Public Montessori Options in the Twin Cities? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: transfer, schools)

[Tarheelappeal]

Mutt and Jeff are 2nd graders at a public montessori program in NoVa. It seems to work well for them both. I see Minneapolis has a couple of public Montessori schools - and I'm wondering about others in the twin city area (or schools with multi-age classrooms). Anyone have kids currently or recently enrolled in a public Montessori school in the area and willing to share their insights and experiences?

Thanks in advance. This forum is great.

[uptown_urbanist]

I'm not sure about the suburban options, but Minneapolis has Seward and Armatage. Both are magnets, which means there's no guaranteed attendance area. For Armatage (which I am more recently familiar with) if you live within a portion of the city you can apply there as a magnet student; they'll also give you transportation. If you live outside of that part of the city (or outside of the city) you can also try for a spot if you provide your own transportation. I wouldn't count on that, however; Armatage is really popular and there may not be spots. If interested, I'd call the school directly and ask them about spots for the appropriate grade levels. At least with the older grades you may have a better chance because there may be some openings if families move out of the area, etc; I know people who have managed to land a transfer spot at the older grades, and at least it wouldn't be a big shock since your kids are already accustomed to Montessori classrooms. If you have an incoming kindergartener you're probably out of luck, as the applications for next year are due in a week and there are always more applicants than spaces (we are crossing our fingers that we'll get a spot!). I would assume that it's probably the same with Seward.

If you end up living in the part of the city that feeds to Armatage, Barton Elementary might be another alternative. It's an open program, which isn't Montessori, but shares some similar traits. It's also very popular, so again, not sure if there are openings.

[suburban mom04]

I believe that Forest Lake has a program, but I don't know anything about it.

[sj222]

My child is a second grader and has been going to JJ HILL MONTESSORI in St. Paul. Great school,very nice teachers, well behaved kids.