Students currently in a Montessori kindergarten class at Connaught Heights will be looking for a new home next year.
According to a report from director of instruction Sandra Pace, the district does not have space at Connaught to continue the Montessori program at the Grade 1 level until the new middle school is built and occupied.
Connaught currently has a Montessori kindergarten class of 22 students.
"Options for having some or all students remain in the Montessori program at Connaught beyond kindergarten are not feasible," Pace wrote in a report she presented to trustees on Jan. 24.
Pace pointed out that students currently in the program now have the option of moving with the Montessori program to neighbouring Lord Tweedsmuir, or remaining at Connaught and entering the regular stream of Grade 1.
School board vice-chair Michael Ewen told The Record that the district will continue to have a kindergarten Montessori class at Connaught Heights, and parents are told that when their students finish their year, they will either have to go to Tweedsmuir or Richard McBride if they wish to continue with the Montessori program.
"We are keeping a kindergarten (Montessori) class at Connaught," said Ewen, who added the district has known about the space limitations at Connaught and had not planned for a Grade 1 Montessori class there.
Pace said she has already received a call from one parent who is pleased with the teaching environment at Connaught Heights and is considering having her child remain at the school.
Parents have until Feb. 16 to let the district know about their autumn plans.
In terms of the district's planning for the Montessori class at Tweedsmuir, Pace said the district is "at this time . planning to accept no students, on the assumption that all 22 kindergarten students would move from Connaught Heights to Lord Tweedsmuir. If, hypothetically, five remain at Connaught, then there would be five spaces at Lord Tweedsmuir for incoming Grade 1 students."
alau@royalcityrecord.com
