Anonymous wrote:Lee and Shining Stars admit in K and beyond. Seems like they do just fine with it. As PPs said, if LAMB can't admit past PK4, it says a lot about the school.

Anonymous wrote:PP here who is a LAMB parent.

I see the value in admitting Kindergarteners. However, I do think that admitting Kindergartners would negatively affect how well the Primary classrooms run. The Kindergarteners who have spent two years at LAMB are expected to show leadership in the primary classroom by helping the younger children. In my child's class, Ks are paired with 3 year olds and the start of the school year and the Kindergartners become the PreK3 kids special helpers and assistants in the classroom. (This is super sweet and was lovely for my child). Also, Kindergarteners are the best at following the norms of the Montessori classroom, partially because they have been there the longest and partially because they are older. If you have a bunch of new Ks coming in with new PreK3s and 4s coming in, you will have fewer kids that can support the teachers and more kids that need to be trained in the norms of the classroom and may be creating behavioral problems. I very much doubt that the classrooms would run as well. (Also add to this the fact that most of the new Kindergarteners won't understand what the teacher is saying in Spanish......).

For the above reasons, I sincerely hope that my PK4 student gets out of the primary classroom before any change to admit Kindergarteners would be made.

Please note that the above is not LAMB's fault, this is how Montessori works. It is very different from IB, language immersion, or all of the other comparisons that are being made here. You are comparing apples with oranges -- doesn't make any sense to make those comparison.

Anonymous wrote:Was the meeting about whether to expand? If they want to expand, they should start admitting and backfilling in older grades.

If they want to stay the current size, I'm fine with them continuing not to backfill.

Anonymous wrote:PP here who is a LAMB parent.

I see the value in admitting Kindergarteners. However, I do think that admitting Kindergartners would negatively affect how well the Primary classrooms run. The Kindergarteners who have spent two years at LAMB are expected to show leadership in the primary classroom by helping the younger children. In my child's class, Ks are paired with 3 year olds and the start of the school year and the Kindergartners become the PreK3 kids special helpers and assistants in the classroom. (This is super sweet and was lovely for my child). Also, Kindergarteners are the best at following the norms of the Montessori classroom, partially because they have been there the longest and partially because they are older. If you have a bunch of new Ks coming in with new PreK3s and 4s coming in, you will have fewer kids that can support the teachers and more kids that need to be trained in the norms of the classroom and may be creating behavioral problems. I very much doubt that the classrooms would run as well. (Also add to this the fact that most of the new Kindergarteners won't understand what the teacher is saying in Spanish......).

For the above reasons, I sincerely hope that my PK4 student gets out of the primary classroom before any change to admit Kindergarteners would be made.

Please note that the above is not LAMB's fault, this is how Montessori works. It is very different from IB, language immersion, or all of the other comparisons that are being made here. You are comparing apples with oranges -- doesn't make any sense to make those comparison.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

LAMB also thought they couldn't handle running their illegal dual-lottery. Once they were forced to adapt to following the law, it turns out it worked just fine. Some people do the right thing voluntarily. Obviously in LAMB's case a little arm-twisting is necessary.

Actually, the dual language aspect of the LAMB program has been significantly weakened without the dual lottery. (This is why Oyster keeps it's dual lottery). The younger LAMB cohorts have much fewer spanish dominant kids. The result is English dominance throughout the classrooms and limited opportunities for English speaker to learn from Spanish speakers.
- LAMB parent

Anonymous wrote:

LAMB also thought they couldn't handle running their illegal dual-lottery. Once they were forced to adapt to following the law, it turns out it worked just fine. Some people do the right thing voluntarily. Obviously in LAMB's case a little arm-twisting is necessary.