Elementary parents it is time to look ahead.  Please join the committee to help work towards Breakthrough and other Monstessori students having a preference to enter Sojourner Truth.  The information below is provided by Jenn DePalma (Tello's Mom / Capuli) who has been engaged in the process this year.  Please read the recap, join the committee and Jenn will start our school conversation as to how we can help. 

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Currently, there is no preference for Montessori feeder schools to enter Sojourner Truth. In order to make preference possible the DC council has to pass legislation.

So far Justin Lessek from Truth has been heading up this effort along with parent champions from each Montessori school, (I ended up as de facto rep simply because I picked it up at the beginning of the year, and scheduled the meetings with Justin etc, I am totally open to a more qualified parent taking over, etc) There was a November & February meeting where we brainstormed our approach, and took some tasks home.

We are currently researching where our council members are on this issue in preparation for the language we need to develop to share with them, and the best approach to sway their support in our direction. We are also researching possible opposition from DCPS who currently have the most successful feeder programs and might feel this is competitive in that regard.

There is precedent for feeder charter schools based on Pedagogy, DC international school is fed by bilingual schools, so we know it is possible.

The Mayor tried to pass this through in her budget, but it was pulled as someone on the council thought it wasn’t appropriate in the budget.

At some point, we will make an ask of parents to possibly volunteer their time speaking with the council in small 2/3 person meetings, and there will likely be a letter-writing campaign, so they can show up with proof of support. But we are still figuring out the most successful approach, as this is a somewhat sensitive topic in DC. Right now it would be great to know of any parents with ties or connections to the council, or the DC legislative process.

We have created a specific committee for this issue on Konstella and it would be a great place for me to answer questions and disseminate information to those who want to know. And it would be great to build the coalition so we can more easily ask for letters, spread the language around the topic and possibly recruit for a presence at a hearing.

- Jenn