Two Montessori schools, Montessori Elementary at Highland Park and Scenic City Montessori, will open their doors to elementary and secondary students in the Chattanooga area this fall.
Montessori Elementary at Highland Park will be the third charter school on the Highland Park campus, following the all-girls Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy and all-boys Chattanooga Preparatory School. It will be co-educational, with students feeding into CGLA, Chattanooga Prep and other schools.
Elaine Swafford, CEO of CGLA and Montessori Elementary at Highland Park, said an elementary school was part of the strategic plan for 2014-20.
“It was in that plan because kids come into sixth grade two or three grade levels behind, and we wanted to be able to help rectify that and the only way to do that was to take underserved kids, disadvantaged kids who were at a disadvantage,” Swafford said. “That’s why we opened the school, to serve those who wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise to get this type of education.”
This year, about 215 students in grades pre-K-2 and fifth grade will enter the school, building a third and fourth grade class in the following years.