Brigitta Hoeferle, director of Montessori Kinder in ClevelandCLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Cleveland's Montessori Kinder International School will move to a newer and larger home, close to downtown in the Spring Creek development.
Last week, the Cleveland Planning Commission approved a rezoning request that allows the private school to be built within the business portion of the mixed-used community.
"As a developer, I know we're real excited just because what it will contribute to the overall concept of Spring Creek," real estate developer Tom Cate said. "I'm proud of what they put together."
Montessori Kinder's planned 7,800-square-foot building will be on a wooded lot, which received praise from the school's founder and director, Brigitta Hoeferle.
"We are in a business park, but we are still in nature, and we can still take the children out in nature and teach them hands-on," Hoeferle said. "That's what Montessori is all about -- teaching them hands-on, what it is."
The school's move to Spring Creek and the new structure will allow Montessori Kinder to double its current enrollment of 60 students to 120, Hoeferle said.
The class areas are open-spaced instead of being traditional closed-door classrooms, architect C. Scott Wright said.
Despite the open nature of the learning areas, Hoeferle said students are not noisy because they are truly engaged with subjects.
The school's property is large enough to place an identical building on the grounds should it need to double the number of students again, Hoeferle said.
With the move, the school may expand its curriculum to upper elementary education, Hoeferle said. The school currently instructs children up to 9 years old.
Montessori Kinder International School will fit the expected increase in German students who come here as part of families working for Wacker, Hoeferle said.
"It would be a great thing for the community, especially for Wacker, because we do serve German children and we have the German curriculum in place," she said.
The Montessori Kinder International School, currently on Tasso Lane, began seven years ago with only three students, she said.