MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — Parents in Huntersville are asking Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to hold off on shutting down a Montessori school and transferring the students to the north Charlotte area.
Trillium Springs Montessori is in one of the oldest CMS buildings, which is why CMS staff wants to move students. Parents and school board members say they feel blindsided by the move, though.
"We chose this particular school because it was our access to Montessori in the northern part of the county and now, there's nothing," Morgan Greer said.
Montessori is a method of education that is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning, and collaborative play. The programs are prominently offered in private and charter schools and come with a hefty price tag.
In the Mecklenburg County area, tuition for one student can range from $9,000 to $20,000 per year. That's why the free magnet program at CMS is highly sought out.
"Google 'Montessori approach,'" one parent told WCNC Charlotte. "It is absolutely phenomenal and if we don't have this option here, I am not ready to put my kids back into the CMS normal school system."
Staff and almost 200 students from Trillium would go to a refurbished Lincoln Heights school. It currently doesn't house permanent students.
"We want everybody to have free Montessori, right?" Jenny Cook a Trillium parent said. "So of course, we want to support that not at the expense of cannibalizing our own school."
Parents learned two weeks ago Trillium was slated to be closed and moved to Lincoln Heights.
"We had been transparent from the beginning," CMS Construction Consultant Dennis LaCaria said to board members on Tuesday.
LaCaria said since the district started looking at draft plans for Montessori elementary schools, CMS staff has been clear about their condition.
"Our Montessori elementary schools -- Chantilly Park Road and Trillium Springs -- across the board are in our oldest facilities, our smallest facilities, and quite frankly, our most inequitable facilities," LaCaria said.
Trillium was always in consideration for rebuilding, but it was not public knowledge CMS staff made plans to close it until two weeks ago.
"This decision was made behind closed doors without even the engagement of the district representative that fought so hard to get the school," said Rhonda Cheek, a CMS School Board Member that represents North Mecklenburg.
LaCaria said the decision to move Trillium Springs came after hearing community support to create a new magnet Montessori in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood and that Trillium needed improvements.
"We began to identify Trillium as an option to basically relocate, expand that program, get them out of a building that was replaced almost 15 years ago, and be able to provide seats in the north county," LaCaria said.
Cheek said a new program in Lincoln Heights shouldn’t mean a program in North Mecklenburg gets cut.
"I'm appalled and saddened and we need to find a place for a Montessori school north of Harris Boulevard," Cheek said.
Currently, CMS has five Montessori schools: Park Road Montessori, Chantilly Montessori, Highland Mill Montessori, J.T. Williams Montessori, and Trillium Springs Montessori.
Each of the schools is closer to the city of Charlotte. One in Charlotte's NoDa neighborhood, another in the Chantilly neighborhood near Bojangles Coliseum, and another in the neighborhood of Montford near the intersection of Park and Woodlawn roads.
J.T. Williams Montessori is just 1.2 miles away from the new proposed location for Trillium in the Lincoln Heights community.
"It leaves this whole Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson completely uncovered," Greer said. "I don't really feel like that's fair. I feel like we all deserve an opportunity to get this type of education and type of guidance for our kids."
Families who choose to send their kids to the new school estimate they’ll be faced with a commute as much as two hours per day.
"In my household, we have two working parents, we don't have the ability to be able to drive them to school in rush hour traffic both ways," Jenny Cook, a Trillium Springs parent said.
WCNC Charlotte did the math on traffic conditions when Trillium Springs gets out of school at 4:15 p.m. on a Friday from the same exact locations. We used the shortest routes. Some students may live further or closer to our point of reference.
Trillium Springs is located in Huntersville.
Google Maps anticipated an 18 to 28 minute drive in a car from Trillium Springs to the Lincoln Heights location via Beatties Ford Road. It's 7.4 miles away
For a Cornelius family, Google maps anticipate a 20 to 40 minute drive in a car if leaving from Trillium Springs to Cornelius via NC-115 S and Mt. Holly-Huntersville Road. It's now 11.6 miles away.
From Cornelius to the Lincoln Heights location it's 24-45 minutes via I-77 S would be 17.3 miles away.
For a Davidson family, Google maps anticipate a 22 to 45 minute drive in a car if leaving from Trillium to Davidson via I-77 S and McCoy Rd. It's now 13.1 miles away.
From Davidson to the Lincoln Heights location it's a 28 to 50 minute drive via I-77 S would be 19.1 miles away.
"Whatever time you time the school, it's going to be almost untenable for students from Cornelius and Davidson, and parts of Huntersville to participate in a magnet school that was conceived and birthed in their backyard," Cheek said.
When you factor in the legal speed limit buses can drive on highways, multiple stops, and unplanned traffic accidents it's reasonably estimated it could take a child one hour to get to school on the bus and another hour to come home.
Families say with the new move, they don't think CMS can properly staff a Montessori school with Montessori-trained teachers.
"Our teachers, our teachers already underpaid, understaffed," Dow said. "So now you're going to put more on their plate."
The recommendation to move Trillium comes from CMS and the superintendent. A final vote will happen at a Nov. 9 board meeting.
Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.