As you have likely already heard through media outlets, our family filed a federal lawsuit against Milwaukee Montessori School (MMS) for discrimination under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 2022. The purpose of this letter is to build awareness of the lack of accountability for the discriminatory behavior of MMS Head of School Monica van Aken, President of the MMS Board of Trustees (BOT) Kate Lewis, and all other MMS Board members.
Due to our public advocacy, more than 20 families and/or former MMS employees reported their experiences of discrimination to us and many spoke to the United States Department of Justice. MMS recently conceded to the federal judge in our case, that as of late 2023, the United States Department of Justice opened an official investigation of Milwaukee Montessori School for disability discrimination relating to its compliance with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is the second time in ten years that the United States Department of Justice investigated MMS under the same leadership of Head of School Monica van Aken and President of the Board, Kate Lewis, for violation of the same law.
Before dismissing our son and throughout the lawsuit, Monica van Aken has communicated that MMS is not an appropriate environment for children with attention problems or for those that do not meet the “typical” MMS student profile. Our son was identified in August 2021 by MMS teacher, Deepti Arora as having challenges with inattention and distractibility. Despite expressing our willingness to partner and requesting to meet to discuss ways to support our son at school, we were denied a meeting for nearly a month, but instead were told by email to see our pediatrician for consultation. In September, after our one and only meeting (in which Monica van Aken abruptly left in response to our request to discuss strategies to support our son), our seven year old son was dismissed by email for reasons of inattention and distractibility effective two days later. Importantly, our son never broke any school rules that would warrant dismissal. If you think it is unbelievable or there must be more to this story than meets the eye, there is not. We were spun into crisis by the very community that should have been holding us as we navigated assessment and diagnosis of a lifelong disability most commonly identified in elementary school. Fortunately, our son is thriving at his new school. These are the facts of our experience which can be clearly substantiated by documents and emails sent by Monica van Aken, Deepti Arora, and Cheryl Kelly, and are now public record.
Why should our experience matter to you?
Do you believe that Monica van Aken, Kate Lewis, or the MMS Board will support your child or your child’s classmate if/when they begin to struggle in school?
Will your child be dismissed if they develop a disability or condition that requires accommodation? Keep in mind, ADA covers visual and hearing impairment, motor impairment, health issues, and developmental and mental health impairments, like ADHD, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress.
Has MMS ever provided accommodations for students with disabilities? Given that many students begin MMS prior to kindergarten, is it statistically possible that no child has ever needed the support of accommodations to be successful? If not, where have all of these children gone?
Will your child be dismissed if you raise concerns about our story or the stories of others?
Who runs MMS and what are the policies for overseeing leadership? Who is Board President Kate Lewis and why has she been the President of the Board for more than 10 years? Who supervises Monica van Aken and how is she held accountable for her actions and leadership?
Are you comfortable with your tuition money being used to defend these discriminatory actions? With an open DOJ investigation and current litigation, how much are you willing to spend before realizing that the real problem is the leadership? How many lawsuits has the school been involved with over the past ten years?
We are legally holding MMS accountable for their illegal behavior and asking for justice for our child and all other children like him who have been discriminated against and mistreated at MMS. Despite it going against our collaborative natures, we can not ethically walk away from our experience at MMS without demanding system change on behalf of all diverse learners. However, it is you as current MMS parents that can decide the future of your school and the leadership you believe will best serve the interests of your child and the greater MMS community. You can not expect these changes will happen from a complicit board of directors led by Kate Lewis enabling Monica van Aken. Change must come from within.
*MMS will not supply contact information for the Board of Trustees
Milwaukee Montessori School - Board of Trustees
Kate Lewis
President, Development Committee
Kathleen O’Brien
Vice President, Evaluation, Prof. Development
Rob deJong
Treasurer, Finance Committee
Brian Amore
Trustee, Finance Committee
Jasmine Johnson
Trustee, Development Committee
Julie Ledger
Trustee, Facilities Committee
Will Loder
Trustee, Development Committee
David Swanson
Trustee, Finance Committee
Joseph Thomae
Trustee, Facilities Committee
Christian Walters
Trustee, Facilities Committee
Debbie Mather
Business Manager
Joan Shafer
President Emeritus
Monica van Aken
Head of School