informative page