Montessori on convent grounds to close at end of school year

Board says changing needs turn order's focus to aging

Short notice upsets parents

By Michelle Alaimo

After 29 years of operation, the highly regarded Casa Maria Montessori School at 200 Prospect Ave. will close on May 21.

The announcement by the school's board of directors, which is also the same board that governs the California Province Administration for the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Convent, came as an unhappy surprise to parents, teachers and staff who were called together March 11 for a meeting.

"It was a pretty shocking announcement because Casa Maria is such a wonderful school," parent Jennifer Calhoun said.

The board came to its decision based on a number of factors, all of which relate to the growing need of the religious order to provide housing and care for its aging members.

With the convent's growing focus on aging, new regulations for operators of preschools--including one that made it necessary for every person on the convent grounds to be fingerprinted--were forcing the sisters to use more human resources than they had available, according to California Provençal Sally Slyngstad.

The fingerprinting was required even of "elderly sisters and those in the nursing facility who live on the grounds," spokeswoman Angela Carrillo said.The school, owned by the Sisters of the Holy Names, serves 160 21Ž2- to 5-year-olds and is run completely by outside Montessori employees who do not live on the convent grounds, Carrillo said. Only one of the teachers is a Montessori certified sister, and Slyngstad explained that it is important for the convent to have sisters who can participate in school affairs.

She said when the school first opened in 1970 in the convent building, there were fewer regulations governing the running of a preschool and kindergarten. Slyngstad said, "The escalating regulations require a great deal from a religious community that is running a school from its home."

While not disputing the convent's reasons for closing, many parents said that the school should have had some kind of transition period or given parents more notice before deciding to close.

Asked by the Los Gatos Weekly-Times why more notice was not given, Slyngstad referred to a press release stating the reasons for the closure, but would not elaborate on the timing.

Parent Julie Gilbert said if parents had known in advance, they might have been able to come up with other options. She said now parents' options are limited because many private schools of equal quality have already held preschool open houses and registration.

"I don't think they took into consideration the impact their decision has on the community as a whole," Gilbert said.

Parents met with the sisters and a mediator on March 15 for a brainstorming session. Parents and sisters will meet again on March 29 at 7 p.m. to discuss the feasibility of various options.

A representative from the Los Gatos Union School District said there are openings for any child who lives in the district. Hillbrook School in Los Gatos and St. Andrew's in Saratoga, both private schools, are completely booked for the next school year in both pre-K and kindergarten classes.

While many parents are left scrambling for what to do for the next year, the school will continue its normal day-to-day operations until the end of this school year and have more meetings with parents as needed, Slyngstad said.

"We want life to be normal, productive and wholesome for the children for the remainder of the year," Slyngstad said.

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