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Wildflower Schools

Celebrating Wildflower Seedlings 2022-23

Every year, a new group of Wildflower schools peeks through the soil for the first time. Each new school is the culmination of a lifetime of learning and dreaming for its founders; collectively, they are a remarkable and diverse group of educators with visions for a more beautiful world. In the following pages, you will read the stories of 21 Teacher Leaders whose skills, passions, and life experiences sparked the creation of beautiful, community-embedded schools. This group includes two pairs of longtime Montessori teachers/guides and Montessori trainers who were inspired to branch out and create outdoor elementary nature schools, several parents who left teaching positions in homogeneous Montessori schools to create microschools where their Black sons could experience belonging, social entrepreneurs who came to Montessori from careers in finance, corporate accounting, engineering, and Disney hospitality, multilingual educators who immigrated from Trinidad and Tobago, Somalia and Cuba, and one person whose teacher preparation experiences occurred in Tanzania, the Gambia and Indigenous villages in Alaska.

 

This year’s group of 12 new schools includes Wildflower’s first schools in Florida, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., the first site under Wildflower’s D.C. charter, and the first school explicitly connected to a faith community. Three quarters of these beautiful new schools are led by a Black, Indigenous or Founding Teacher Leader of Color.

 

Download Wildflower Seedlings

 

Together with those who came before them and shared their wisdom, they are now part of a growing network of 62 Wildflower schools across 17 states plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. They also represent beautiful examples for the hundreds of educators who are in the early stages of imagining their own Wildflower school in the years ahead. As you read these stories, I hope you’ll be inspired by the visions that led them to create their schools and the way these school models are connecting to children and families who have been searching for a school designed with them in mind. We look forward to watching their unfolding journey and growth into exactly what they are meant to become.

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Montessori for Our Collective Liberation

Wildflower Schools – Minnesota hosted a virtual town hall with a panel of Black and Indigenous education leaders and institution-builders from around the United States. The panelists shared the life experiences, spiritual preparation, and practical skills they build upon to use Montessori education as a tool for racial justice and liberation.

 

Koren Clark–a Wildflower partner and founder of Know Thyself Inc.–described education as the practice of holding space for the child’s mental, physical, and spiritual transformation: “What Montessori requires that teachers do is to mirror their own work of inner transformation–to hold space for the spiritual transformation of these precious beings.” 

 

Janice LaFloe–founder and director of the Montessori American Indian Childcare Center–described how she discovered in Montessori the same respect for the sacred nature of children that she learned through her upbringing. Montessori’s concept of the spiritual embryo of the child echoes Ojibwe cultural star knowledge–the idea that every child has a path that they designed for themselves before they are born.

 

Siobhan Brown is a citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, a teaching artist, and a founding member of the Weetumuw School. Her advice to educators committed to liberatory Montessori education is to be your whole self at all times and under all circumstances:

 

“There is nothing about your heritage, race, or identity that needs to change to be in this pedagogy. It is designed to reach everyone. And if you feel it is not–-if there is a training program or something that is not inclusive or anti-racist–speak up and find allies who will support you. These training programs need you to be you. All of the training programs within the pedagogy need to be called in, particularly when they are complicit in the active erasure of Black and Brown children, their experiences, and their aspects of identity.”

 

Siobhan’s colleague, Dr. Nitana Greendeer is the Weetumuw School’s Language Development Director and lovingly describes their educational practice as “Wampassori.” She shared that their Montessori environment includes language and culture to help students understand that their culture and brilliance are one and the same. 

 

Dr. Ayize Sabater, Executive Director of AMI USA, shared how his experience as a Black parent prepared him to nourish children when school systems and broader society too often didn’t recognize their brilliance or humanity. Pastor Jessica Jackson shared Dr. Ayize’s experience as a Black mother. As she works to launch Morning Glory Montessori, a faith-centered Montessori school for Black boys, she is focused on staying free, staying well, and staying open: 

 

“I can’t usher in liberation for anyone if I’m not free myself …If children don’t see us as free and see us well, how can they understand what liberation is?”

 

For more brilliance from the compelling panel, watch the full recording below. If you are interested in starting your own liberatory Montessori program in Minnesota or want to learn more about Wildflower schools, you can reach out to Brandon Royce-Diop ([email protected]).

