Echinacea Montessori School ABAR Statement

 

Echinacea Montessori School acknowledges that every person at any moment can experience privilege and oppression. As educators, it is our responsibility to tackle these issues through reflections of ourselves and the treatment of children, families, and staff in our environment.  We take an informed, dynamic approach to education that works to identify and respond to discriminatory policies and practices in education. Our school community is founded upon Dr. Montessori’s philosophy that education is the catalyst to peace.  It is our role as members of this community to mindfully model and guide children to their roles in creating social justice and equity, providing educational experiences in which all students reach their full potential as learners.   By providing guidance on equity, we hope to encourage socially aware and responsible beings in their communities: locally, nationally, and globally.
 

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In affecting social change, Echinacea Montessori will work with children in a safe and supportive environment where they can communicate and investigate their individual interests and passions together in their community.  Our staff will also engage in investigations of our own identity through anti-bias, anti-racist training each year and continuous reflection. Recognizing that our experiences affect others, we will provide opportunities for children and families to explore and celebrate each other’s differences and similarities, to build honor and respect for Humanity’s differences, recognize bias, and to begin to learn how and why to speak up for what is right. Montessori education, while providing many academic opportunities also specifically teaches how to exist in a rich and varied social group that addresses race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, physical & learning abilities, and economic class; purposefully encouraging and empowering children to take an active, problem-solving approach to explore and create strategies for improving social conditions of their communities.  We know that this work is never done and it will continue with each passing school year, but it needs to be done as a community of people lifting one another up in hopes of new intellectual, emotional, and social development.  At Echinacea Montessori we are lifelong learners.