BY JOHN HOPKINS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A decision on the future of Sands Montessori School -- one of the highest performing programs in the Cincinnati Public Schools -- could come in two weeks.
Possible options for the West End school had parents and teachers Monday night engaging in an emotional discussion at Sands about their program's fate. It was clear they felt rushed on such an important issue.
"We're not saying the options are bad, they're just coming too fast," said Kathy Gentry, president of Sands' Parent Teacher Organization.
The Local School Decision Making Committee (LSDMC) was notified Oct. 5 of various options being considered for Sands. The use of Sands and other buildings are being reviewed as part of the district's facilities master plan. The board of education is expected to vote Nov. 2 on the fate of the school, located in one of the district's oldest buildings.
Options are:
Open Peoples Middle School in Hyde Park as a team-based, K-6 Montessori and develop it into a K-8 over the next three years. Replace Sands and Carson Montessori with a new Montessori school in the west side.
Move Sands to Peoples as a team-based, K-6 Montessori and develop it as a K-8 within three years. Close the West End facility.
Keep Sands as it is now, but move Hyde Park Elementary to Peoples as a neighborhood, team-based K-8 school.
Assistant Superintendent Kathleen Ware told the audience of nearly 150 that she was there to listen to other possible options, counterproposals and general sentiment.
Earlier in the day, Cincinnati Federation of Teachers President Tom Mooney sent a letter to Superintendent Steven Adamowski and school board members, urging them to clear up confusion about the district's commitment to magnet schools such as Sands, which are designed to ease racial disparity.
"Some magnets seem to be viewed as sacred, while there is little hesitation about drastically changing or even closing others," he said.
"Some of us have argued that we should not recommend closing or revamping magnet schools at all because program decisions are not part of our mandate and because we have not evaluated programs or the likely response of families to reorganization of their children's schools."