A Wildflower By Any Other Name…

While all Wildflower schools are micro-Montessori schools, guided by the same set of 9 principles, the network of Teacher Leaders see limitless possibilities in their formation. Wildflower schools grow in a variety of environments, including non-profit independent schools aiming to serve an intentionally diverse community of families and as charter public schools run by Teacher Leaders in partnership with their local communities. The Founding Teacher Leaders select the structure of their school based on the best fit for their community and local context, and with the support of the Wildflower Foundation, a network of operations guides and Teacher Leaders who have gone before. 

 

Ultimately, what makes a Wildflower school is not its structure or its governance model, but the  shared beliefs on the part of its Teacher Leaders in principles such as teacher autonomy, a decentralized network and an equitable and accessible Montessori education. We encourage creative thinking and are eager to work with teachers, policymakers and community leaders to envision models that even more fully embrace Wildflower’s principles. 

 

Here are ways that Wildflower schools have blossomed to date:

 

Public charter schools: Wildflower’s charter schools operate under the same principles as all Wildflower schools. Each Wildflower Public charter school expands access to Montessori by offering free programming for K-12 students and access to scholarships for preK students. The schools receive public funding and are governed by local charter school laws. Wildflower’s decentralized structure allows Teacher Leaders to autonomously operate their small schools (approximately 20-30 kids) and distributes authority and accountability across the Teacher Leaders that make up the charter community of schools. Currently, there are Wildflower charter schools in Minnesota and New York, and a new one will open in Washington, D.C. in fall 2022. 

 

Independently run private schools: The predominant model of a Montessori school in the U.S. is an independently run, nonprofit private school, where families pay tuition, many on an income-based sliding scale or by providing scholarships to qualifying families. To increase access further to a Montessori education, some Wildflower schools in states such as Massachusetts, Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana accept state education vouchers or local childcare subsidies to cover a portion of a student’s tuition. In Massachusetts, for example, vouchers are awarded to families on an income-based sliding scale that they can then use to pay tuition and fees. Wildflower schools have also sparked innovative co-location partnerships with local affordable housing developments or shelters for vulnerable populations. Each of these pathways, along with Wildflower schools’ flexible tuition programs, allow access to a more diverse student body than could otherwise afford a private Montessori school.  

 

District partnership: True to Wildflower’s beliefs in iteration and experimentation, the network is always open to new ways of planting Wildflower seeds. One possibility we have begun to explore is a partnership with a school district. The first foray into this is a shared professional development program with Somerville (Massachusetts) Public Schools where public school teachers and Teacher Leaders in the Wildflower network learn together. The hope is to one day open a Wildflower school in partnership with a district, as a potential innovation school fully embracing the network’s unifying core values and teacher autonomies.  

 

If you are interested in exploring the possibility of starting a Wildflower school in your community, contact us, join the upcoming Teacher Leader voices session; or you can check out the current opportunities to become a Teacher Leader in one of our existing regional hubs around the country.

EVENT: Next Teacher Leader Stories Conversation on January 20th!

As we begin 2022, we know educators are working harder than ever to serve children and families. For those who are eager to learn more about the lived experience of Wildflower Teacher Leaders in designing and operating liberatory microschools with their communities, we invite you to join the next Teacher Leader Stories conversation. Perhaps you are considering leading a Wildflower School as the next step in your journey? If so, these conversations are a great opportunity to learn more about different ways Wildflower schools come to life in communities across the country.   

 

On January 20th, join us for an evening of storytelling and learning with Wildflower Teacher Leaders, Angelina Hawley-Dolan and Mario Benabe. 

 

Thursday, January 20th

6:30 PM EST

*Virtual Event*

Registration: https://bit.ly/TLstories2022

 

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

–Maia Blankenship & Rebecca H. Snyder

Fox Flower Montessori: Where Students Lead the Way

The North Carolina elementary school encourages involvement, reflection from students

True to one of Maria Montessori’s core beliefs, leaders at Fox Flower Montessori, a Wildflower school just outside Asheville, North Carolina, never pass up an opportunity to let students lead. Every week, the elementary students gather with their teachers for a “business meeting,” where they are included in the decision-making process about everything from the school’s aesthetic and materials purchased to its operations. 

A recent classroom renovation was done during school hours so students could watch progress and help with projects along the way, including building shoe racks and a “bunny mansion” for rescued classroom rabbit, Radish. Other business meeting decisions have included determining recess guidelines, lunch time protocols, a school library organization system, and how classroom materials would be arranged on shelves. Students also helped teachers decide which materials for practical life lessons on knitting and sewing the school would use, and then figuring out how they might acquire them: either through bringing them from home or fundraising to purchase them.

