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Ever since Frederick County opened Maryland's first charter school in 2002, local school officials and parents have not been able to agree on a viable option for additional charter schools in the county.

But some parents are hoping to change that.

Two parent groups have been working independently in the last few months on proposals for two more charter schools, which are publicly funded and privately run.

Though both groups want to focus on teaching Spanish, their ideas are different.

One group hopes to open a school using the alternative, hands-on Montessori curriculum, while the other envisions a school that offers a traditional approach to reading, teaches history chronologically, and unlike public schools, does not use TERC math, a disputed curriculum.

Organizers from each group plan to submit plans for approval from the Frederick County Board of Education in 2010. If the proposals are approved, the schools could open in the fall of 2011.

"We are still in the very early stages of this," said Tom Neumark of www.FrederickEducationReform.com, one of the groups preparing a charter school application. "Our hope is to cooperate with the board. This has to be a partnership."

Neumark's organization is best known for fighting against TERC math, which encourages students to use a variety of strategies to do basic math instead of focusing solely on standard algorithms.

Neumark and other parents in his group have decided that a charter school that takes a more traditional approach to schooling may be the way to resolve their concerns.

"It is our only hope to get the kind of education that we want for our kids," Neumark said. "TERC math is only one of the things that made us want to do the charter school. But it's not just about the math."

Neumark said his group wants to create a charter school that takes a more classic, rather than exploratory approach, to teaching, Neumark said. The idea is to move away from more child- and discovery-centered approaches to learning and toward more direct, teacher-led instruction. The pre-K through eighth-grade school would place a strong emphasis on Spanish.

The other parent group hoping to apply for a charter school next year will model its plan after the Monocacy Valley Montessori Charter School, which uses the Montessori curriculum and stresses self-guided learning. Monocacy Valley is the only charter school in Frederick County.

"We will be just like that school, but we will also be adding Spanish immersion," said Julie Clark, a Frederick parent and one of the co-leaders in the charter group.

The new Montessori school would serve pre-K through eighth-grade and have capacity for 500 students, Clark said.

Clark's group consists mostly of parents whose children could not get a spot in the existing Montessori charter school – the only school in Frederick County using the alternative, hands-on curriculum developed by Maria Montessori in the early 1900s.

Because Monocacy Valley has limited space and 500 students on its waitlist, parents in Clark's group feel there is sufficient interest in the community for a second school using the Montessori methods.

"We've had a huge response. We already have 60 families," Clark said. "With all the demand, we hope the Board of Education will see the need for this in the community."

Both groups need the approval of the Frederick County Board of Education. In 2007 and 2008, the board denied two similar proposals for an all-girls charter school for grades seven through 12.

But organizers in the two new charter groups are optimistic, and said they are ready to be flexible and work with the board to make their ideas a reality.

Neumark said he hopes the confrontations his group has had with the Frederick County Board of Education will not affect the board's attitude toward their charter school application, and expressed hope the group will be able to work with school officials to make the charter school a reality.

"We really want to work with the board," he said. "I worry very much that the board will take this as an insult. ... But this is all about our kids. This has to be a partnership."

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.

Organizers who hope to open two new charter schools are seeking comments, feedback and participation from parents.

-For more information about www.FrederickEducation

Reform.com, parents can e-mail the group through its Web Site.

-For information about the group looking to start a second Montessori school, call Julie Clark at 301-662-7409 or attend its first organizational meeting at 3 p.m., Sunday at the Staley Park Field House, on the corner of Motter Avenue and 10th Street in Frederick.