NORTH OGDEN -- Parents of elementary school age students in the Top of Utah will have yet another choice for the education of their children come this fall: the Maria Montessori Academy charter school in North Ogden.
The school will be built just west of the North Shore Aquatic Center on 2550 North and about 100 West. Officials plan to break ground this spring and open for classes in August, said school director Nancy Lindeman.
Lindeman and the rest of the board will hold two meetings to get the word out and answer questions about the school.
The first will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the North Ogden Library, 475 E. 2600 North. The second will be at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Ogden Valley Library, 131 S. 7400 East.
A lottery process will be used if necessary to admit students to the school.
For more information, visit the Web site www.Maria MontessoriAcademy.org.
The charter school was approved by the Utah State Board of Education in late 2008, and founders have been working hard to make sure everything is complete and ready to go, said Shanna Francis, who sits on the school's board of directors.
She and other founding members have worked closely with Amanda Scheuermann's Montessori school in Ogden Valley because they believe in the program and the teaching methods.
"We wanted to offer this kind of education for everyone," Francis said. They were hoping the school choice option would be approved to make the private school in the valley available for more students.
"When the option for choice was not available, we still wanted there to be some kind of choice for parents," Lindeman said.
The valley Montessori private school will remain open after the charter school opens.
"She will still have a thriving school up here," Lindeman said. Scheuermann has a strong following for her preschool program, which is something the charter school won't have, Lindeman said.
Lindeman has 20 years' experience with the Montessori method. She has been a school director in Georgia, a teacher, a teacher trainer and has developed training programs.
Lindeman and other board members picked the North Ogden location because they believed the school needed a more central location where students wouldn't have to travel so far.
The Montessori method is being used in at least two other charter schools in the state and many other schools across America, Lindeman said. She has worked to bring the method into the Head Start program in the state.
She thinks the uniqueness of the teaching method is attractive.
"Children progress individually. Every child progresses at their own rate with an individual learning style," Lindeman said. Using textbooks is not the focus of the learning; concrete materials are used to teach abstract things, she said.
"It is very successful to use all the senses to learn," Lindeman said.
The school will have a capacity of 450 students, from kindergarten through 6th grade. There will be about 25 students in each class, with a lead teacher and an assistant. Hiring of teachers will begin soon, and training will be provided for teachers who haven't used the Montessori method before.
Because it is a charter school, everything will be funded by the state, including the new building, and tuition is free. They also cannot require volunteers, but will strongly encourage a large volunteer community at the school, Lindeman said.
The school is working with Academica West, a professional management company that helps charter schools with hiring and meeting the expectations of state contracts. Academica West has contracts with eight other charter schools in the state.
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