Teachers, parents and students urge board to preserve Tremont Montessori after AMS accreditation

Multiple teachers, parents and students asked the Cleveland Metropolitan Board of Education to keep Tremont Montessori intact during the district’s consolidation planning, saying the program’s accreditation and preschool access should be preserved.

Sandra Flowers, a CTU chapter chair and longtime Montessori teacher, and others recounted a multi‑decade history of district Montessori programs and said Tremont’s accreditation is a recent, consequential milestone. “In February 2025, we became the first fully accredited public Montessori elementary school in the state of Ohio,” teacher Susan Conrad said during public comment, adding that the program draws students from roughly 34 zip codes and includes a children’s‑house preschool that the speakers said is foundational to the model.

Why it matters: Speakers said authentic Montessori implementation requires multi‑age classrooms, trained staff, uninterrupted work cycles and specific materials; they warned that a consolidation that treats Montessori classrooms as equivalent to traditional classrooms would risk accreditation and limit access for families who cannot afford private Montessori tuition.

Specific asks: Speakers requested that CMSD (1) preserve both Montessori programs citywide as intact programs, (2) keep preschool (children’s house) seats for three‑year cycles, (3) move an entire Montessori program together (students, teachers, administrators and paraprofessionals) if a building cannot be renovated, and (4) maintain the staffing and enrollment structures that enabled AMS accreditation.

Board context and district notes: Speakers noted district facility needs and past modernization commitments but emphasized that program fidelity requires specialized enrollment limits and classroom configuration not captured by traditional square‑foot enrollment calculations. Teachers described a years‑long accreditation process that included a 90‑page self‑study and an on‑site peer review.

Next steps: The board did not take a vote on program placement during the meeting. Board members heard the testimony during the public participation segment and later continued to monitoring business items; the speakers asked the board to explicitly consider Montessori fidelity when finalizing the Building Brighter Futures plan.