Schools › Windmill Montessori School
Brooklyn · Madison / Marine Park

Windmill Montessori School

This school has closed, after more than eight decades on Avenue T. We keep the entry because listings still show it as open.

Closed  State registration inactive, 30 June 2024

Windmill ran from 1941 to 2024 — one of the longest-running Montessori schools in the city, and a genuine one. There was no closure announcement; the state's records and the city's permit register are what establish it. If you have information that corrects this, please tell us.

At a glance

Snapshot

StatusClosed · NYSED inactive 30 June 2024
Was1317 Avenue T, Brooklyn, NY 11229
OperatedCirca 1941 – 2024; last published school year 2023–24
Also ranA summer day camp at the same address
TypeIndependent non-public school · NYSED institution 800000043974

What the records show

Two independent lines of evidence, from different agencies:

  • New York State. NYSED's institution file lists Windmill Montessori School at 1317 Avenue T, active from 1 July 1980 in the state's records, and marked inactive on 30 June 2024.
  • New York City. There is no permitted child-care programme under this name anywhere in the city in the live Health Department register. At 1317 Avenue T the register now returns Yeshivat Lev Torah, holding an active school-based child-care permit with an initial annual inspection recorded 4 February 2026.

One honest caveat on that second point. We cite the yeshiva only from the city's register. Its own website lists three campuses and Avenue T is not among them — so treat the successor-occupancy detail as a city record, not as something the yeshiva itself publishes. The closure finding does not depend on it.

An accreditation claim worth recording

Windmill's own archived website stated that it was “Affilliated with The American Montessori Society (AMS)” — their spelling — and separately described itself as an “Accredited Preschool, Elementary, Junior High School and Summer Day Camp” without naming any accreditor. Neither claim is supported: Windmill does not appear in the AMS register, and “affiliated” is not an AMS status in any case.

We note it not to criticise a school that no longer exists, but because it is a clean example of the pattern we track across this directory — a claim of accreditation with no body attached, which then gets copied into third-party listings as fact. See our accreditation check.

Open Brooklyn alternatives

Operating Montessori options in southern Brooklyn are thin. In our directory, the nearest are Montessori Day School of Brooklyn in Prospect Heights, Lefferts Gardens Montessori, and Brooklyn Heights Montessori School — all a fair distance north. Browse the full directory.

Sources: NYSED SEDREF institution record 800000043974, 1317 Avenue T, marked inactive 30 June 2024; NYC DOHMH Child Care Connect live permit lookup, checked August 10, 2026 — no permitted programme under this name citywide, and Yeshivat Lev Torah recorded as active at 1317 Avenue T with an initial annual inspection 4 February 2026; the school's own archived website for the accreditation wording; American Montessori Society register (queried by name, ZIP and city sweeps) — no entry. Independent profile, not affiliated with the school.

Health & safety record

Violations heard and decided at the city’s administrative tribunal. We publish these in full, including when there are none.

No cases on record. No summons to this school appears in the city’s hearing records.

For comparison: across all 18,161 DOHMH child-care cases heard at OATH, 63.1% were sustained, 21.3% ended in default and 13.1% were dismissed. Most citations concern records, repairs and paperwork — staff immunisation files, premises upkeep, sink water temperature, background-check timing — rather than incidents involving a child.

Source: NYC Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, case status data, checked 11 August 2026. These are adjudicated outcomes, not inspection allegations. The record gives the rule cited and the result, but never the inspector’s narrative — the charge text always reads “see attached NOV”. Outcomes can change on appeal. Something wrong? Tell us.

Community

Join the discussion

A school that ran for eighty years leaves a lot of alumni. If you attended or taught here, we would like to record its history accurately.