By involving the students so deeply in so much of Fox Flower’s day-to-day activities, Teacher Leader Canaan Brackins and his co-Teacher Leader, wife Cara Beth Brackins, model the non-hierarchical structure of the Wildflower organization itself. 

 

“The students have a great deal of say about what goes on here. They have this great sense of ownership,” Canaan said. “Our business meetings are like a forum. We talk a lot about boundaries, and we do everything based on consensus. In the end, there aren’t many decisions we don’t all end up agreeing with.”

Fox Flower students play with classroom pet, Radish the rabbit.

In their third school year nestled in the mountains of western North Carolina, Fox Flower is located inside a square brick building that used to house a daycare center. The micro-school for ages 6-12 shares the space with another Wildflower school, Hawthorn, a primary program for ages 3-6. Having gone through the process of opening a school at the same time, leaders at the two schools operate as a close-knit team, consulting each other on hiring decisions and enrollment projections.

 

Inside, Fox Flower is warmly lit and covered with braided rugs. Together with their sister school, Cara Beth and Canaan think of the classrooms in their joint space as a series of cozy apartments.

Fox Flower students work on a math lesson.

In addition to employing traditional Montessori teaching practices, Canaan says Fox Flower focuses heavily on a Montessori approach to Peace Education, which teaches children to view all interactions through the lenses of self-awareness, community awareness, environmental awareness, and cultural awareness. While this can lead to some big questions and deep discussions, it can also provide a more mindful framework for everyday tasks. 

 

“We are always asking the students questions, and we talk about how not all questions have answers, but sometimes are just for reflection,” he said. “But then sometimes, when we are simply cleaning up from lunch or cleaning up the classroom, that can be an opportunity to talk about and ask questions about environmental awareness.”

A similar emphasis on questions and reflection convinced Canaan and Cara Beth that Wildflower was a good fit for them in the first place. The veteran Montessori educators always knew they wanted to open their own school, but when an acquaintance introduced them to Wildflower, it felt right. 

 

“When we learned about Wildflower, we realized we already agreed with all the Wildflower principles. And there were some things, such as the strong emphasis on equity, that we hadn’t thought as deeply about as Wildflower already had. We were really thankful for that extra push to be even more thoughtful when considering some of these topics,” Canaan said. “It’s been such a great fit, in part because it aligned so perfectly with what our goals were already.”

A Fox Flower student works on a spelling and writing lesson.

Fox Flower students work on a geography lesson together.

Cara Beth and Canaan Brackins.

Coming Home: Schools’ affordable housing and community partnerships are helping fulfill Wildflower’s purpose

The Virginia Coffee House, permanent housing for former residents of Lydia’s House and named after Cincinnati Civil Rights activist Virginia Coffey, sits above Azalea Montessori.

How do you bring an affordable Montessori education to communities that historically haven’t had access to it? 

 

It’s a question at the heart of Wildflower, and one that innovative Teacher Leaders grapple with regularly. Through the years, Wildflower schools have addressed the tension by embracing strategies such as city and state-subsidized tuition vouchers, creating tuition-free public charter schools, and pursuing school district partnerships. But recently, various teachers across the network have unlocked a piece of the puzzle that they hope will pave the way for an even greater number of students to access a Wildflower education. They are co-locating their schools in the epicenters of the communities that need them most: affordable housing complexes, shelters for women and children, and transitional housing. 

 

Creating deep and lasting partnerships with existing organizations in a community isn’t new for Wildflower. As Teacher Leaders have sourced buildings for their microschools in the past, they have followed a common Montessori practice of co-locating with houses of worship, as is the case for Marigold and Allium, both of which are located inside churches in Massachusetts.

 

The new co-location partnerships Teacher Leaders have forged with various providers of affordable housing are the sort of exciting and mutually beneficial relationships that will help the network make Wildflower schools more accessible to all families. In each partnership, the Wildflower school rents space from a housing nonprofit at a below-market rate, and enrollment is prioritized for children who live there. Taking advantage of the subsidized rent allows higher salaries for the teachers and, in schools with tuition, more affordable fees for enrolled families.

“It’s really meaningful to everyone involved; we’re forming partnerships with organizations who know and have been serving their communities for many years,” said Ali Scholes, a Wildflower Foundation partner spearheading efforts to grow more co-location partnerships. “Part of why families are so excited to send their children to co-located schools is because of the schools’ explicit commitment to centering families who have been historically marginalized.”

