My six year old son is being abused. Not by a parent or a by a care giver, but by a school system that has found a way to benefit financially from willful neglect. He attends a charter school in Pasco county, Countryside Montessori Elementary. The school has policies that create a stage for fraud that is masked beneath a broken financial system operating on an already starving educational budget. As a parental unit we need to know where to go to protect our child from this abuse. With over 30 years of experience and degrees in education we are embarrassed that it has taken this personal affront to raise these questions that even we can not answer.
Montessori as an ideology and school is an amazing environment for children. The belief system is that every child can learn. We sent our son to a school we believed followed Montessori’s practice of “helping each child grow toward independence by building confidence, competence, self-esteem and respect for others.” This particular school is not upholding this belief system or, as it turns out, any respect for the public funds that go toward keeping the school up and running.
Countryside has policies in place that prevent a troubled student from receiving any assistance until after the FTE deadline for federal funds has passed. Ironic, huh? Countryside has a policy of not notifying parents of any learning or behavioral issues for a minimum of two weeks once school has started. During this two weeks they document daily what they observe but they do not take action to intervene if they see a student that could be in need of extra assistance. They don’t want to risk losing out on additional funds that are allotted for a student they can classify as ESE. On week three, they are supposed to meet with the parents to ‘discuss’ an intervention plan. This plan is never recorded or written down, officially, or kept within school records.
Countryside policy states it takes one month to determine if a child can perform at grade level. This drags out the creation of a real action plan and leaves the child in a place of limbo as they are observed having difficulty, but no intervention or additional instruction is provided during this time. All observations are recorded, including playfulness during lunch, but no one on one teaching or assistance with work is provided. They do, however, redirect children who are off task, taking note of such redirection. When work is found to be incorrect, and a child is obviously not grasping the lesson, they are marked off but not corrected. Instead they are pushed forward without having understood the foundation of their lesson plans that continually build upon one another.
Countryside even has a policy that discourages parents who are willing to assist their child during the school day. Parents are not permitted to assist a student, even if they are obviously struggling until after the diagnostic assessment is recorded and reported. Once this assessment is finalized and FTE deadlines have passed, the restriction is lifted on parental involvement. Students who have been off track for three of the ten month long school year are finally allowed to receive additional attention during school hours, once they have been classified as ESE, after October has passed and federal funds have been assigned.
I am ashamed to even have to admit that it is only due to my son’s cry for help that I am even aware of this offense. At the end of his second week in the first grade he sat me down to ask me if I was “on his side.” For a father to hear his six year old son ask such a question is beyond disturbing. He explained, as best he could, how he did not want to go back to school. He was aware of being labeled negatively by the staff. He was being actively discouraged by his instructor. His isolation and lack of any hint of success was destroying his self image and he did not want to return to face the people who were tearing him down. It was like being shot in the gut; I could have died. It was not until I called for meetings with the teachers and principal, who had not communicated anything to our family, that the list of financially motivated policies were revealed to me.
For a school that parades a name of distinction within the educational community to have so many policies that do anything but support the students’ education, YET still be operating and receiving federal funds, is an absolute travesty. Their policies are blatantly focused on finances and at what cost? My six year old son does not want to go to school anymore because he is frustrated and feeling dejected. His instructors are willfully neglecting him even when the independent learning environment is designed to provide additional time and ability to invest in students that are having a rough time. Should my child play catch up for the rest of the school year, once he has been classified in a way that suits Countryside financially? How many students a year do they need to classify to meet their financial goals? How many kids are being abused for financial gain? Maria Montessori would roll over in her grave to know this was happening under her banner and in her name.
After the decades of our lives we have dedicated to the education of children, the years we have been accustomed to the operating structure of education, we as a family are left with few options and no assistance or consideration. What actions would the average parents with hope of appealing such abhorrent behavior by a school be? Who is protecting the store house from the ‘educators’ who do not value each child as being worthy of educating?

Sincerely
Miguel Torres Albino