Montessori School Has Uncertain Future
By Christa Desrets, The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.
May 2–Unless Blue Ridge Montessori in Forest finds somewhere to move in the next two months, it may have to close next year, the school’s director said.
The 22-year-old Montessori school — the only one in the Lynchburg area — has 40 preschool and kindergarten students.
It rents its building from the Forest Volunteer Fire Department, which is considering an expansion that could force the school to move, said Jeff Stanley, president of the company.
“We’re still in the beginning stages,” he said. “It’s so new right now that we don’t really know what we’re going to do.”
The fire department may pursue several options, including expanding at the current location or moving elsewhere, he said.
No decisions have been made. But either option could inadvertently leave the school without a place to operate.
Complicating matters, said Jennifer Thornhill, director of Blue Ridge Montessori, is that the school also wants to grow. Twenty-five students currently are in the primary-learning class, and 15 students are in the early-learning class. But the school wants to double that amount by adding an additional class for each program in the fall.
The school already is planning for its future expansion onto land on Thomas Jefferson Road. The Bedford County Planning Commission approved a special use permit for the property March 19. The decision is set to go before the Board of Supervisors on May 14.
If all goes as planned, Thornhill said, the new school will take about a year to build and is targeted to open in September 2008.
But the time betweennow and then is what worries Thornhill.
“It has been quite challenging to get a temporary space,” she said, citing zoning issues and space requirements as two of the difficulties.
The temporary location must be on land designated for commercial properties, she said. Also, the Department of Social Services governs how large classrooms must be, along with other requirements such as number of bathrooms per student.
The school needs space for an office, a kitchen, a playground, four bathrooms and five classrooms. All of these requirements must be met by July 1, the deadline for qualification applications to the Department of Social Services, Thornhill said.
She is hoping for help from the community, both in finding a temporary location and in funding the new school. Churches are a possibility, she said.
If she can’t find a place, she may ask the fire department for more time.
“I’m hoping they can hold out for a year — and that’s a lot to ask because they’re ready to move, too,” she said.
That option could mean that the school would have to delay its expansion, Thornhill said.
Diana Danby has a daughter in the school’s primary learning group and has been working with Thornhill on preparations for the new school.
“We’re in a real predicament,” she said. “The expansion of this school is really needed in this community.”
Thornhill is trying to protect the school’s methods, which follow the philosophy of Maria Montessori, an Italian doctor who observed children from many cultures and found a common development process.
“What happens in a Montessori classroom is what I truly believe needs to be provided in this community and every community,” Thornhill said. “It’s a good school, and I’ll do anything I have to do to see it grow and definitely stay with our doors open.”
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Copyright (c) 2007, The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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