Jeana Olszewski, founding Teacher Leader at Azalea in Norwood, Ohio, said co-locating with apartments for former residents of the women’s and children’s shelter Lydia’s House has created a warm community. Jeana tells the story of two single mothers who likely would not have met if not for Azalea, but whose bonds have grown outside the classroom. One woman is a former resident of Lydia’s house, and the other lives in a neighboring community, and was drawn to Azalea. From playdates to sleepovers to helping navigate each other’s work schedules, they have both grown to appreciate the sense of family the small school provides.

“Our school community feels like a really organic and genuine expression of the Wildflower principles. Our students love each other and they’re so close; it’s like having 25 cousins 

together,” Jeana said. “We’re physically located in this urban neighborhood, there’s always a bit of a ruckus outside, but we also have a children’s garden across the street with chickens and a bunny. When we’re walking down the street to the several nearby parks, people who live in the neighborhood are looking for us. They’re always waving.”

 

Norwood, a city outside Cincinnati, is full of Montessori schools of all types: private, public, faith-based. But Jeana, a longtime local educator and a veteran Montessori teacher and parent, said that before Azalea opened its doors, Montessori schools may have been plentiful, but a Montessori education was anything but accessible. 

 

“We have all this Montessori in the city, but it’s often the wealthy, privileged kids who get it,” she said. “Even the public Montessori schools are mostly located in the nicer neighborhoods.”

Karla Vasquez-Torres, a Teacher Leader at Mariposa in northern Puerto Rico, agrees. Her school is located inside a shelter for women and children called Hogar Ruth. The exact location is not public in order to protect the safety of their students, who all either live at the shelter or have parents who work there. A Wildflower veteran, Karla previously ran Flamboyan, a Montessori school in partnership with the local public school district. 

“In Puerto Rico, Montessori is an elite privilege. But the moment I became certified, I knew I wanted to help bring Montessori education to kids who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it. When I saw and lived the results of what Wildflower can be, I knew I had to open this up to more kids.”

 

Because the majority of the students at Mariposa have experienced violence in their home, Karla said they come to school with little agency and are often scared to jump in and participate in lessons.

 

“These kids come in without a voice…but here, they find a place where they can talk and someone will listen to and respect them. They learn that violence is not the solution,” she said. “When you start seeing those kids being owners of their space, it’s just beautiful. They find a place where they can be themselves and be free.”

 

***

 

While the Teacher Leaders say there is no question that a Wildflower education is particularly meaningful and effective for the students they serve, there are plenty of operational benefits to partnering with these housing organizations, many of which are longtime nonprofits and highly respected in their communities. 

 

When the pandemic hit in Spring 2020, leaders of the nonprofit Lydia’s House, which runs the transitional housing where Azalea is located, came to Jeana and offered to waive their rent for six months while they figured out how to operate school during an uncertain time.  

 

“Partnering with a nonprofit like that, they will have your back,” Jeana said. 

 

Karla from Mariposa said that Hogar Ruth, the 30-year-old women’s shelter where their school is located, has been instrumental in helping them identify and access grant funding they might not have otherwise known about. 

 

Claire Ricker, Director of Real Estate at Coalition for a Better Acre (CBA), said their partnership with Wildflower has been a critical piece of their efforts to transform the Haverhill neighborhood.

 

“If you’re trying to improve lives, you have to think about changing many elements of a single neighborhood, in a systematic way, at a steady pace. With this in mind we felt that a partnership with Wildflower Schools was crucial to meeting our goals of not only providing safe, stable affordable housing, but also to use our physical space to further invigorate the neighborhood.”

 

***

 

Teacher Leader Janet Begin has been laying the groundwork for these co-location partnerships for years. Her own school, Marigold, is co-located within a Haverhill, Massachusetts church, but Janet, who believes strongly in using Montessori for social justice, knew there was even more potential. A lightbulb first went on three years ago after meeting with the housing nonprofit CBA and realizing their mission and Wildflower’s were closely aligned. Later, a parent at Marigold, Nicole Randall, expressed interest in Montessori education, and Janet tucked it away. Finally, the stars aligned this year after Nicole, now a Montessori-trained teacher with several years as an educator under her belt, agreed to start Snowdrop, a toddler program located in the same complex as some of CBA’s affordable housing. At least 25 percent of the available seats at Snowdrop will be reserved for residents of the housing complex, and many will receive state education vouchers to help pay a portion of their tuition. 

 

“Being a teacher, you plant these seeds because it’s just what you do, and then years later you start to see it all pay off,” Janet said. “There’s just a lot of people pushing for this and we’re all really excited to be here.”

