Arlington group brings county parents together

Parents in the oldest public Montessori program in the U.S. are using new media to advance the district’s Montessori program.

The Arlington, VA, district, in 1970 became the first in the U.S. to offer free, public Montessori preschool, now supports 17 Primary classrooms as part of 10 schools and eight Elementary classrooms located within Drew Elementary. It also offers a middle school program. More than 550 students are part of the program.

Each school has a PTA, but until 2006, there was no collective parent voice for Montessori programming. It was then that Monique O’Grady and Karla Hagan helped to create the Arlington Montessori Action Committee (AMAC).

The group has a website and listserv, offering background and sharing information crucial to the future of Montessori education in the county’s school system. It also offers updates on events, which has proved helpful in creating a sense of community.

“We knew we need another organization to capture the important aspects of Montessori,” O’Grady said. “We wanted to pull together all children in Arlington County … to support parents … to get word out about Montessori. We wanted to grow the program and increase understanding and exposure”

She began with the largest concentration of parents, at the Drew School elementary site, and built from there.

“The goal,” she said, “was to build a Montessori community among the tentacles of Montessori in Arlington leading up to the 100th anniversary [of Montessori’s first casa in 2007].

“We decided not only to reach to public but also private schools, to create a community in that sense—public and private.” There is no competition, she said. Her son attended a private Montessori school until an opening occurred at Drew. She said all the private Montessori schools in the county have waiting lists.

The district reserves two-thirds of its classroom slots for children from families earning less than 80 percent of median income ($82,000). Many families that cannot get in to the district program often end up enrolling in private Montessori schools.

AMAC has a good working relationship with the district. Officials sent out flyers and purchased T-shirts for every child. “It took seriously the job of working to educate parents,” said O’Grady.

The organization’s initial goals have largely been achieved:

• tracking the academic performance of graduates of the district’s Montessori programs. A report by the Hanover Research Council in 2008 found Montessori students outperformed peers in the district, although gains tended to disappear by middle school.
  
• supporting growth of the current program to better meet demand, especially at the preschool level. The district has agreed to look at demand in creating new classrooms.
  
• develop the middle school program. The program opened in 2007.
  
• support hiring of a Montessori-trained coordinator at the district to support the program. No success on that, yet.
  
• improved promotion of the program as a choice option.
  

AMAC charges a $12 membership fee and delivers a variety of formal and informal connections, including annual picnics and a video O’Grady created to help with parent nights. It brought in Tim Nee, former principal of an award-winning Montessori magnet school in Hartford, CT, to speak to parents.

The group has been active as the district looks to close schools and better utilize facilities. It has taken a cooperative stance. Says O’Grady: “the district can be fixed by choice, not force. We continue to remind the leaders of the system to look at Montessori.”

Pat Murphy, the district’s new superintendent, has met with the group. “Space is at a premium,” O’Grady said. She would like to see a dedicated Montessori elementary site, as the group formally proposed in 2008, but the district is still mulling over options. “We are asking Murphy to create a plan,” O’Grady said. “We are frustrated the county does not come forward with a plan … how do we grow? Do we want to grow?”

“We are willing to move to have a full Montessori experience?” she asked. “I have never had a Montessori parent say they don’t want to move. I don’t know if everyone has even been engaged on that level.”

Margaret Eldridge, who succeeded O’Grady as president, and other AMAC leaders met with district officials over the summer and won assurance the district will create a plan for the Montessori program and develop cohesive staff development and centralized leadership—the top two priorities the Montessori teachers articulated at their two meetings with district leadership.

“We speak for many Montessori parents,” O’Grady said. “We have 100 on our listserv. Many signed a petition to grow the program by adding a lower El class at Drew in 2009 school. My son is in that class.

“Parental advocacy is a very powerful thing,” she continued. “It may take time. Parents should come together. Create organizations that go beyond one schools, bring together as many people as possible … create a plan try to have a conversation with your school system. Ask how you can be helpful.”

Her advice to other parents and parent groups: “Look for an advocate in the public system. We have several. Get your teachers involved. Interact with your teachers, find out what their needs are. Use them as a resource. Use them to understanding how to help them help our children in the classroom.”

This article contains corrections to the name of the group, the spelling of Margaret Eldridge's name and the participation of co-founded Karla Hagan.