School District Montessori on schedule for this fall

Submitted by Eric Webb, OISD Superintendent

“Montessori is definitely happening this fall in the Orcas Island School District,” according to the District’s Montessori Steering Committee, which presented its monthly update to the Orcas Island School Board on February 27.

After 15 successful years inside the Orcas Island Elementary School, the Montessori classroom, currently for grades 1-2-3, will become its own separate school in its own building next door to the Elementary School. It will be called Orcas Island Montessori Public.

Montessori students will have a new teacher this fall, because Martha Inch, who has taught the Montessori classroom from its beginning, will move to a new role in the District. To ensure continuity, Martha will be available to mentor the new Montessori teacher throughout the 2019-20 school year. Teacher candidates have been interviewed and the new teacher will be announced in a few weeks.

Enrollment and registration information will be available soon, and pre-enrollment parent meetings will be announced. The steering committee is currently finalizing a new operations manual and new lottery system, which will focus on fairness to all who register and mirroring the student population of the overall elementary school with regard to gender, special-education needs (SPED), free or reduced lunch (FRL), and English Learning (EL).

“The Orcas Island School District believes in equity, inclusion and diversity, and Montessori Public will reflect that,” said Eric Webb, the District’s Superintendent.