At least nine new public programs this year
Another year, and continued growth of public Montessori programs—even as public enrollment declines, budgets are slashed, and schools close.
In Brooklyn, New York City’s first public Montessori school, Albee Square Montessori Public School, opened this year, in part as an effort to stem enrollment declines across the city.
Crowley Independent School District (ISD), near Fort Worth, has moved a school-within-a-school Montessori program to its own building, the new Crowley Montessori Academy.
Eleanor Skillen School 34 in Indianapolis, IN is transitioning to a Montessori program serving children from PreK through 6th grade, joining the district’s three existing programs and one charter school.
Durham Public Schools in Durham, North Carolina, is taking on a major school zone revision that includes two new Montessori programs: Little River Montessori School, a K-8 program, and Lucas Middle School, a standalone Montessori middle school. Durham will now have five public Montessori programs, dating back to 1994.
Des Moines Public School District is starting an early childhood Montessori program at Pleasant Hill Elementary, joining the existing Cowles Montessori School.
In Steuben County, Indiana, the district is converting Pleasant Lake Elementary to a Montessori school, building on the success of the early childhood program at their Early Learning Center.
Wildflower Montessori continues to expand its charter school networks with Blue Montessori in Washington, DC, starting with three- and four-year-olds; Cactus Bloom Community School in Grand Valley, CO, serving children in preschool through third grade; and Meadow Rue Montessori in Aurora, CO, offering first and second grade.
The Bezos Day One Academies are not public schools, but rather are privately funded, zero-tuition programs. Bezos is adding six new locations this year, in Florida, Washington, and Texas, joining their network of more than two dozen programs.
Finally, we note with sadness the closing of Dr. Josie R. Johnson Montessori Charter School in Minnesota.
The National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector tracks public (and private) Montessori schools at the Montessori Census (montessoricensus.org). You can check your school’s listing there, and send us updates at [email protected].
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.
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