With all due respect, the ABAR curriculum has only required extra bandwidth because a few vocal parents have been opposing it and it is unfortunate that this has even become an issue in 2021. The vast majority of Lee families support the ABAR curriculum. Lee staff do focus on reading, writing, math, and many other areas, and it has been a tough year for all schools and students. While children certainly need to learn the basics, there is also so much more to a quality education and Lee is trying to prepare children to be part of an inclusive and respectful community of socially responsible citizens with many other important skills, understanding, acceptance, compassion, and empathy. |
Fundamentally, Lee is not focused on traditional academics. Their test results speak for themselves. They do not welcome diverse points of view. Their Board meetings do not allow for robust dialogue and they have refused to respond in public to questions. A lot of parents are leaving or are considering it. During their last Board meeting they highlighted their SEL work when low reading/ELA scores were mentioned. If you are a parent who would like a school that focuses on reading, math, and science Lee is not the best school for your family. Lee appears to mean well, but keep in mind their executive director is not a professional educator. They have had issues dealing with parents who have a more robust epistemic understanding of pedagogy and academic content. |
Montessori is inherently and intentionally not traditional education. |
Lee imbeds constructs that are beyond the efficacy demonstrated through the empirical based Montessori framework. Lee has struggled with academics where other Montessori based constructs have succeeded in the domains of math and reading. Also, the lack of a willingness for an open and honest dialogue is a systematic issue with Lee, not the Montessori framework. |
LOL. We have had experience at three schools now and Lee is far and away the most open and honest with almost an over-willingness to listen to parents and open themselves up to dialogue. If you aren't participating in the dialogue, you aren't paying attention to the opportunities. |
One of the items I have paid attention to is that Lee used to allow some Q&A at their Board meetings. This year when the questions became more complex they stopped the Q&A. They were very explicit during their last Board meeting that they would only listen to comments and not answer questions. It was a very closed minded approach. I am used to schools that foster more dialogue and not less. Glad to hear Lee’s level of openness works for your family. |
I would love to see a head-to-head comparison of Langdon Montessori vs Lee Montessori. I know that overall, Langdon's students score higher than Lee's, even though Langdon has more at-risk, homeless, and ESL students. |
Have you moved your child/ren to a different school? |
I have a kid in Elementary at Lee and we are concerned about academic progress. I think some of the Elementary teachers are good and some not as good or at least not as experienced. Our kid was flailing for years and it was brushed off as “one day it will just click.” While that may be true for some kids, when our 9 year old wasn’t reading at grade level and didn’t have basic math understanding, we got concerned. A year ago we proactively had him evaluated and he was found to have several learning disabilities. We haven’t given up on the school, but are keeping a close eye on what happens academically. We think it’s overall a good place and hope things can turn around for our kid. Another side consideration is that there has been a lot of community disagreement this year about including gender identity and anti-racism lessons. I understand that this issue inspires passion on all sides. For us, our primary concern is whether our kid is learning anything at all. This mirrors our experience to a point where it's almost creepy. |
And I’m sure you turned a blind eye to the invitation that’s was distributed this week literally ENCOURAGING you to join the equity and inclusion group. It makes me squirm to know my children are in a school where you think your opinion matters beyond all others…the excuses (and your own bias) are beyond comprehension. |
Excuse the grammatical errors. Seeing red over here. |
There is a fenced grassy area next to the Takoma campus, although honestly they don't take the children out much during the day. The after school program takes the kids out after school. |
As an individual who was born with a disability and who is a Lee parent, your ableism and comfort with using bigoted language such as "blind eye" to make your point is concerning. The email Lee sent this week was a positive sign in the context of their DEI work. Given Lee's current achievement gap there is much work to be done. The earlier post was to provide feedback, from one perspective, regarding the academic nature of the institution and their response to pedagogical critique. One of the great things about DC is that we can choose. I am glad our children go to a school that is against ableism. |
Are you saying something? Can you please translate? Honestly, to a parent not obsessed with their charter school's Montessori implementation, this sounds like angry gooblygook with borderline grammar that imbeds it more firmly in gooblygookiness. |
Wow the Lee crazies out in full force. Don’t see you too often, hello. |