7/18/17 • Austin, TX • New District Montessori School Opening this Fall
David Ayer
Posted On July 18, 2017
7/18/17 • Austin, Texas • Austin will open its first district public Montessori school this fall at Winn Elementary in East Austin, according to a report in the Austin American Statesman. The school has seen a decade of declining enrollment, from 710 students in 2006 down to 241 this year, and neighborhood parents drove the change in an effort to attract families back to the school and forestall closure.
A KXAN report points out that Austin has more than 20 Montessori schools, but almost all of them are private programs on the more affluent west side of the city. The exception is Austin’s first public Montessori school, Magnolia Montessori for All, a charter, now entering its fourth year and serving children from three years old through third grade.
The next closest public Montessori school near Austin is Goodwater Montessori Public Charter School, in Georgetown, opening this fall.
David worked in private Montessori for more than twenty years as a parent, three-to-six year-old and adolescent teacher, administrator, writer, speaker, and advocate. In 2016 he began working with the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector. David lives in Portland, Oregon.
