When school begins in the fall, a new educational option will be available for parents of children in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Garden Montessori School has been approved as a charter school in Pasco County, meaning that there’s no tuition for children attending the school.
(Courtesy of Garden Montessori School)
The new charter has its roots in a private pre-school and kindergarten that has been offering the Montessori approach to education since 2009.
Parents of some of those children were interested in continuing to pursue that type of education in elementary school, and the school sought permission from Pasco County to open a charter elementary school.
“It’s going to continue the Montessori that’s here,” said John Selover, a consultant to the school.
“The genesis of the (charter) school was that a lot of the parents here were very interested in continuing the Montessori method of instruction. Montessori is much more than a method. It’s kind of a culture of its own,” he said.
Darlene Pla-Tschantz, associate education director, said, Montessori focuses on teaching the whole child.
“It’s based on grace and courtesy,” she said.
The children do a lot of hands’ on work, and the work is designed to build on previous work that has been accomplished.
“In terms of the social piece, it is a community involvement,” she said. One of the values of a Montessori education is giving back to the community in which the sits.
“We have permission to open with up to 270 students,” Selover said. It will begin with kindergarten through second grade and will add a grade each year, until its fifth year of operation, when it will reach 540.
One key difference between this school and traditional public schools is that the children will be taught in multi-age classrooms and they have the same teacher for three years.
“We’re meeting the kid where they’re at,” Selover said.
“Everybody knows the child. They have some history with the child. They’re able to really, truly meet them where they’re at,” he said.
Pla-Tschantz explained: “It’s really not teacher-centered. It’s child-centered, with the guidance, of course, from teachers.
Teachers observe children closely and keep good records, to keep tuned into the child’s progress and where they should be, she said.
Teachers look at benchmarks to make sure that children are reaching them and when they’re not, they ask themselves why children aren’t reaching them and they make recommendations on what they can do to make progress.
Besides paying close attention to a child’s progress, there’s also peer teaching.
The school also pays attention to how the children learn.
“Are they visual? Are they tactile? Are they auditory?” Pla-Tschantz said. Or, perhaps like most people, they learn using more than one style.
The school’s charter application was approved for five years.
Applications are being accepted through Feb. 27.
School officials expect more applications to come in than there are slots, so a lottery system will be used to select the students.
Applications are being accepted through Feb. 27.
A site has not yet been acquired, but officials expect that to be done soon.
Initially, the school will use portable classrooms.
Parents can attend a parent meeting on Feb. 18, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Land O’ Lakes Branch Library, 2818 Collier Parkway, to learn more about the school.
Questions parents have asked at previous meetings include such practical considerations as the start and end times of school, whether there is before and after care and what kind of lunch program is available, Selover said.
The school will follow the Pasco County code of student conduct. It also will serve Pasco County school lunches, providing free or reduced-price lunches to those qualify.
It will not provide transportation, but will help parents who want to arrange car pools.
Parent information session
Garden Montessori Charter School is a tuition-free, public kindergarten through sixth grade school slated to open in August, serving the Wesley Chapel area.
There will be a parent information session Feb. 18 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the Land O’ Lakes Branch Library, 2818 Collier Parkway.
General information and enrollment details can be found at GMCSWC.weebly.com.
Published February 18, 2015
