More News

The Frederick County Board of Education has renewed the charter for the Monocacy Valley Montessori Public Charter School for eight years, relieving parents and raising the hopes of advocates that there may be room for more charter schools in the county.

The decision came at a meeting Thursday, when the board voted unanimously in favor of the renewal.

The decision was a relief for parents, who have been working for at least a year to secure a new charter agreement for the school, said Kim Standing, president of Monocacy Montessori Communities Inc., the group that runs the school.

The current four-year charter for the school expires in June. If the charter was not renewed, the school may not have been able to open for students in September 2010.

"There were a lot of very excited and relieved people at the school," Standing said.

The Monocacy Valley is the only charter school in Frederick County. The school receives public funding and generally operates on a four-year charter from Frederick County Public Schools, which requires it to meet certain performance goals. For example, the charter school has to maintain test scores that are the same as or higher than the county's average in math and reading, regardless of state standards.

Based on the school's financial, academic and organizational performance, school system superintendent Linda D. Burgee recommended Thursday that the school board approve the charter for an eight-year term.

Burgee praised the school for its academic performance and parent involvement, as well as students' and teachers' work to raise math test scores. The school has had some trouble meeting its charter requirements for academic performance in math, and in 2007 revamped its entire math program, with positive results.

"We all should be very proud to have the state's first charter school," Burgee told the board.

Board members also praised parents and staff at school for their work.

"I have no reservations about this," said board member Daryl Boffman. "I think you have more than proved yourself."

This was the first formal charter renewal for the school. Monocacy Valley has been open since 2002, but in 2006 the school board merely extended the charter for four years so the school could sign a lease for its current building on Dill Avenue in Frederick.

While parents at the school have been pleased with the renewal, the board's decision has also energized charter school advocates, who are hoping to open more charter schools in the county.

"This is very promising," said Julie Clark, who is heading the efforts to create a second Montessori charter school in Frederick County.

Clark said she was encouraged by the board's decision. If the board has agreed to renew the charter for the existing Montessori school, board members are more likely to approve an application for a second Montessori charter school, she reasoned.

Clark's group is looking establish a school in part so that families on the waiting list of 500 could send students to a public Montessori school.

Clark's proposal is modeled after Monocacy Valley, which uses the Montessori curriculum and stresses self-guided learning. Clark's group would even operate under the umbrella of Monocacy Montessori Communities Inc., if the new school is approved. The main difference is that the new school is looking to add a Spanish immersion program, Clark said.

"We really aren't doing anything different than [Monocacy Valley]," said Clark, who plans to submit a concept proposal for the new charter school to the school system in January.

Clark hopes the board's decision to renew the contract for the existing charter school means that the board is open to the idea of charter schools.

"It will be great to have more charter schools in Frederick County," she said.

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