Dear families,
It has been such a pleasure to welcome your children to a new school year. Seeing so many energetic and smiling faces running into the school building every morning is a wonderfully inspiring way to start the work day, and it is a delight to work so closely with such an amazing group of families. On behalf of the staff, thank you for entrusting your children to Baltimore Montessori Public. We all look forward to a year of partnership and collaboration with you to ensure we fulfill our mission for every child.
Though we’re barely three weeks into the school year, classroom guides have jumped right into their work with the children, and there is a wonderful energy in the school building. The classrooms are humming away with children and guides collaborating to establish community, welcome new students, and settle into routines focused on meaningful work and authentic engagement. Students have also had the opportunity to engage in rich co-curricular programming: In the Art Room, Ms Qianfei and her students are already deep into their second project of the year, Ms Anna has welcomed dozens of young researchers to the Library, Mr Patrick’s Student Kitchen is in full swing, and the children continue to stay active at recess and in Gym with Coach Mark. Several after school activities are also underway, with information about additional opportunities to follow shortly.
Key to a healthy learning environment and improved outcomes for every student is a robust partnership between home and school, with opportunities for open communication about the challenges that confront us, space to work together on solutions, and structures to ensure meaningful, ongoing dialogue. We’d like to review the communication pathways already in place, and let you know about some expanded opportunities to promote discussion, provide venues for meaningful dialogue, and give voice to our most important stakeholders: parents and children.
Mission Roundtable
The Mission Roundtable is a structure our school has employed with success for several years. Once or twice annually, staff and parents gather for updates on priorities, learn about new initiatives, and offer feedback in guided discussion groups. New for this year, Mission Roundtables will include a forum component for parents to raise concerns by submitting an agenda item ahead of time, offer feedback, propose ideas, ask questions, and weigh in more meaningfully on critical issues. This year, Baltimore Montessori Public will host three Mission Roundtables:- October 23rd
- January 15th
- May 14th
Mission Roundtable topics will be communicated in advance. Either the October or January session will be devoted to presenting the Strategic Plan, currently in the Board’s hands for a final review of priority initiatives, and the May meeting will include an opportunity for parents to provide input into budget priorities for the following school year. Free childcare is available for students enrolled at Baltimore Montessori Public. Please let us know if you have questions about the expanded format for Mission Roundtables, or if you would like to offer feedback into its structure.
Student Leadership Forum
This year, our school will also take steps to formalize student input into leadership, beginning with small focus groups of students in AC (7th & 8th) and UE (4th - 6th), with discussion oriented toward Core Values.
Coffee & Conversation
The school hosts monthly Coffee & Conversations on various topics announced ahead of time. Typically, Coffee & Conversation is led by Ms Allison, but will at times include opportunities to hear from other staff specialists. This year, Coffee & Conversation will conclude with time allotted to general feedback and questions. Parents of students of all ages are encouraged to attend, and children too young to attend school are always welcome.
Parent Workshops
We’ll also host additional ongoing parent learning opportunities, beginning this month with Montessori 101 on Tuesday, September 23rd from 5:30 - 6:30 pm. All parents are encouraged to join for an engaging workshop to learn more about what goes on in the classrooms and to discuss ways we can partner together to support learning at home. Free childcare is available for students enrolled at Baltimore Montessori Public.
Director’s Updates
More in-depth information relevant to the whole school community will be communicated in Director’s Updates like this one, sent throughout the year. Through these updates, we’ll provide information on specific topics and update you on our progress with priorities and school-wide initiatives. Your feedback to these updates is always welcome.
School-Wide Communications
In additional to notifications sent as needed, the school publishes two regular weekly communications, the Friday eFolder and the Weekly eUpdate sent on Sunday evenings, to gather all pertinent announcements, reminders, flyers, and forms in one place. The school also maintains a Facebook page with links to useful articles, glimpses of student work, timely reminders, and information about community events and opportunities. We also publish a quarterly, thematic newsletters that celebrate our diverse community with updates from the classrooms, samples of student work, parent education resources, and information about events in and around our community.
