Is there really an effort to "gut Montessori" happening or are we blowing this out of proportion? 

A basic level of commitment to the Montessori method is required to make Montessori work. The basic commitment must include a multi-grade classroom and staffing it with a teacher who is trained to lead a Montessori three-grade classroom. The multi-grade classroom is one of the main mechanisms the Montessori method relies on. In Montessori, the teacher doesn't stand at the chalkboard and "give lessons" to kids at desks working on worksheets. Instead, kids learn from one another while engaging with self-correcting educational hands-on materials.  As older kids use the materials and younger kids look on, the older child gains leadership skills while cementing their own knowledge. Younger kids develop curiosity and excitement from seeing older kids model good work/learning skills. This system works (as millions of families paying for it at private schools can attest) if you have three grades in a class and if the teacher is trained more as a facilitator of this format. A Montessori-trained and certified teacher brings skills to introduce materials properly, empower each child to learn within the classroom system,  and closely observe the individual child's motivation and challenges. Montessori teaches kids to learn how to learn from their own motivation, rather than how to copy work an adult "is making them do." If you don't have a sufficient age range of kids in the class working as a "watch one-do one-teach one" teamwork, then there is no framework for Montessori learning. If you have a teacher who only knows how to teach via the traditional blackboard and worksheet methods, they are way in over their heads in a class with three grades. We all know you can't teach three grades at once the traditional way.  

So, yes, the recurring administrative steps toward disbanding of grades and non-Montessori staffing do "gut" the Montessori program. The main thrust of recurring proposals from the administration is to disband 3-grade grouping and the administration has repeatedly staffed teaching positions with educators who are not trained and not willing to be trained, a leadership failure that undercuts our school's ability to function and serve students in the way taxpayers are promised when we call this a Montessori school.  

Why does Montessori put three grades in one classroom? Are our kids getting ripped off?

When those of us who went to traditional elementary schools imagine a class with three grades in it, it can be hard to imagine how that can possibly work. But, our kids are not getting ripped off; they are learning in a different way. They are in a totally different structure from a traditional classroom, one that harnesses their natural curiosity, social learning, and experimentation to teach them how to learn anything. Have you ever heard of learning by a "Watch one- Do one- Teach one" method? It works right? That's at the core of Montessori. In a Montessori classroom, older kids (or ones who have advanced further in that area because of their own passion) "teach" less experienced kids, after each child has had a formal personal introduction to the material by a teacher. In the meantime, the younger kids absorb all kinds of "unteachable" positive attitudes toward learning from the older kids. The older kids learn the material at an even more advanced level as they work to figure out how to explain it and they gain essential confidence and leadership. But there are many more benefits. To learn more and understand why many parents spend thousands of dollars per year to get these multi-age classroom benefits in expensive private Montessori schools, read here, here and here.

Our kids DO get ripped off when they are in a 3-grad classroom without a teacher trained in the Montessori method. That is why we are all speaking out. Because this is happening in certain classrooms in our school and it is creates unfair disparities between one room and the next. 

My kid is at GW and I don't like what I am seeing in my classroom.  

If you don't like what you are seeing, the best course of action is to file a complaint up the chain of command, as others are doing. 

Also, we would love to hear from you and support you in getting what your learner needs. We want all kids at GW to succeed. Raising a kid takes a village and we are your village! We know there are classrooms where kids (and their teachers) are slipping through the cracks. The district has not been supporting the school in the way they promised in recent years.  Help us find exactly where there are gaps and let's work together with the school to get them fixed. One great thing to look into is whether or not the teachers in your kid's class have been Montessori trained. If they haven't, know that that is not the teacher's fault, but it IS our community's problem. Please sign our group letter. Let's get the teachers trained. Also, please tell us your story here. 

What is your question? 

Please write to us here. Chances are someone else has the same question and we will add Qs and As here.