DMA student receives handwritten note from Vice President Biden

 

Note from Vice President Joe Biden

Note from Vice President Joe Biden

A lower elementary Downtown Montessori Academy student wrote a letter to Vice President Biden, which the Vice President responded to with a handwritten note, as detailed in an article picked up by local news and the Associated Press.

“Dear Vice President Biden, I have a great idea to help make our country safer, better and the best. I think guns should shoot out chocolate bullets. Then no one will get killed and no one will be sad,” wrote Myles, a second-grader in Jenny’s class.

The Vice President wrote back to Myles with a handwritten note, “I am sorry it took me so very long to respond to your letter. I really like your idea. If we had guns that shot chocolate not only would our country be safer, it would be happier. People love chocolate. You are a good boy, Joe Biden.”

School District Performance Report Now Available

Each year, DPI provides public performance reports for all public schools and districts in Wisconsin. The reports each address sections of state or federal reporting requirements. All reports-and the many and varied indicators contained within-should be considered when reviewing a school or district’s annual progress. While some of the same data appears in multiple reports, each serves a distinct purpose under state and federal education laws.
The School District Performance Report serves as a district’s annual public report required under s.115.38 WI Statutes passed in 1991. The report covers a list of topics with comparisons to other districts in the same athletic conference:

  • Achievement Test Results (grades 3, 4, 8 and 10)
  • ACT, AP® Exam, Retention
  • Attendance, Dropouts, Truancy
  • High School Completion, Post-graduation Plans
  • Program Offerings and Participation
  • Staffing, Finance
  • Suspensions and Expulsions

To view our 2012-13 report, click here. (School year not over, not all data is available)
To view our 2011-12 report, click here.

 

DMA Releases Series of Montessori Videos

If you are a part of our Facebook family then you may have already seen some of our promotional video shorts showcasing DMA. We’ve already uploaded a few to our site on our new Videos Page, but you can expect to see more in the next few weeks.

    

Kohl’s Cares Awards DMA Field Trip Grants

Kohls-300x250We just received word that our applications for the Kohl’s Cares Field Trip Grant Program have been approved! The money received from these grants will be applied to field trips for the next school year. We were awarded a little over $2,500, more than enough money for every student to be able to attend a trip next year. Thank you, Kohl’s!

DMA Earns WI Title I High-Progress School Award

We have just received word that Downtown Montessori Academy has earned a Wisconsin Title I High-Progress School Award! This award recognizes student academic achievement and academic progress. A total of 65 schools statewide received a High-Achieving and/or High-Progress Award, only 5 of these schools were charter schools. DMA is proud to be among the highest achieving Title I schools in the state.
To earn this award certain criteria needed to be met, among those:

  • We  have achieved a rating of “Exceeds Expectations” on our Wisconsin School Report Card
  • We have fallen within the top 10 percent of Title I schools experiencing student growth in reading and mathematics
  • We have minimal achievement gaps or have shown evidence of reducing gaps between student subgroups
  • We have met all test participation, absenteeism, and dropout goals

Thank you and congratulations to all our teachers, staff and parents.