Laura
01-24-2010, 04:15 PM
January 22, 2010, 4:03 pm
Brooklyn Hts. Montessori to Close Its Little Room
By WINNIE HU 1/22/10 blog postings http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/montessori-closes-little-room/
Brooklyn Heights Montessori School will close the Little Room, a well-known preschool for children with special needs, in August after failing to secure a new sponsor for the program during a yearlong search.
The Little Room’s future has been in question since 12/08, when B'kjyn Hts Montessori, a private elementary and middle school at Court and Bergen Streets, decided that it could no longer continue operating the state-financed program, which is free to children who qualify.
The school started the Little Room in 1970, and the two-year program once enrolled up to 27 3- and 4-year-olds with speech and language delays from Brooklyn and Manhattan. It did not enroll any new 3-year-old students this fall, and all of the current 4-year-olds will finish the program.
In a letter to families last week, school officials said that while the school and the Little Room had “a proud history together,” they had become “two very different and separate educational entities living under one roof.”
They said that a task force of parents, faculty and staff members had met 23 times during the past year to try to find a new home for the Little Room, and “identified, researched, and spoke with dozens of institutions throughout the city.”
These officials said that they eventually narrowed their search to two potential sponsors, one of whom later withdrew. The second group, YAI Network, ran into what school officials described as regulatory hurdles with the state’s Department of Education, which would require the group to take on financing and responsibility for the Little Room before it received preliminary state approval.
But some parents and elected officials including State Assemblywoman Joan L. Millman and State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, whose districts include Brooklyn Heights, say that the school is not allowing enough time to find a workable space for the Little Room, and is prematurely shutting it down when there are still other options.
“At this point, the ball is really in Brooklyn Heights Montessori’s court,” said Paul Nelson, chief of staff for Ms. Millman. “We’ve tried to do too much in too short a time and we need another year, and they’ve refused to consider it. We’re going to keep asking them.”
Dane Peters, the head of school, said in a statement: “After a full year of working on this, it is clear that an extension of time is not the issue, it is the regulatory burden that is.”
Brooklyn Hts. Montessori to Close Its Little Room
By WINNIE HU 1/22/10 blog postings http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/montessori-closes-little-room/
Brooklyn Heights Montessori School will close the Little Room, a well-known preschool for children with special needs, in August after failing to secure a new sponsor for the program during a yearlong search.
The Little Room’s future has been in question since 12/08, when B'kjyn Hts Montessori, a private elementary and middle school at Court and Bergen Streets, decided that it could no longer continue operating the state-financed program, which is free to children who qualify.
The school started the Little Room in 1970, and the two-year program once enrolled up to 27 3- and 4-year-olds with speech and language delays from Brooklyn and Manhattan. It did not enroll any new 3-year-old students this fall, and all of the current 4-year-olds will finish the program.
In a letter to families last week, school officials said that while the school and the Little Room had “a proud history together,” they had become “two very different and separate educational entities living under one roof.”
They said that a task force of parents, faculty and staff members had met 23 times during the past year to try to find a new home for the Little Room, and “identified, researched, and spoke with dozens of institutions throughout the city.”
These officials said that they eventually narrowed their search to two potential sponsors, one of whom later withdrew. The second group, YAI Network, ran into what school officials described as regulatory hurdles with the state’s Department of Education, which would require the group to take on financing and responsibility for the Little Room before it received preliminary state approval.
But some parents and elected officials including State Assemblywoman Joan L. Millman and State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, whose districts include Brooklyn Heights, say that the school is not allowing enough time to find a workable space for the Little Room, and is prematurely shutting it down when there are still other options.
“At this point, the ball is really in Brooklyn Heights Montessori’s court,” said Paul Nelson, chief of staff for Ms. Millman. “We’ve tried to do too much in too short a time and we need another year, and they’ve refused to consider it. We’re going to keep asking them.”
Dane Peters, the head of school, said in a statement: “After a full year of working on this, it is clear that an extension of time is not the issue, it is the regulatory burden that is.”