Where everyone is welcome, and everyone belongs.
IMA’s DEEP meeting is this Tuesday, the 23rd, from 5:30-6:30. But be sure and stay for the FTO (Family/Teacher Organisation) meeting, from 6:30-7:30.
Our FTO meeting will focus on how to support IMA as we move forward into our new Public Charter phase.
Come join us for this exciting time in IMA’s history!
Dear IMA Families,
Hopefully this finds you well and echoing our news of celebration regarding IMA becoming a public school in 2018!
As our school community turns towards positive changes of public access, we welcome the opportunity to do the heavy lifting this transition will require. This effort will be the collaboration of our existing school community as well as the growing student body and their families.
Can you please help the school with the following items:
Please let us know if you have any questions. We are here to listen and help in any way that we can.
Thanks to all who donated to the Upper Elementary food drive for River Food Pantry!
This afternoon, following our whole-school Thanksgiving sing-along gathering and lunch, twenty students from ages five to fourteen (along with three teachers and one visiting IMA alumna) walked from IMA to the food pantry with a wagon and a quadruple stroller full of food — 107 pounds of food total!
It was a beautiful walk, 2.4 miles in all, and we enjoyed talking with friends, picking up dried honey locust seed pods, and observing nature along the way. The River Food Pantry staff was very welcoming, and showed us the inside of the pantry; we plan to do more service work with this worthy organization in our neighborhood in the months to come.
Happy Thanksgiving!
From the moment our school community was conceived, this question has guided our journey. It was certain that bringing AMI Montessori education to the children and families of Madison was not the starting point nor was it the end goal. The question, at that time, was not whether or not to make this community a public school. The question in September, 2011, was, “How do we make this the most accessible Montessori school to reach as many families as possible?”
No one outside of this city could surmise how this form of education wasn’t already a possibility for families here, and at the same time, so many people in this city, while championing the cause, were skeptical of change being any sort of outcome. This skepticism saddened us, but it did not slow us down. Each step forward we asked, “What’s next?” And we kept moving.
This forward motion was not the journey of a couple teachers who wanted to see things change in Madison. This forward motion was the work of Fratney Miller, Ali Muldrow, Tim Peeremboom, Georgia Lieber, and Nick Kamphaus. This work was the forward motion of MMSD Board of Education President, James Howard, Mary Burke, Ed Hughes, Michael Flores, and Dean Luomos. This forward motion was the collaborative work with district administration including Jen Cheatham, Kelly Ruppel, Dylan Pauly, Mike Berry, John Harper, Silvia Romero-Johnson, and many more.
As each board member made a request for more information or different language, we returned to conference rooms to tailor the contract to each individual request, all with the goal of accessibility. All the while we continued to ask, “What’s next?” What is the next phrase or set of numbers or perfect boundary that will meet the needs of these board members before they will accept this change as a possibility for children and families who have historically been priced out of Montessori? We continued to ask, “What’s next?”
Each change we made was meant to be for the masses of people who wrote and spoke about this opportunity for their children, and we learned on Monday, August 21, 2017, that the changes we were making were for four people who didn’t want another opportunity for the oppressed, the marginalized, the poor, the homeless, those at risk of unnecessary expulsion and suspension, or those with exceptionalities.
Four people will not exclude a city. Four people will not stop this forward motion. Four people will not stop us from asking, “What’s next?”
The current contract is still in negotiations, and there are multiple options to create public, AMI Montessori in Madison. When we learn of the next board meeting when the contract will be discussed, we will help to inform the public. When we learn of more details regarding alternative options for creating a public space for AMI Montessori education in Madison, you will be the first to know. As always, we will continue to share information when we have it, as we are aware of your commitment to this cause.
The only people who haven’t asked about the next steps have been well-intentioned, protectors of our hearts. Though we appreciate the connection with our human family at any time; now, like any moment of darkness or light, we must look to the children. All of the children. We take time each day to share our gratitude to the families who have given us the opportunity to work and learn with children each day and to be inspired by children who we don’t even know. To the families who wrote letters, who traveled to speak, who call us weekly to say, “Keep going!”, who drive hours each day to be a part of a community working so hard for something, and the extended families who support them. Thank you for this opportunity for change. Thank you for the children.
And thank you, children. Each day a unique and exceptional soul opens a crack in any shadow overhead, showing us the light and the power to keep moving forward, and to continue asking, “What’s next?”
Heads of School
Lots of work and a long time coming! We cannot wait to open our doors in 2018/2019 for all the children and families who might not otherwise have the opportunity. This is what it’s about. This is what it’s always been about. Way to go Melissa Droessler and Carrie Marlette and ALL the children and community members who believed enough to stick with the hard work!
However, the board delayed the school’s opening until the 2018-19 school year, and the school’s creation remains contingent on the school’s founders supplementing their proposal during contract negotiations to address key areas that still concern district administrators and some board members.
The vote to establish the public charter school was 6-1, with TJ Mertz the sole opponent.
If all goes as planned, the vote means Isthmus Montessori Academy (IMA), 1402 Pankratz St., would change from a private, tuition-based school to a public, tuition-free one in the fall of 2018. That’s a year later than founders Melissa Droessler and Carrie Marlette and many of the school’s large group of passionate supporters had desired.
Consequently, some supporters left Monday’s meeting grumbling and even angry over the delay. Droessler stayed optimistic in her comments.
“We are thrilled at the board’s support and truly hope to operate in good faith with the district for a successful partnership,” she said.
