AURORA | A new bilingual, Montessori-based charter school set to open later this year is on track to be the first of its kind in Aurora, but administrators still need to find a building before classes start in August.
The founders of Montessori Del Mundo have spent the past year working with the Aurora Public Schools Board of Education and the Charter School Institute to get approval for the school, which will eventually enroll students from preschool to sixth grade. Founder and Montessori Del Mundo Principal Karen Farquharson began the charter school application process with APS in September, and the school earned approval from the district earlier this year. Farquharson and other administrators opted to contract through the Charter School Institute, a statewide charter school agency, for access to preschool money and other grants.
Farquharson insists that the school will still operate in Aurora, and the APS board has approved Montessori Del Mundo’s request to operate within the district. But the school hasn’t found a location yet.
“The hardest part of starting a charter school is finding a home. We’ve been looking pretty intensely,” said Farquharson, a former Denver Public Schools teacher who lives in Aurora with her husband. “We have three options. We do know that it will definitely be within the boundaries of the APS school district.”
Farquharson’s first choice for the school would be somewhere in northwest Aurora. That area of town would be a perfect fit for the school’s pedagogy, which will combine the Montessori teaching method with an immersion-based approach to teaching Spanish. According to Farquharson, kindergarten students will receive 90 percent of their instruction in Spanish and 10 percent in English. Starting in first grade, the percentage of English instruction will increase by 10 percent every year, until the split is 50/50. This immersion-based instruction will coincide with the individualized Montessori method.
The school’s philosophy was carefully designed for the students and families living in a specific stretch of Aurora. According to Farquharson, the enrollment will consist of an even split between native Spanish and native English speakers.
“Those kids will be learning from each other,” she said. “It’s super individualized to the children. The instruction is really rigorous. It’s proven to work,” added Farquharson, who taught at Valdez Elementary School, a similar dual-language innovation school in Denver.
Montessori Del Mundo’s unique approach was part of what appealed to APS board members and administrators when they approved their charter application earlier this year. Global Village Academy, the only other immersion school in APS, features classes in Spanish as well as several other languages. Montessori Del Mundo would stand out in its intensive focus on literacy, math and other instruction in Spanish.
Though Montessori Del Mundo will officially charter through the Charter School Institution, its operation in the district would still be a unique addition to the district’s six charter schools.
“They really did a great job of checking to make sure they were in compliance and they had a good model,” said Lisa Escárcega, the director of assessment and research for APS. “It was the combination of Montessori and the dual-language approach. We do not have a Montessori school in the district.”
Farquharson said the school will start with about 210 students from preschool to first grade, and will grow to include K-6 instruction in coming years. First grade through sixth grade will be free, and the school will charge tuition for preschool through kindergarten on a sliding scale.
“We’re also working hard to raise scholarships for families,” Farquharson said. “We’re committed to making sure that tuition is not a barrier.”
For the moment, the barrier is finding a building. Earlier this year, the school’s staff found a possible building west of Havana Street, but it was officially located in the Cherry Creek School District. At the Cherry Creek Board of Education meeting earlier this month, the board denied Montessori Del Mundo’s application to operate within the district.
So Farquharson and the rest of the Montessori Del Mundo staff are touring possible sites in north Aurora and beyond, working to find a site before the first students arrive on August 19.
“Our first choice is to be in northwest Aurora, in Original Aurora between Yosemite Street and I-225. That’s our preference. That’s where the APS school board would like us to be,” Farquharson said. “It’s really challenging to find a building in that area.”
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707