Public & Charter M Schools

[mtnhighmama]

I'd love to hear from other parents of kids that attend public and charter M schools, and how that is working out.

Specifically, I'd like to know how your school fosters a sense of community and how it encourages parental involvement?

We have a wonderful charter school that does an amazing job with the children, but we seem to have a hard time motivating the parents to get in their volunteer hours, to come to community meetings, educational meetins, etc.

What does your school do that is successful?

stats: we are a AMI certified Montessori charter school with a kinder program, lower el and upper el classrooms, and a middle school. approximately 250 children. not tuition based.

[CrunchyMomto3]

I taught at a Public Montessori charter school and we had a rough first year. Lots of high expectations, not lot a huge amount of parent invovlement and barely any community. I'm not working now, but I keep track of the school and they are going into their sixth year with tremendous success. 3 additional schools have been built to serve the entire county, so a school on the north end, middle and south end, a head start program, VPK, and a middle school. The community has really rallied behind the school and they are experiencing tremendous success.

If you PM me, I'll send you a link to the school. It has a wonderful website and lots of great info!!

[nkm1968]

We initialy had a wonderful experience for 3 years at a charter Montessori school, but unfortunately, in our 3rd year, the school was taken over by a for-profit charter enterprise that valued state mandeated testing scores more than Montessori. So, the first change dictated was that children had to be given grades, followed by the use of really crappy workbooks, followed by the elimination of the work cycles, followed by the school abandoning the Montessori method and instead just becoming another generic crappy regressive school. Those of us who started the school due to allegiance to progressive, child-centered, Montessori principles all left. There had been a very active parent group called "Caring, Active, Montessori Parents" (CAMP), but all of our protests and arguments fell on deaf ears in the pro-money new administration. The school's board was also dismantled and was absorbed into the board of the for-profit management company. And to think this was one of the first charter schools in Ohio....and to this day, the website for "Constellation Community Schools" which DESTROYED the Montessori charter school in Old Brooklyn still uses the Old Brooklyn Montessori School foundation as the story for it's OWN foundation!!! LIES! So, we yanked our kid, and homeschooled her until a spot opened up at a private Montessori school. BEWARE for-profit charter organizations, trust me.

[mtnhighmama]

nkm, can you share some of hte things the parent's group did, and how they encouraged active participation?

i'm sorry to hear that the program did not continue to meet the montessori principles. It must have been very frustrating to you and those that poured their heart and soul into it.

Who approved this organization coming in? Didn't your board have to vote them in?

[nkm1968]

Our parent organization was actually easy to recruit for--we had our meetings monthly at school and provided childcare (in the gym, some of the 7th and 8th grade girls) and sent out information sheets with registration forms for new families. We also had about 40% of parents participating, and had a lot of involvement with the school. When the school finally was able to purchase a building, it was CAMP that painted the walls, carpeted it, and helped the faculty arrange the classrooms. CAMP wrote a grant to have an organic garden program (which the school recieved funds for, but mysteriosly, after the for-profit takeover, the garden itself never appeared) and was awarded $25,000 start up funds. CAMP organized a basketball program for the students, ansd aslo raised money to put in a playground for older children. CAMP raised money for field trips to the zoo, museums, and symphony orchestra. CAMP recruited parents and provided fingerprinting and background checks to provide the school with substitues, chaperones for field trips, lunchtime parents (the children ate in their classrooms, Montessori style), and after school enrichment programs (art, dance, music, dalcroze). There were many mini-fundraisers throughout the year (bake sales, wrapping paper, pies, market day), and one major dinner fundraiser per year (dinner, drinks, silent auction) that would raise between $8-15,000 for extras for the school, and many many more in-kind donations--paint, labor, getting corporations to underwrite the 6th-8th grade camping trips, etc. This was very easy to recruit for, because almost half of the parents GOT IT, that the opportunity to have a free Montessori education was valuable and worth working extra hard for. CAMP of course offerred lots of parent education nights, to convince the families that did NOT get it, that only sent their kids to aviod Cleveland public schools,to support the school and the program, but this was very frustrating as only a handful of folks would show up, sometimes none at all.

Take home lessonrganize your parents to be much more vocal and demanding regarding the need to protect what is the essence of Montessori. Demand parent presence on the current and future board, and take a look at the schools mission and bylaws, and if you are on the board, make sure that those bylaws include Montessori principles. Demand either AMI or AMS certification.

[goobyhead]

My children attend a public Montessori grades 1-6. The school started as an extension of the already successful private preschool. I am on the board of directors, and we make it a point to maintain the montessori aspect of the school. That is difficult at times due to the fact that we are maintaining one teacher and one assistant per classroom, and public funding for charter schools is limited. We have 100% parent involvement, but it's mandatory to put in 15 hours per year. The parents sign a contract for that. PTO meetings are poorly attended, so this is our biggest problem. Yet, the parents always pull through when we need them, and certainly one reason we continue to thrive. We keep fundraising limited, but powerful. Last year we had only two fundraisers and were able to raise approx. $70,000. Our board of directors actively seek grants, and we often ask for financial help from parents on smaller projects when needed. I know other charter schools in our area that make PTO meetings mandatory as part of their parent volunteer contract.

[mtnhighmama]

Your school shares some similar traits as ours.

I find it really challenging to get the parents involved in our PTO. We also always find someone that pulls us through, which is great. But we'd really like to work on building more community, and that seems to be where the challenge is.

I wonder what it is about M parents that make it so they are less involved with the PTO type activities.