The North Side school was founded in 2012, and Droessler and Marlette have been working with the district ever since to turn it into a public option. They have said they want to make the Montessori method available to as many families as possible, not just to those with financial means.
They believe the Montessori method, which includes multi-age classroom groupings, customized learning plans and self-directed learning, will help the district close achievement gaps while expanding options for students, especially those with special needs…
click link for more —>Wisconsin State Journal
Last night’s school board public hearing on IMA’s charter proposal is in the news today: Madison’s WMTV Channel NBC15 has a story and video:
A public hearing was held this afternoon and people had the opportunity to express their opinions about this issue.
Montessori schools have a different approach to teaching than public schools. Chief of Staff for the Madison Metropolitan School District Kelly Ruppel said the board needs to make sure the systems are compatible before approving the application.
“That’s the intent and the reason why we need a plan ahead of the proposal,” Ruppel said. “So we know what it is you’re proposing and ensuring it’s in line with our values as a school district.”
Isthmus Montessori co-founder Melissa Droessler said they are optimistic about the final vote.
“I see this working everyday, when I worked for Milwaukee public schools, I saw it working everyday. so we see it work and I know..I know, it’s going to happen.”
The final vote is scheduled for January 30th.NBC 15
Today’s Cap Times in Madison has a story on Monday’s School Board Meeting:
Madison Metropolitan School District charters are approved, monitored and accountable to the board. Other district charters include Nuestro Mundo Elementary School, Wright Middle School and Badger Rock Middle School.
IMA opened in 2012 and wants to become an MMSD charter to bring Montessori education to all interested families, regardless of income. The private school serves about 80 students from 3K to 15 years old. Currently, the average cost of tuition is $1,180 per month. If the school were to become a public charter school, there would be no cost to attend.
Maria Montessori developed the education model in the early 20th century. Montessori schools emphasize a free-flowing environment where students have a choice in their learning. Teachers structure their classrooms to allow students to explore concepts in three-hour time blocks. Children learn in “planes,” mixed age groups spanning three-year intervals. This model encourages younger students to learn from their older peers and gives older students a chance to reinforce and teach concepts they already covered to their younger classmates.
For over an hour on Monday evening, supporters praised IMA and the Montessori model as a space where children with varying cognitive abilities can learn and thrive.
Madison native Casey Schmitt urged the board to remember that the goal of district-sponsored charters is to produce innovative educational models that, ideally, benefit all MMSD students.
“When you have a Montessori school as part of the system, you’ve got a laboratory in shop,” Schmitt said. “Having an in-house Montessori will be extremely beneficial, not only to IMA but to the entire district at large in terms of development and collaboration.”
Suah Lim is from Korea and has two biracial children who attend IMA. She said IMA was the most diverse Montessori school she toured in the Madison area, but wants the board to approve the charter to make it more accessible to more students of color and lower-income families.
“I am in support of public Montessori so more minority children can access the wonderful Montessori method,” she said. “I also have other family and friends who would like to send their kids to Montessori, but they are not able to afford it.”
About a half-dozen IMA students spoke to the board about how much they love being a part of classrooms that allow them the autonomy to explore learning.
“I love my school because I can choose exactly what I want,” said Charlotte, 10.
In an interview with the Cap Times before Monday’s board meeting, IMA co-heads Melissa Droessler and Carrie Marlette expressed hope the board will approve the charter.
“There are many cities and rural areas where Montessori is a public option. We wanted to bring it to the children and families of Madison. Accessibility is our main goal,” Droessler said.
Marlette believes the Montessori model is one way to bolster academic achievement for all students.
“It meets so many different children at their own developmental needs that it would really naturally approach and probably ease, if not completely solve, so many of the gap issues that are existing right now in education,” she said.
The board will make the final decision whether or not to approve the charter proposal on Jan. 30.The Cap Times
IMA was featured on Wisconsin’s WMTV, NBC15 television station this week, in a story titled Montessori Students Raise Chickens To Learn Business And Civics Lessons.
The video features IMA adolescent student Sophie Griffith-Oh, and the story features Allison Bloom, IMA’s Adolescent Program teacher.
Allison Bloom, the teacher overseeing the project, says students are encouraged to explore and pursue their own interests.
“They’re learning all the basics of business,” she said. “A little bit about farming and biology and all of these things too.”
One of the biggest lessons of the project ended up being in civic engagement. While developing the project, students learned their school is in a zone that doesn’t allow chicken raising. The students had to work with city officials to get the city ordinance amended, so they could properly take care of the chickens on school property.
“The civics lesson was an amazing bonus to that because these students really feel if something needs to happen or they want something to happen, they feel empowered to do it themselves,” Bloom said.
IMA was featured in the Wisconsin State Journal this week, in a story titled School Spotlight: Chickens Provide Civics, Other Lessons for Isthmus Montessori Students.
The story features Sophie Griffith-Oh from IMA’s adolescent class, Clarity Watson from IMA’s elementary class, and Allison Bloom, IMA’s adolescent teacher.
Allison Bloom, who works as a guide in the adolescent-aged room, said the hands-on experience taught students about biology, physics, husbandry, carpentry and diplomacy, and they will delve into math as the project evolves. It also included a lesson about death, since some of the eggs did not result in successful hatches.
The school has applied to become Madison’s first public Montessori school, and Bloom cited the chicken project as an example of what older students can achieve through its curriculum.