Our Board members meet once a month. All board meetings are open to the public.
COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Information and Updates
UPDATE: May 6, 2020, 6:34pm
Summer School to open June 1
Dear families,
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Thank you for your continued support. Donations continue to come in and help us through this extended closure. We can't thank you enough for this awesome show of support!
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After surveying families and staff alike, and based on the best local recommendations, we plan to reopen our school for summer school beginning Monday, June 1. The current form says that we will open summer school on June 8. If you want the extra week, just let us know! I have attached the summer school enrollment form that is found on our website.
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We will not reopen our regular Montessori classes for the rest of the school year. With best practices currently being keeping group sizes, including teachers, at 10 or under, we would be unable to accommodate our families safely. We also felt that opening on May 18th seemed too early.
Practices we plan to put into place during summer school:
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Group sizes of ten.
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Siblings kept in same room, whenever possible.
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Same teachers working with the group.
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Strict hand washing on entry into the program each day, and throughout the day.
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Parents/guardians asked to remain in hallway at pick up and drop off times.
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Temperature check on entry into the program. Children should remain home for 72 hours beyond last fever.
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High touch points cleaned frequently.
There may be other recommendations we adopt, such as children bringing a small pencil case of their own pencils, crayons and markers, etc. to use at school.
Our current summer program runs from 8:30 - 5:30. Currently we have limited interest in the 3:30 - 5;30 time slot. If this continues, we may have to focus on the 8:30 - 3:30 school day.
We hope that our summer school schedule allows us to reopen safely and on a small scale, practicing small group sizes and social distancing, while also allowing us to have fun.
We are continuing our weekly story times with our preschool classes and toddler classes, and daily Zooms with our Maple Room students throughout the month of May. The Zoom link posted to class dojo and sent out previously via email is good for the whole month.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MSofPCommunity/ Our community group now has 72 members. Thanks for joining and sharing ideas, support and photos!
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
UPDATE: April 07, 2020, 5:15pm
Updates on School Closures, Virtual Circle Times, and Resources
Dear families,
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We hope you are well.
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Governor Inslee has now closed all private and public K-12 schools for the rest of the semester. That means that our Maple Room must remain closed to in-person schooling. We will continue with our daily activities via Zoom.
For our preschool and toddler parents, we will stay closed through May 1, the original extension of the closure for WA state. We will make the best decision we can on whether the preschool and toddler classes can open before the end of the school year, based on the recommendations of federal, local and state agencies.
We are continuing to fill spaces for the following academic year, and are also planning for summer school, which will be based on a week to week basis, to allow for flexibility as we navigate out of the extended closures and stay at home recommendations. Summer school applications will be sent home next Tuesday.
Our closed Montessori School of Pullman Facebook group continues to grow in numbers. We now have almost 60 members, and we post suggestions for at home activities daily. Thanks, families, to contributing and sharing ideas.
We now have a section of our website dedicated to learning activities and resources, many of them put together for you by our teachers. Follow the link to access Ms. Lynn’s story time, Ms. Jane reading lots of favorite stories, and great themed ideas for learning by Ms. Christina and Ms. Jackie.
I recommend checking out Ms. Jackie’s Easter Extravaganza lesson ideas for this week.
Lastly, we are so very grateful for families who have donated partial or full tuition to help us weather the crisis. Thank you so much.
Virtual Circle times with the teachers:
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Please join us for a few songs, a story, and a chance to say hi to teachers and friends! Join with video and audio, if possible, so we can see everyone. This invitation will also be sent home via Class Dojo and email.
UPDATE: March 19, 2020, 9:57am
Directory and Education Resources for Families
Dear Families,
Please find the directory attached (in the email that was sent out). It is a great time to reach out to families via calls and FaceTime so your children can chat with their friends.
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Here is a link to a blogpost I prepared for our families. It includes info on talking with your children about what is happening, a suggested daily schedule and some links to resources for fun activities to do at home. We also plan to post ideas to our Facebook page.
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Here is a link to ideas for easy practical life activities for the home.
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Here is a link to an article about talking to your child about the virus.
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We will be periodically sending home activity ideas, story recordings, Zoom options, etc. to stay in touch! The Leadership Team will be working both remotely and from the office throughout the closure, and so we will be responding to emails and phone calls, and taking care of business.
We send our very best wishes to all of our families.
