Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School

Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School is a public charter school in Washington, D.C.. It operates in three buildings in the Northwest and Northeast quadrants of the city: the historic Military Road School in Northwest's Brightwood, a building on the former campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Brightwood and at the corner of Perry Street and South Dakota Avenue in Northeast's Brookland neighborhood.

Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School
The Military Road School, seen from Missouri Avenue
Location
Washington, D.C.

United States
Information
School typeCharter school
Founded2001
Opened2003
School boardDistrict of Columbia Public Charter School Board
DirectorCharis Sharp
Faculty43
GradesPreschool through grade five
Enrollment462 (2019)

It is overseen by the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board. As a charter school, LAMB is a nonprofit organization, funded by local tax revenue, and subject to some, though not all, of the same standards as traditional schools that are part of the District of Columbia Public Schools. Its admissions are based on a lottery system that takes into account preferences for siblings of current students and children of school faculty and staff.

Curriculum

LAMB teaches a curriculum based both on the Montessori educational approach developed started in 1897 by Italian educator Maria Montessori and on Spanish-English bilingualism.

Students from preschool for 3-year-olds through grade five attend the school.

History

LAMB was launched by the Latin American Youth Center, a Washington, D.C., non-governmental organization that serves young Latinos.

The school first had its application as a charter school approved by D.C.'s Board of Education in 2001, six years after Congress passed the District of Columbia School Reform Act of 1995, setting up the system for charter schools in the nation's capital. LAMB started classes in 2003 in Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, a church in Northeast Washington, while it looked for a long-term home. It had 57 students at the time.[1]

The school moved to the Military Road School on Missouri Avenue in 2006, its first long-term location. It renovated the building between 2008 and 2009 and added office and classroom space, while preserving the historic schoolhouse.

In 2013, LAMB established a second location, sharing a building with the Perry Street Prep charter school on South Dakota Avenue in Northeast Washington. The building formerly housed the public Taft Junior Elementary School before the city closed that school in 1997 due to low enrollment.

LAMB opened its third location in 2017 on the former campus of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest Washington. LAMB shares the former medical center's Delano Hall with the District of Columbia International School.

As of 2019, the Missouri Avenue location hosts classrooms for preschool-3 through third grade, the South Dakota Avenue location hosts preschool-3 through fifth grade and the Walter Reed school hosts fourth and fifth grades.

LAMB's leaders hope to consolidate the entire school at the Kingsbury School in Sixteenth Street Heights in the near future, but they have faced local zoning issues.[2]

References
  1. "History". LAMB PCS. Archived from the original on July 12, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  2. "LAMB Charter School aims to move into Kingsbury campus". Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
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