With Snowdrop’s opening, Wildflower leaders like Ali are hoping that the model becomes a pilot for future collaborations. Currently, the Wildflower Foundation is in the process of making connections with other affordable housing nonprofits to support new Teacher Leaders who want to pursue similar opportunities. 

 

While the natural diversity that results from these co-location partnerships is undoubtedly positive for the students, Nicole Randall, the Teacher Leader who will run Snowdrop starting in September, said she is also grateful for the opportunity it will give her.

 

“I’m excited for myself, to learn and to grow,” she said. “ I’m really excited about the exchange of ideas.” 

CO-LOCATED WILDFLOWER SCHOOLS

Azalea

Location: Norwood, Ohio

Co-location: Permanent housing for former guests of Lydia’s House, a shelter for women and children 

Opened in: September 2019

 

Snowdrop

Location: Haverhill, Massachusetts 

Co-location: Coalition for a Better Acre, a nonprofit that provides affordable housing 

Opened in: Anticipated opening September 2021

 

Marigold

Location: Haverhill, Massachusetts

Partnership: Trinity Episcopal Church 

Opened in: 2015

 

Mariposa

Location: Puerto Rico

Partnership: Hogar Ruth, a shelter for women and children 

Opened in: January 2021

 

Miramelinda

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts 

Partnership: Just-a-Start, an affordable housing nonprofit

Opened in: Fall 2018

 

Sundrops 

Location: San Jose, California 

Partnership:  El Rancho Verde, an affordable housing community located in northeast San Jose

Opened in: February 2021

 

Water Lily

Location: St. Paul, Minnesota

Partnership: The Family Place, A day shelter for families experiencing homelessness

Opened in:

Students at Azalea wear rain suits while participating in the school’s outdoor program, “Azalea Outdoors.”

Wildflower Charter School Sprouts in DC

The seeds of Wildflower’s next hub have been planted in Washington, DC. Under a public charter approved in April 2021 – the only one of five applications the DC Public Charter School Board approved – the first Wildflower Montessori school in DC will open in Fall 2022.

 

In this Q&A, Regional Site Entrepreneur Maia Blankenship previews the arrival of Wildflower in the District of Columbia. She shares what families can expect from these teacher-led, micro, Montessori schools and how DC-area Montessori teachers can join the effort to establish liberatory learning environments in and around our nation’s capital.

 

How would you describe what Wildflower will add to the DC public school landscape? 

Imagine small, tuition-free public schools – about 25 students – throughout the District of Columbia, tucked into neighborhoods and led by dynamic teachers dedicated to creating a liberatory learning environment in partnership with the community. DC Wildflower Public Charter School will create spaces for educators and communities to design classroom sites where each child’s identity is affirmed and their genius is unleashed. We believe that intentionally small, Montessori learning environments enable the liberation of children, families and educators from the structures that limit opportunity. Together we can and must accelerate the journey to a more racially just and equitable world.

How will Wildflower schools build and support community in DC?

Every school site will foster deep relationships with the community in which it is embedded. Teacher Leaders will build relationships that go beyond the students and families they serve by partnering with and tapping the unique assets of their community. Families and students will thrive in a vibrant school community that reflects who they are, the assets they bring, as well as the deep investment of educators, volunteers, local businesses, and nonprofits.

 

We believe that communities of color, especially, know what they need to thrive – it is often resources and access that are in short supply. The community’s ideas and needs should be central in the design of schools. Educators, families and children, advocates and invested community partners will collaborate to create Wildflower classroom sites that reflect the genius, beauty, cultural wealth and assets of the neighborhood.

In a city with a lot of school choices already, what differentiates Wildflower?

Each Wildflower school is intentionally small and directly reflects the community. We provide authentic, tuition-free Montessori learning environments that are anti-bias, anti-racist, inclusive, identify-affirming and healing. Our schools are co-founded by educators who serve as guides (Montessori’s term for teachers) and also serve as the school leaders, managing the day-to-day operations and administration of the school. 

Tell us about the leaders of DC Wildflower Public Charter School and their mission.

Our two founding Teacher Leaders, Zanso (Zani) Dalili-Ortique and Ebony Marshman, are creating a community-embedded liberatory learning environment east of the Anacostia River –  a school centered on Black students in a center of DC’s Black community. As local Black Montessorians, Ebony and Zani have deep experience as educators in DC, which, despite its increasing diversity and strength, remains stifled by historic and present-day racism as well as discriminatory policies and practices.

