Penfield Montessori families and teachers try to save their school by starting a new one
Penfield Montessori Academy is going under, but the teachers, students and parents who’ve grown to love their community at the Milwaukee charter school are building a lifeboat.
If they can raise $1 million by June, another Montessori school has agreed to take on the school as a satellite location. They also need to find a building, secure classroom materials, and keep enough students and staff on board. They already have a new name: West Side Montessori Academy.
The families learned in April that their school, near 24th and Vliet streets, would close at the end of this school year because it was running out money, after a seven-year run with a focus on supporting students with disabilities.
Serving about 120 students through sixth grade, the school had planned to keep adding a grade each year so students could complete high school there. The school, though run by its own nonprofit, is a partner of the Penfield Children’s Center, which will continue providing early childcare and treatment for students with special needs.
More: Here's what charter schools are and how they work in Wisconsin
The school received state funding, as it's authorized as a public charter school by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. But Penfield Montessori board president Christine Holmes said the public funds were never enough to cover costs of an inclusive learning environment.
The school started with $10 million in private donations and raised another $3 million over the years, which Holmes said has run out. Holmes said the board would have needed to fundraise another $1.5 million to stay open another year but was unable to do so.
When Penfield teacher Emily Mehlhorn heard the news, she reached out to former colleagues who now run Adeline Montessori School in Oconomowoc. They agreed to consider taking on the Penfield group as a satellite. That means the group wouldn't need to immediately form its own nonprofit or secure its own contract with a charter school authorizer, and it will be able to receive public funds.
But first, the group needs $1 million by June to acquire a new building and pay staff salaries until the public dollars would start coming in October. Then, organizers estimate needing to fundraise an additional $2 million by the end of the next school year. Mehlhorn said Penfield agreed to donate the school's materials to the group.
Mehlhorn said the school's current building, with excess space, was too expensive for the group to buy, and they are looking at smaller spaces. She said she expects the school will be able to serve about 100 students, based on the number of staff who plan to stay with the group. Kroll said they have "intent-to-enroll" forms for about 80 students.
Teachers and parents said they want to keep their community together and continue a style of schooling where students of many abilities and backgrounds are together in inclusive classrooms. Holmes said Penfield has done so by having higher staffing levels, investing in an elevator and ramps, and offering nursing, physical therapy and occupational therapy.
"People are really committed to staying with the school, and some of our families have not found other options where their kids would be in an inclusive learning environment," said Amy Kroll, a parent who said she would homeschool her kids if the fundraising fails. "There's nothing like our school out there."
Mehlhorn said she hasn't looked for any other jobs. She wants to stay with her coworkers and students.
"I didn't even want to consider another option," she said. "I've never worked at another institution where I've seen so much passion, and care and patience. Our kids come to school with a lot on their plates, and they need a space where they're met with that patience and gratitude, and they're given a safe space to not be perfect, and to learn and grow, and I see that here."
The group is collecting tax-deductible donations through its website and selling apparel. It is planning a gala for June. Students have painted pots and are selling plants at the 53212Marketplace Mother's Day event May 7 and Fondy Farmers Market May 13.
If unsuccessful, the group said it would return all fundraised dollars to donors. For dollars that can't be returned, like from sales of apparel and plants, the group plans to select a nonprofit to receive the funds.
Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Penfield Montessori parents fundraise for new West Side Academy school
