Oct 16, 2017

By PHILIP WEYHE of Northfield News

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It was going to shut down.

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The building was cleared out. Corporate took every item — from the desks down to the paper towel dispensers. Step by Step Montessori found its Northfield location was no longer viable in 1997, and the community was set to lose one of its few preschools. Some 100 children would lose their early education provider and 15 employees would lose their jobs.

Then the parents and the teachers stepped in.

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“We found out in March, the staff and families at the same time, that the center was going to close at the end of May,” former Northfield Montessori Director Tracy Humann said. “We all agreed what we had was important enough to continue.”

The school community rallied together, formed a parent-teacher cooperative, and created Northfield Montessori. The group struggled through the early years, then began to grow and eventually landed at today’s larger, grander location in northern Northfield.

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Northfield Montessori has three separate playgrounds for its infants, toddlers and pre-schools students. (Philip Weyhe/Northfield News)

Northfield Montessori is now 20 years old, and its leaders feel cause to celebrate. “I’m most proud of the sense of community we have,” said Director Jeff Longenecker. “In the 15 minutes here at student drop-off, it feels like a community of friends and family glad to see each other every day.”

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Northfield Montessori utilizes the over-100-year-old Montessori early education teaching model. Developed in Europe, the model incorporates mixed-age preschool classrooms for students 2½ to 5 years old. The method involves focusing on the social, emotional, physical and intellectual development of students.

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Most teachers at Northfield Montessori are Montessori qualified. They work with individual students to master a particular skill before that students moves on to the next skill.

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“This method is meant to promote the individual child and allow them to work at their own pace,” said Assistant Director Cara Steward. “It minimizes competition. They all have their own learning style, their own way of accomplishing tasks.”

In 2005, Northfield Montessori moved from the former Step by Step building at the corner of Plum Street South and Fifth Street West to its present location off Water Street at the northern edge of town. The new space provides two infant classrooms, three toddler rooms, four preschool rooms, a multi-purpose room, an on-site kitchen, gym space and three separate playgrounds.

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“It was growing fast,” said Head Teacher Jill Keeley, of Northfield Montessori’s early years in the previous location. “The new building just allowed us to grow our community, to make our school family much bigger.”

Northfield Montessori offers programs for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners (those who reach age 5 by Oct. 31). The school has 161 spots available (24 infants, 42 toddlers, and 95 students). All are filled.

  

Pre-school students listen to their teacher tell a story at Northfield Montessori. The school includes rooms for pre-school, toddlers and infants. In total, 161 spots are available, and they’re all presently filled. (Philip Weyhe/Northfield News)

The board of directors, consisting of teachers and parents, the administrative staff and the greater Northfield Montessori community express pride at what the school offers today.

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“My own children have gone through here,” Steward said. “I’m proud of how well prepared they are for the public schools system. The skills they learned through being taught by the Montessori method have given them such an independence in their learning.”

 

Saving the school

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The Step by Step Montessori community in Northfield was ill prepared when the Twin Cities outfit announced it would close their local school. Step by Step owners realized they couldn’t charge the same at the non-metro location and decided it was not financially viable.

But the parents of the Northfield school had grown accustomed to the quality early education their kids received through the Montessori method, had grown close to one another. So they teamed up with the teachers and came to then Director Tracy Humann with their proposal to save the school.

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“We contacted the landlord about keeping the building,” said Humann, who remains involved with the school today as a volunteer. “We had a lot of great parents on staff — business owners and lawyers — that helped us get our nonprofit status.”

 

Step by Step Montessori closed May 31, 1997. Northfield Montessori opened the following day. “We didn’t skip a beat. All the kids stayed. All the staff stayed,” Humann said. “We’ve done nothing but grow and improve since.”

 

Humann attributed the school’s success after re-establishment to its nonprofit status, to the community’s support of a local entity, to a generous deal on rent from previous landowner Bill Clifford, and to word of mouth. “When people heard what we were doing, how wonderful the school was, it just went from there,” she said.

 

After five or so years, Northfield Montessori was no longer merely surviving. It was growing. And it was time to ditch the Step by Step space for a space all its own. “The old building was half the size,” said Keeley, who’s taught at Northfield Montessori for 16 years. “It was small, small.”

 

Northfield Montessori today is shaped to match the vision of the community that once rescued it. The new building is bright, spacious, flexible and secure. It’s allowed the school community to grow at a desired pace, to remain stable in even the toughest times (like at the onset of the Great Recession in 2007).

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Director Longenecker took his role about three years ago, and the school quickly expanded its reach. Longenecker is focused on developing partnerships and establishing the school as a community presence. The approach is strengthening the nonprofit’s resources and helping to assure spots remain filled.

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Now graduates of Northfield Montessori are sending their own children there. A once close community is perhaps closer than ever before. “I’m proud of our reputation,” Steward said. “I’m proud of our growth. I’m proud to have met so many wonderful families in the community. I’m proud to work here.”

 

http://www.southernminn.com/northfield_news/news/article_dcafea75-0464-58ea-ab90-d5c705b29ab8.html