Talk:Montessori Middle School

I find it hard to believe that the first school of its type in the larger region makes this school less notable than any ofthe other dozens of schools listed here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Montessori_schools or here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Elementary_schools_in_Tennessee

If this site is deleted, shouldn't most of these others also be? This school is, unlike most of these, noteworthy (per the cited articles) in being the first erdkinder school in the state.

Other stuff exists is not a good argument to make. Those other articles will be dealt with in time. This one came across my radar (and other editors) because it was just created. The biggest problem is that the article makes no claim to notability. It simply that the school exists, only the briefest info about it (with nothing particularly notable), and a mission statement (which rarely tells us anything useful, they all tend to say pretty much the same thing). If there is something notabile abou the school, the article should mention it and any claims backed up with references.--RadioFan (talk) 03:37, 12 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is a line from the article: "It is the first Montessori school for adolescents in East Tennessee and one of the first in the Southeast [3]." note the citation. writingjen (talk) 03:38, 12 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Was it the first school of its kind in the world, the country, the state or the county? Notability diminishes significantly as you go down that line. Also, I'm skeptical of the claim that its one of the first in the Southeast circa 2008. Are there any other references to back up that claim?--RadioFan (talk) 03:46, 12 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not finding the references from the The Maryville-Alcoa Daily Times you list in 2008. I'm having trouble finding much mention of this school in that newspaper via their search engine. --RadioFan (talk) 03:55, 12 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I will try to find a larger reference, but the source cited on that is a newspaper article, NOT the school website or anything like that. Says it's one of four in the southeast. Erdkinder schools are actually pretty rare; Montessori is progressively rarer in general as one goes up in grades (most common at preschool, and so on).

OK, I have searched on Great Schools.net, which lists 8 (only 8!) Montessori schools in the state of Tennessee with middle school programs (some go only up to 6 grade, but I'm trying to include as many as possible to meet the notability standard). I looked on these schools' websites, and none of them used the term "erdkinder" or talked about being land-based. Several of them, to be fair, do include school gardens and nature walks and the like, but this is not really the same thing as having a "working the land" component, which is central to erdkinder. I realize this is not a comprehensive list, but it's a start. The question is: How to cite such a thing? It's not as if one can prove a negative, and the media source is already given in the article. I'll keep plowing, but short of getting a direct quote from someone at MMS (which wouldn't really count, being a feature of direct research and not objective outside sourcing), I'm not sure how to "prove" the claim given in the article. An example of an erdkinder school is the famous Hershey Montessori School in Ohio; it doesn't have a wikipedia article, but it should, because it's a big deal, taught about in schools of education and all. If I ever get this article settled, maybe I'll write that one, lol.