A new approach to education on the Palouse

Families in the Pullman area now have the opportunity to enroll their children into a new, public charter school, which is set to open its doors for the 2021-22 school year.

Pullman Community Montessori, housed in the Gladish Community and Cultural Center, will have the capacity to serve 80 students in kindergarten through fifth grade starting in August of next year. The first public charter school in southeastern Washington started taking enrollment applications this week.

Executive Director Laylah Sullivan said the school plans to add one grade level per year, until it serves students through ninth grade.

“Our goal is to expand our public options through a whole-child developmental approach that prepares students through rigorous academics and a robust K-ninth grade social-emotional and life skills curriculum,” Sullivan said in a news release.

The school recently was awarded a five-year Charter School Program grant totaling $1.5 million that will help pay for the implementation and start-up costs. It previously received a two-year Washington Charters Planning and Implementation Grant for $700,000.

The model of education at Pullman Community Montessori will be different from what the school district currently provides, Sullivan said, with the new school offering mixed-age classrooms and personalized curriculum.

“Each student has an individualized work plan that is fit for their growth rate as well as where they are currently at,” she said. “Things are much more hands-on than they are in the traditional (school) setting, and we also don’t use the traditional bell schedule.”

The school day will feature large blocks of uninterrupted work time, which gives students the opportunity to focus on their lessons and build executive functioning skills.

Discussions about the school started in 2014, Sullivan said, when community members voiced their desire to explore alternatives to traditional public schools.

“We started looking into the research and how to deliver a really high-quality, data-driven program that was supported by evidence, so that’s when it really came down to the Montessori method and integrating a place-based approach,” she said.

The school will receive per-pupil funding from the state, but won’t have the ability to run levies or bonds.

In order to expand to a K-9 model, Sullivan said the school will need more grants or philanthropic funding. She said she plans to apply for another large multi-year grant in January for facility improvements.

The school has a lease with the Gladish Community and Cultural Center, which offers enough space for the grade levels to expand.

“We definitely hope to make Gladish our permanent home,” she said. “It ties well with being a community-based building, and we can also work with the organizations that already exist in the building to provide wraparound services to our family.”

To enroll a student, or to become a board member or sit on one of the school’s committees, community members can go to www.pullmancommunitymontessori.org.

Open enrollment closes in early February.

Tomtas may be contacted at jtomtas@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2294. Follow her on Twitter @jtomtas.