Tacoma School District plans to apply for a three-year grant aimed at converting Geiger Elementary School into a Montessori magnet school.
The Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant is issued by the U.S. Department of Education. The goal of the program is to help elementary and secondary public schools desegregate by reducing and preventing minority group isolation.
In order to meet the goals of the program, districts must also develop and implement magnet schools that provide students with the opportunity to meet challenging academic content and student academic achievement standards.
The program supports the development and design of innovative education methods, such as the Montessori philosophy and practices that promote diversity and increase choices in public education programs.
District officials told Tacoma School Board members that they plan to use the grant to transform Geiger from a neighborhood school with decreasing attendance and increasing isolation into a magnet for preschool to fifth-grade students by the 2012-13 school year.
The district was compelled to apply for the grant, after observing the successful conversion of Bryant Elementary into a Montessori for preschool to eighth-grade students. The development of Geiger as a Montessori ‘choice’ school is expected to be successful in recruiting additional students to increase enrollment, decrease the poverty rate and improve student academic outcomes. District officials argue that without changes, the school will likely continue losing enrollment, which could lead to closure.
The cost of fully implementing the magnet school project at Geiger over three years as proposed is approximately $3 million. If approved for the grant, the district will need to purchase Montessori materials, curriculum and equipment, train teachers and hire needed staff.
Board members were cautiously optimistic with regards to the proposed plan for Geiger. Some mentioned a potential for displacement of children in the Geiger neighborhood, if the school becomes too popular among families across Tacoma. This phenomenon is currently happening at Bryant Elementary, in which children from the school’s low-income surrounding neighborhood are on a waiting list due to lack of available slots.
“The objective of the school was to benefit neighborhood children,” Board member Kurt Miller said. “If that isn’t happening, that’s a problem.”
District Superintendent Art Jarvis felt confident in the district’s proposed plan for Geiger.
“Opening this second Montessori school in Geiger will relieve the pressure on Bryant by doubling the district’s program.”
If the grant is approved, the district will begin phased-in classes with pre-kindergarten through second grade converting to Montessori in fall 2010 and adding one grade level each year after until 2013.
Construction of the new Geiger will occur alongside with the new teaching model, with groundbreaking planned for spring 2011 and transition to the new school scheduled for September 2012. By that time, the entire school would be converted to the Montessori model.
