The first time I experienced the Marcia Brady of Delaware was at the House Education Committee meeting on House Bill 50 last spring. She spoke in opposition to the bill to the ire of many parents and teachers across Delaware. Courtney Fox is the Head of School at First State Montessori Academy. As the below Charter School Accountability Committee report shows, this school can do no wrong. Marcia Brady, the oldest sister on the Brady Bunch, could also do no wrong. This caused her younger sisters to envy and disdain her. Such is the way of Delaware education at times. There is always a bright star in the crowd. And the comments from Kendall Massett with the Delaware Charter Schools Network really wanted to make me heave! But is all it appears to be at the groovy school? Below is CSAC’s initial report, followed by a very interesting letter from a company I’ve written about before on here, and finally the public comments received for this modification request to increase their enrollment and to take over the Del Met building. The last public comment raises some serious eyebrows, including my own…
The Season Of Myths 
Kevin, , the interest in Montessori thing is as easy as taking a tour or even talking for a moment to someone from the school in the community. They are at the expo and other events. Have held info sessions at local libraries, etc. It’s easy. The Montessori model is very different. There are mixed grade classrooms, no traditional desks, no traditional homework packets. Very different and something that families and students should be aware of. “Interest” in this case is awareness of the differences, that’s all.
Ask about it – learn about it. Heck, e mail me. This doesn’t cherry pick anything.
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The questions raised in the final comment have been asked since FSMA opened. According to DOE’s “school profiles” for this school year, FSMA students are 65% white and 8% low-income. The two districts surrounding it are 44% white, 35% low-income (Red Clay) and 32% white, 41% low-income (Christina); those figures include suburban regions with less poverty than the city. So FSMA could clearly be doing more to attract and retain a student population more reflective of its surrounding communities (or even of the countywide student population). No pressure in that direction from its authorizer?
Note that Cab and Newark Charter, also very popular “choice” options, also have low-income % around 8. That seems to be the sweet spot for appealing to middle class public school consumers in the area (if you can’t achieve the 2% attained via testing by CSW).
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it’s especially sad to see this happening at an elementary school. the goal should be to give children the best start possible regardless of their background. this could be a place that helps children enter middle school and high school on equal ground, but instead it’s just adding to the divide. nothing will change if people don’t speak out.
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I agree! It is really sad–waste of an opportunity.
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For families who “choose not to apply” to charters such as NCS or Montessori, I am sure many don’t even realize those are public schools their child is eligible for. Which is how you get to 8% low income without testing.
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hi. i think the practices of fsma are fair and comprehensive. interest becomes a priority only because the montessori method is not of interest to everyone, much like a dual-language school like aspirea is not of high-priority to many families. if you are to apply to fsma, because it’s a school in your neighborhood, without carrying any interest in montessori principles, then how detrimental will that student be in the classroom? (in terms of congruence, not as a human!) i do not know why the five-mile radius is not ‘more of a priority’, but i believe the admissions process does indeed actively reach out to all areas throughout delaware. it just depends on who researches montessori/has experience with it, and who thinks it is an important addition to the learning process. shown by the small number of montessori schools across the country, and the small classroom size within those schools, one can only surmise that is it not a hot topic among majority of families in delaware or beyond, regardleses of SES, ethnicity or neighborhood. we are ultimately creatures of comfort, and stick to the path most traveled. a school like this, or any other magnet, charter, votech, etc has enrollment because of interest and the desire to trek the brambly, gravel path. please see the good nature of such schools. i know it doesn’t sell like trash-talking does, but in a society deprived of an identity, the journey to recreating one for delaware schools could stand to be a lot less hotheaded. thank you.
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Wow! It appears you don’t get what everyone has been saying. Are you trying to tell me every single applicant expressed interest in the Montessori method? How many of the applicants even know what the Montessori method is? Does this school have a small classroom size? But my biggest question: if we ask questions and complain about their enrollment preferences, that is trash-talking? Sure, calling their leader “Marcia Brady” is a little hotheaded, but this is my blog and I’ll do what I want with it. For your information, nothing “sells” on this blog. I don’t charge a dime, nor do I get paid for it. I’m smelling some serious elitism in your comments… “the desire to seek the brambly, gravel path”… thanks for your comments…
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I think that a stipulation should be put on all of these charter schools claiming that their school panders to their geographical radius: They should have to go pound-the-pavement (pamphlet in hand) to educate their neighbors to inform them of all of the benefits their child will receive if they choose to enroll. I say this, because I am quite certain that the folks living in the high-poverty areas have no idea what some charter schools are all about.
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No idea who Jenn is, but maybe she should join that sorry CSAC team which appears to olnly authorize losing propositions in DE Charterland. Bet it would be a great fit for a truly dysfunctional organization.
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For the record that Jenn is not me.
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I knew that! 😉
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The school has needed a lottery due to consistently having hundreds of students on the waiting list. No one is hand picked. Even staff children and siblings are not totally guaranteed spots with hundreds on the waiting list. It is important to understand the Montessori method, or at least show an interest in it, so parents and children know what to expect when starting out at a new, different school. It can be detrimental to everyone involved when expectations do not align.
The entire purpose of Charter schools is to create choices for parents across the state so they are not limited to their feeder schools. I would wonder about the statistics of families with school-aged children within the 5 mile radius choosing other Charter schools, applying and not being admitted to FSMA, or at least knowing about their access to these other schools before making such generalizations.
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