By NANCY KIMBALLThe Daily Inter Lake

Montessori dream becoming reality for couple

Montessori education in the Flathead will advance a couple more grades by fall 2007.

One of Kalispells inaugural Montessori sixth-grade-program graduates is seeing to it.

Kalispell native-returned-home Jeff Pernell is walking out a dream with his wife, Stephanie, that has been stirring in them during the past year.

Soon, it will be stirring up some dust as they break ground for the Flathead Valley Montessori Academy just north of Somers, near the junction of Montana 83 and North Somers Road.

To gauge interest in the school for seventh and eighth grades, the Pernells are hosting an information night at 5:30 on Nov. 16 in the Willow Glen Montessori school, 349 Willow Glen Dr., in Kalispell.

Our goal is not to make money, Jeff Pernell said, contemplating what an individualized Montessori learning program could mean for middle-school students in Kalispell. Our goal is to start this school.

When the academy opens its doors, the continuum of Montessori education in Kalispell will stretch from preschool and kindergarten students at Woodland Montessori, to first- through sixth-graders at Willow Glen, through eighth-graders ready to launch their high-school careers.

But a key tenet for Flathead Valley Montessori Academy, the Pernells stressed, is that any child may enroll whether new to the Montessori concept or a longtime participant.

A cooperative learning setting in which the student, parent and teacher/facilitator jointly design how and when a child will master each learning step improves a childs confidence and growth into a lifelong learner.

The fall 2007 opening would coincide with School District 5s plan to open its grades nine-through-12 high school and six-through-eight middle school.

Jeff Pernell, a Flathead High alumnus, graduated with Kalispells first sixth-grade class of Montessori students.

He and Stephanie, both teachers with training in curriculum development, returned to Kalispell last year.

Their year away from active classroom teaching became a year of idea incubation after Woodland Montessori Director Sally Welder asked whether they would consider starting a Montessori junior high. It jived with their long-held dream of starting their own school, so they forged ahead.

A parent survey, followed by an exploratory meeting last May, showed substantial interest. Local statistics showed that four of last years 10 valedictorians at Flathead High School were Montessori educated.

As interest and results combined, they solidified a plan for Flathead Valley Montessori Academy.

Stephanie Pernell will be the lead educational adviser and Jeff Pernell the lead administrator. She will complete the curriculum during the coming year, then in a pilot program slated to start next fall, she will volunteer her time to teach possibly five to 10 children interested in becoming charter students.

Montessori standards limit enrollment to a 1-to-20 teacher-to-student ratio but, to reach her preferred 1-to-15 ratio after fall 2007, she hopes to bring in part-time adult helpers for special-interest classes or discussion groups.

In a Montessori education, the teaching focus is individualized and comprehensive, and designed to facilitate learning through hands-on experience, research and investigation.

Students dont wait to be taught; rather, they pursue topics that have a direct effect on their lives.

But its more than learning facts.

The focus on the emotional, physical abilities, the social aspect is so important. It gives them confidence to continue for life, Stephanie Pernell said.

The teacher is more of a facilitator. Well pull you out of that social shell, she characterized the philosophy, and, by the way, heres all this information to learn.

Seventh- and eighth-graders have unique needs that the Pernells think are best addressed in a small-setting Montessori academy.

Our mantra is honoring adolescence. Thats when they start to rebel, so society puts a negative image on them, Stephanie said. Once the bar is set higher, our students will meet it.

Kalispell architect Bryan Schutt is working on the building design. An on-campus greenhouse will let students grow produce, then link with their community as they sell it at the farmers market. Theyll intern with local businesses.

It will be part of the Pernells plan to have junior-high graduates in high-school honors programs.

We want parents to be confident that their children coming out of this program will be meeting and exceeding the standards in public schools, Stephanie Pernell said.

Although the junior high will not be in full operation for two more years, half of the building will open with a full-force preschool next fall to accommodate the waiting list from Woodland Montessori.

The academy is accepting applications from those interested in the junior high pilot program beginning in fall 2006 or the full program in fall 2007.

Call Pernell at 755-4832 or visit the Web site at www.Flatheadvalleymontessori.com.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com.