1/16/2o17 • Flint, Michigan • Flint Community Schools (the Flint, Michigan public school district) has launched the district’s only public Montessori classroom this year, opening this fall with a single K-1 classroom of 13 children at Durant Tuuri Mott Elementary. If community interest supports expansion, the program could extend to K-2 and possibly a second classroom next year. The program is in part modeled on and inspired by nearby Okemos Public Montessori, which was one of two Montessori National Blue Ribbon Schools this year (story on MontessoriPublic here). News stories on the Flint program here and here.
The program got its start with a group of parents in a local private Montessori Children’s House program who wanted to extend the Montessori experience past preschool and to make it available to all Flint families. The group has organized as Montessori for Flint and serves as an advisory group to the public program.
MontessoriPublic spoke to Michele Stinson, a veteran Flint early childhood educator who had been thinking of a career change before the Montessori opportunity came along. Michele is at the beginning of her Montessori journey — she’s partway through an online training course — but she is already feeling the transformation. “I feel completely renewed–like a brand new teacher—the kids are so receptive to learning. It’s like it was 25 years ago when I began teaching.”
David worked in private Montessori for more than twenty years as a parent, three-to-six year-old and adolescent teacher, administrator, writer, speaker, and advocate. In 2016 he began working with the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector. David lives in Portland, Oregon.