 

Also, we are thrilled that Rachel Kimboko has joined DCWPCS as our Founding Executive Director of Stakeholder Engagement. A longtime contributor to DC’s Montessori community, Rachel will partner with Zani, Ebony and the board of directors to keep us on track to open in August 2022. 

How is educational equity woven into Wildflower DC’s mission?

Our approach is grounded in the fact that the Montessori method is a holistic, time-tested curriculum that is keenly attuned to a child’s development and that, at its roots, is a tool for liberation. Providing a Montessori education faithfully and effectively requires both readiness of the environment (a physical space, within the community and saturated with identity-affirming materials and curriculum) and readiness of the people, especially teachers and staff who are committed to liberation and to disrupting all forms of oppression and who are armed with the tools to implement with purpose. Across all sites this includes:

  • Teacher-led and community-activated spaces that center Black people, Indigenous people, Latinx people and all people of color
  • Small and safe settings that are nimble and adapt to community needs
  • Intentionally anti-racist and anti-bias approach  
  • Identity-affirming, inclusive spaces 
  • Freedom to make decisions, move and communicate – with limits 
  • Focus on developing intrinsic motivation instead of extrinsic rewards 
  • Hands-on, experiential, challenging curriculum

What are opportunities to stay connected and get involved in Wildflower’s DC regional hub?

We invite educators and families committed to liberatory, culturally affirming, community-embedded microschools to design with us. Public charter schools are one way that Wildflowers will grow in the DC region, but there are other ways, too. We are seeking Teacher Leaders interested in founding a toddler program in DC or other teacher-led Montessori programs in the metro area. 

Learn more about our work at https://wildflowerschools.org/dc/, and contact us at [email protected] to get involved. On social media, follow Wildflower DC’s development on Instagram @wildflowerschools.dc and on Facebook.

Wildflower Statement: Justice for George Floyd

Four days went by with no arrests as our city burned. No arrests, after the public murder of George Floyd only a half mile from one of our schools. Words have been hard to come by to describe our anguish. How many black and brown men, women and children sit in jail awaiting justice with far less evidence – for minor infractions, for just living – while the police officers who killed George Floyd sat free, in the comfort of their homes? 

And while our city burns, how many of us sit free in the comfort of our homes? Feeling sad, yes, but with the freedom to turn the channel, scroll down the feed. Selective outrage is not enough. We must cry out today and every day until there is justice. Justice for George Floyd and for every Black man, woman, and child that has died at the hands of state-sanctioned police brutality in our country. 

Each of us has the responsibility to act. And we know we haven’t done enough. But the shame of having not done enough must not stop us from doing everything we can now and moving forward. Are you a parent of a white child? Talk to your child about the ways racism plagues our country. Are you the parent of a black, brown or bi-racial child? Communities of color are grieving, for our collective loss and for the impact this has on every child. The Wildflower community is here to support you. Are you a teacher? Learn about your own racial identity, build your consciousness of how this impacts your practice, and teach your students to be anti-racist. Are you an organizational leader? Make space for healing in the midst of the constant traumas endured by our black and brown brothers and sisters in this country. Are you an employee? Speak up when you see subtle and not so subtle acts of racism.  

Take action today, then set a recurring reminder for yourself to take action again tomorrow, next week, next month, and the month after that. When that reminder goes off, ask yourself if you are doing all you can, and then do more. So many don’t have the choice to opt out. Please don’t. 

Teachers and other Wildflower partners are taking action in a number of ways as we grieve. Join us: 

While the Wildflower network of schools comprises many communities around the U.S., four Wildflower Schools as well as the organization that supports our network are based in Minneapolis. The injustice anguishing our Minneapolis partners is the latest diminishment of Black lives in America. We work and hope for the day when no Wildflower community–or any community–experiences such injustices.

Explore Wildflower’s Roots in Research

In January of 2014, Wildflower Montessori School opened its doors for the first time. Almost immediately, it was clear that something special had happened. Months later, a second Wildflower school sprouted, followed by a third. Today, there are over 20 schools in five states and Puerto Rico, with more in development each year.

For the 5th anniversary of our first school, we decided to revisit Wildflower’s roots and document the rationale for our model. We have assembled it all together in a new paper we are excited to share with you, “Our Roots in Research: The Ideas and Evidence Behind Wildflower Schools.”

In part, we created this for ourselves, to help our own growing community connect with the founding ideas. In part, we created it to challenge the conventional wisdom that shapes too much of modern education. But most importantly, we created it to help us develop a strong, connected community of peers who would share ideas and feedback with us and conduct research – to help us test our intuition, evaluate new ideas and incorporate external insights.