As a certified green school, most school communications are sent via email. If electronic communication does not work for you, please contact the Main Office so we can be sure our communications are reaching you in a way that works for you.
Communication with Guides
Parents can expect weekly, whole class updates from the children’s guide about lessons and activities in the classroom. On an approximately monthly basis, guides will contact parents directly via email to discuss observations related to individual children.
Previously, guides had used an online tool, Montessori Compass, to track and plan lessons. In addition to being costly, Montessori Compass proved to be cumbersome for guides to navigate and parents found the sign-in and reply processes inconvenient. Based on this feedback, guides are using an internal tracking tool, and will email parents directly to facilitate simple, two-way communication.
Children’s House and Elementary guides also send home reports three times a year: a Conference Report in October and comprehensive Progress Reports in January and June. These report dates coincide roughly with Parent-Guide Conference days, scheduled this year for:- Friday, October 17th
- Thursday, January 29th
- during the month of June (final date pending the last day of school)
In the Adolescent Community, reports are sent home at the close of each cycle. Parents can also monitor their children’s work progress by viewing the cycle graphs students use to track work completion.
Parents are welcomed to contact guides directly anytime, with questions or concerns. Please allow at least 24 hours for a response, as guides have little time to access email during the school day. If email communication does not work for you, please contact your child’s guide to discuss your preferred mode of contact.
Communication Between Parents
In order to provide parents with access to class lists and directory information, Baltimore Montessori Public will implement an online communication platform, ClassroomParent. After signing up, parents can set a privacy level they’re comfortable with, view rosters, make carpool connections, and use its volunteer tool to connect to opportunities to help out around the school. Parents will receive more information about how to sign on to ClassroomParent shortly.
Questions and Concerns
At our New Family Orientation, we shared a document entitled “I have a question about…” to help families new to our school navigate a new environment. As we continue our work to clarify roles and designate leads for different areas of the school’s operations, this document may be useful to all families. For questions or concerns related to your child, it is usually best to start with the classroom guide; however, please feel free to get in touch with Allison or Monica anytime to discuss an issue or set up a time to talk in person.
Purpose and Function of the Board
As a charter school within Baltimore City Public Schools, Baltimore Montessori Public is governed by a non-profit Board of Directors. The role of the Board of Directors for Baltimore Montessori Public is to provide oversight for safety and security protocols, ensure all areas of our school are adequately resourced, and think strategically about the school’s position in the charter landscape. The Board works in collaboration with school leadership to uphold the mission and vision, fulfill all terms of our contract with City Schools, ensure compliance with laws and regulation, and oversee financial management and academic performance, but the Board is not involved with the day-to-day operations of the school.
Board members are volunteers who serve a term of three years and contribute a diversity of perspectives, experiences, and skills to our school. The Board’s quarterly meetings are open to the public and notes are posted to the school website. Ten minutes is reserved for public comment at the close of each meeting. (Board of Directors for SY2014-15.)
Note for New Families
Welcome to Baltimore Montessori Public! We’re enjoying getting to know your children and supporting them as they acclimate to our school environment. Though for this year, we accepted the smallest number of new families in our school’s brief history, we look forward to staying in touch to make sure you are fully connected to our school community. Please feel free to reach out any time you have a question or concern.
Thank you to all our families for your continued support of school’s unique mission to build a diverse community of joyfully engaged learners. We’re counting on your partnership and collaboration for a wonderful school year, and as we move forward with our work on school priorities, your feedback remains essential and always welcome.
Kind regards,
Our mission is to build a diverse and respectful community of joyfully engaged learners by providing a holistic Montessori environment that supports individual fulfillment, compassion, self-discipline, lifelong learning and a deep awareness of our responsibility to contribute meaningfully to our world.
“Our care of the children should be governed not by the desire to ‘make them learn things,’ but by the endeavor always to keep burning within them the light which is called intelligence.”
Dr. Maria Montessori
