Uncertain future for Montessori preschool

Published 1:30 am Monday, June 28, 2021

The Montessori preschool, where many island children had developed promising futures, now has an uncertain future of its own.

With the retirement of Janice Otto, who has been a Montessori teacher on San Juan Island since 1989, the schoolhouse is now up for sale.

“It would be great to see it continue on as a preschool,” Otto said. “It is set up so nicely for that, but right now we just don’t know what will happen with it.”

Otto decided to become a Montessori teacher when she visited a classroom that a friend worked at in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“What stood out to me was the respect and trust that the teachers gave the students and the respect and trust that the students gave back to the teachers,” she said.

Originally, her school was in an old building from 1920. As more people began to learn about her Montessori school, eventually, the old building couldn’t keep up with the demand of enrollment. That was when she took matters into her own hands and hired Dan Paulsen to build the current school in 1995. Registration had doubled, going from a classroom of 10 to 20, reaching full capacity. Once she was settled into her new schoolhouse, Otto began hiring assistants to help teachers to keep up with the busy schedule.

Some Montessori schools go through high school but, on the island, the school worked with kids aged three to six. “I love that age,” Otto said. “They have so much wonder for the world and just love to learn.”

“Plus they get my humor. The teenagers roll their eyes, but the kids always laugh,” she said with a chuckle.

The Montessori school focuses on giving students a sense of individuality with its motto being “education for life.” Otto said that if children learn to think for themselves, this will be something they can practice for the rest of their life. In the classroom, all the activities are out, Otto said, so that students can figure out what interests them instead of having the teacher decide.

However, the environment was a bit different this past year with the pandemic. The Montessori school, like all other schools, wasn’t able to continue on with their usual schedules.

Otto described it as a very tough year, with Zoom being difficult for young children to navigate.

“I think that all the children will be affected by the pandemic. It is vital for their social-emotional growth. They couldn’t hug. Some children love and need that physical closeness and they couldn’t get that. It was hard. But we did the best we could,” said Otto.

Worrying about the children is something that Otto is used to doing after working six days a week at the school. When she wasn’t teaching classes during the day, she was organizing the classroom and preparing it for the next day.

“I wore so many hats,” she said with a laugh. “I was, you know, director of curriculum, janitor, teacher, bookkeeper.”

The children were always on her mind as she wanted the best for them, she said and described her work as more of a lifestyle than a job.

Now, Otto is excited to indulge in self-care during her retirement, and will especially be enjoying some time on her rowboat. “People ask me if I want to go traveling, and I’m just like, we live in such a beautiful place! I am looking forward to having more time to enjoy what is around me. I might even go explore the other islands,” she said.

Along with some leisure activities, Otto will also be focused on selling the schoolhouse in a three-prong way. First, as a schoolhouse, second as a live-in schoolhouse, and lastly, as a home. The last option is Otto’s last resort.

If it doesn’t stay a preschool, Alphabet Soup is the only licensed preschool available on the island, along with legal, but unlicensed schools, Lighthouse, St. David, and Little House in the Forest. Otto said there is a need for more preschools since each has a lower capacity than most mainland schools. She also finds it important for the island to have a variety of preschools so each family can find what works for their child.

“My hope would be that it stays a school and that the children of the community still benefit,” Otto said. While she is still unsure of what the future will hold for the building, she continued to say, “I am glad that I had the families that I did. They knew that we were like our own little pod and I had wonderful support from the community.”