UPDATE: March 18, 2020, 5:29pm
Important Information Regarding School Closure and Tuition for Families
Dear families,
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Out of an abundance of caution, the Board of the Montessori School of Pullman voted on 3/16/2020 to temporarily close the school through April 24th, following the guidelines suggested for K-12 public and private schools throughout the state of WA. In our community, Pullman Parks and Recreation preschool and the WSU Children's Center have also temporarily closed. At a meeting of the childcare leadership group this morning, many of the centers remaining open reported daily attendance was down to less than a third of what is typical.
We are so sorry for the challenges and inconvenience to our families during this challenging time. Please know that this decision was not made lightly, and the board members have spent many hours over the last few days gathering information, polling staff members, and considering options. Our decision was made with the health of our children, families and employees at the top of the deciding factors.
As of now, we plan to reopen on April 27th. If, due to changing circumstances, the school reopens at a later date, tuition for any partial months will be prorated. For those of you who have set up automatic bank payments, please do notify your bank.
While Montessori is closed, there will be no invoices sent out for April tuition. Unfortunately, our school relies on tuition to pay our staff, benefits and overhead. In order to help us through this challenging time, we ask that families, who are able, continue to pay their tuition in full, or in part. Please note that if your family is able to pay tuition (or any portion of it) while we are closed, your payment will be considered a 100% tax deductible donation to our school. Please also consider sharing this ask with your giving circle, including grandparents.
We also want to recognize that this is a time of great financial insecurity and some of our families will be more impacted by the closures and social distancing than others. If your family cannot afford to pay tuition (or a portion of it) when school restarts, please contact us. All inquiries are confidential.
Beginning tomorrow, we will be periodically sending home activity ideas, story recordings, Zoom options, etc. to stay in touch!
The leadership team will be working both remotely and from the office throughout the closure, and so will be responding to emails and phone calls, and taking care of business.
On behalf of the Board and Leadership Team, we send our very best wishes to all of our families.
UPDATE: March 16, 2020, 8:04pm
The Montessori School of Pullman is Closed
Dear families and staff,
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The board voted this evening to close the Montessori School of Pullman through April 24th, to match the closure of K-12 schools mandated by the Governor's decree.
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More information and details will be sent home soon.
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We apologize for the short notice. This is an ever evolving situation, and we are doing our best to keep up with information coming in.
UPDATE: March 13, 2020, 8:11pm
Important Information for Families About School Closure
Dear families,
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As many of you may already be aware, Governor Inslee has decreed that all K-12 public and private schools close at midnight on Monday, March 16th, through Friday, April 24th, with first day due back on April 27th.
Our board will meet on Monday, March 16th, to consider the implications for the Montessori School of Pullman. Obviously, we have no choice but to close the elementary program. We will hold regular Maple class on Monday, and close that classroom at the end of the day Monday. More information will be sent home to Maple Room parents on Monday.
For your planning purposes only. Decisions will be made at the board meeting on Monday, March 16th. An announcement will be made on Tuesday, March 17th.
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As of this moment, we are leaning towards our childcare facilities remaining open next week, to give families time to make plans. Please note that next week is WSU's spring break. There will be far fewer people in town, and no WSU volunteers at our center.
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We are considering closing from March 23rd, through the end of our spring break, April 10th. Please note that this situation can change at any time due to new information, requirements and scenarios.
For next week, we are asking that:
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if you are able to keep your child at home, please do so.
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if you are able to limit your child's time at school, please do so.
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If anyone in your family is sick, please keep your child home.
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if anyone in your home is elderly or has a compromised immune system or underlying health condition that makes them vulnerable to the virus, please keep your child home
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if you have travelled to an area with active Coronavirus cases, please keep your child home for fourteen days, to self-quarantine.
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we will continue with extra hand washing, and cleaning of frequently touched surfaces.
Please know that this situation we are facing is one we have never faced before, so we are learning as we go. This is also a fluid situation, so decisions made may need to be altered.
As we previously mentioned, at this moment we are not planning to make a reduction in tuition. Please do contact the office if this would cause undue financial hardship for your family. No family will be disenrolled due to financial hardship.
Please note that we will not be accepting any new children in any of our programs at this time.
We are also cancelling our Benefit Dinner. We will refund ticket sales. This just seems like the right thing to do under the circumstances.
We will test our emergency email to text system on Monday, so we can be prepared for emergency situations.
We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as we all work together to get through this crisis.