New Montessori School Caters To Anacostia’s Underprivileged Students

Oftentimes, when people muse about Montessori schools, they imagine private facilities in prosperous surroundings that cater specifically to children of privileged backgrounds.

However, thanks to the vision of a group of avant-garde educators, a myth of sorts — in the form of the new Lee Montessori School located in one of D.C.’s most disadvantaged communities — faces dismantlement.

Although some 1,200 students are currently attending Montessori schools west of the river, “there has not been a full Montessori school east of the Potomac,” said Alex Brown, founding head of the new facility at the Birney School building on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Southeast.

Brown, a former fifth-grade teacher who graduated magna cum laude from Old Dominion University, noted that while there are several Montessori schools in D.C. for parents in search of “something different than traditional model educational offerings,” Lee officials felt the need for more high-performing schools with more diverse models east of the river……….……………………..