• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

State Board Upholds D70 Decision on Application for Charter School

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 09:01 CST

By Gayle Perez, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

Feb. 28--The Colorado State Board of Education on Monday upheld the decision by the District 70 school board to deny a charter application for the proposed Mountain Montessori Charter School.

After listening to nearly an hour of testimony from District 70 officials and organizers of the Mountain Montessori School, state board members voted 4-4 on a motion to remand the application back to the District 70 school board for reconsideration.

The tie vote meant the motion failed.

"Obviously, we are very disappointed because we sincerely believe there is a need in the Greenhorn Valley for this school," said Karen Hopkins, an organizer of the charter school.

"There are a lot of parents who are home-schooling or cyber-schooling their kids now who won't know what they are going to do for next year," Hopkins said.

The District 70 school board unanimously voted in December to deny the charter application for the Mountain Montessori School.

The school board cited a number of concerns, including the negative impact the school would have on nearby Rye Elementary, teacher qualifications, low salaries, overreliance on grant money and conflicts between the District 70 and Montessori curriculum.

The K-3 school's curriculum was to be based on the teachings of the late Italian educator and physician Maria Montessori. The Montessori method allows for children to learn through self-directed, educational and developmental activities.

Mountain Montessori organizers appealed the local school board's decision to the State Board of Education for review. Monday's hearing was held in Boulder.

"I think they saw what we saw," District 70 board President Bill Bregar said of the state board's decision. "There were some serious shortcomings in the charter application and more work needed to be done. This doesn't mean that the charter school issue is dead; it just means it's not going to happen this year."

Bregar said top concerns voiced by the state board members were the fiscal issues and the size of the Rye/Colorado City communities that would be supporting the school.

Bregar said the school board plans to continue talks with Mountain Montessori organizers.

Hopkins and Lisa Elkins, another of the school's organizers, said they plan to continue to pursue the idea for the Montessori school in the Greenhorn Valley.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Pueblo Chieftain

More News in this Category