Jr/Sr High Development Updates

We hold Update meetings the last Tuesday of every month. Join us at our next meeting in the Community Room at River at 5:00 PM.
What we’ve been working on

• Website enhancements. Find FAQs, Testimonials, Videos, Articles, and more on our website under the “Programs” tab
• Phase I: The Charter is in its first draft and has made its way to the Charter Law firm to be vetted. The final draft is being edited for submittal to OAUSD late October. 

• A sketch of our dream campus is being drawn up by a former River parent and current River Board Member
• Our first phase of the timeline is nearing completion, and we’re detailing the next phases to include a facilities search, financing, funding campaigns, forming civic and Higher Ed. Partnerships, and developing a marketing plan.

How You Can HelpWrite a TestimonialTell OAUSD and others why you want Montessori for your children, why you love RMCS, why you believe Petaluma needs a Montessori Jr. and Sr. High. This needn’t be perfectly written nor lengthy. Speak from your heart and support this effort. Email to: cduffy@rivermontessoircharter.org.
Talk about Montessori to your friends, and co-workers, invite them to our meetings, let us know if you know someone in the business, civic, and educational worldsHere is how you can learn how others talk about Montessori: check out these “Elevator Speeches” and develop your own response to the question: “Why Montessori?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De2QaqE4yO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzcUqDtO2yk
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=og3tamROnMY
 
 A Testimonial in Support of RMCS’s Montessori Adolescent Program 
 Dear Old Adobe Union School District,
 
With great hope and enthusiasm, we write in support of River Montessori’s petition for renewal and for acceptance to expand to offer a Jr/Senior High Charter program.
 
We toured more than 15 schools before we found River – from our home district in Cotati/Rohnert Park, as far west as Sebastopol and as far south as Petaluma.  During that process, we looked at curricula, we observed classrooms, we researched methodologies... but we never found a school that we KNEW would be the right fit for our son.  At once focused and energetic, our son entered River as a TK student earlier this year.  
 
At River, his physical, emotional and academic needs are met with compassion and care.  He is held to a high standard and supported to grow as a learner, to be respectful as a citizen, and to be responsible as the guide of his own learning journey.  He loves school.  He wakes up excited to go every day. The community of students, parents, guides, and administration blow me away. There is something very special happening at River.
 
Three out of four of my children’s grandparents are retired public school teachers.  They are as invested in their grandchildren’s education as we are – maybe even more. When they read the weekly messages I forward from River, when they hear about the community we’re creating, when they see the smile on our son’s face when he shares his latest learning – they confirm what we know in our bones – that River is bar-none, the very best place for our son to spend these critical years of his development.
 
Every day, he is supported to become his best self.  Every day, he has the space to honor the needs of his growing body. Every day, he gains knew insights and connects more closely to the fact that he is and always will be his own best teacher.
 
What could be better than that?
 
Finding the right school was tough.  One of us spends two hours in the car five days each week to get our son to and from River. We’re elated by the possibility that we’ll get to continue making that journey until our son heads off to college.
 
With gratitude for your consideration and with sincere and urgent hope of approval,
 
Rachel and Drew Dorsey