photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

New York Elementary School, 936 New York St., is pictured on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022.

School board leaders will soon decide whether to move forward with a proposal to begin phasing in a public Montessori program at New York Elementary next school year.

As part of its meeting Monday, the Lawrence school board will consider a proposal to approve the addition of the Montessori school curriculum at New York beginning with the Children’s House, which would serve ages 3, 4 and kindergarten, for the 2022-2023 school year. The district has previously said that higher grades would then be phased in year by year, allowing current New York Elementary students to continue with traditional learning methods until they move on to middle school.

District administration is recommending the board adopt the Montessori school model at New York as a way to increase enrollment in the district. In a memo to the board, administrators state that district enrollment projections indicate that flat or declining enrollment will continue, and it is necessary for the district to explore ways to attract new families. The memo states that Lawrence already has a supportive Montessori community.

The district previously announced that the Montessori program would be open to all Douglas County residents, with priority placement given to families living in the New York boundary area. For New York families that do not want to enroll their child in the Montessori program, a transfer to Cordley Elementary would be available.

The school board recently approved more than $6 million in budget cuts for next school year, which were partly due to funding loss related to enrollment declines. The memo does not provide information about how much phasing in the Montessori program would cost the school district, but the district has otherwise indicated that there would be start-up costs.

Earlier this year, the district submitted a letter of interest to Douglas County for American Rescue Plan Act funding to help train teachers in the Montessori method. The school district requested $176,493 to cover the Montessori training certification for 20 teachers. The request states the costs would be one-time startup costs and would go to help the district start a Montessori program in one of the district’s low socio-economic schools, though it does not specify which school.

Douglas County’s funding allocations for the ARPA money are still undecided. The Journal-World asked the school district Friday whether the $176,493 was still the estimated training cost, what the start-up costs for materials would be for the Children’s House, and what the process would be if the school district does not receive the ARPA funds.

District spokesperson Julie Boyle said she did not immediately receive that information from district staff, but that she assumed it would be part of the report at Monday’s school board meeting.

In March, the local group Save Our Schools 497 raised questions about the idea. Save Our Schools 497 organizer Alicia Erickson said at the time that though a lot of people see the idea as a more positive and creative approach to help address the district’s budget problems, the group had “really big questions” about the plan and concerns about how well it’s been vetted. Those included why a Montessori program was being chosen over other potential alternative programs and why the district decided New York students who opt out would go to Cordley as opposed to Pinckney Elementary School.

The Lawrence school board will meet at 6 p.m. at the district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.