Uprooted Woodland Montessori School Has Benefited From An Ideal Location At Finch Arboretum, But Not The School Is Being Forced To Move

Since opening in 1981, Woodland Montessori School has earned a reputation as one of Spokane’s top private preschools. The annual waiting list of anxious parents hoping to secure a coveted spot attests to the school’s success.

Next year, their wait may become even longer when the popular Montessori school at Finch Arboretum is forced to relocate.

“Both my son and I are very sad,” said Sima Ganji, whose 4-year-old son Comron is in his second year at Woodland. “These kids have so much memory of this place. It’s sad to think it’s being taken away from them.”

A decision by the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department to re-evaluate leasing park property to private businesses has left Woodland Montessori facing an uncertain future. The parks department wants the space back in public hands, and that means staff and students are spending their last year in the arboretum building.

“It wasn’t an easy thing,” said Taylor Bressler, parks operation division manager. “I know a lot of parents have been angry, but there’s a bigger policy that’s being implemented, and it’s to get the public facilities back to the public.”

For years the arboretum has been used by environmentalists, students and horticulturalists, and as a site for various parks and recreation-sponsored programs and classes.

The popularity of such programs has left the parks department with the feeling that the Montessori’s space could - and should - be used by a larger segment of the population, Bressler said.

Bressler said he doesn’t know if turning the building back over to public use will mean the city will generate more or less than the $780 per month the school currently pays, but that money isn’t the driving force behind the city’s decision.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, but there is a potential to increase revenue,” he said.

Another building won’t be the same, says Woodland owner Pat Manz, whose students spend their days surrounded by an outdoor classroom of seasonal blooms and 600 species of shrubs and trees.

It is a setting Manz hopes to duplicate.

Manz joined the staff of Woodland Montessori in 1981. She previously had taught special education in Houston and Portland. When founder Jackie Maughan moved away in 1983, Manz bought the Montessori from her and has operated it in the arboretum since.

Now, while carefree 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds explore yoga books and play dress-up in the classrooms next door, Manz sits in her office wondering where these kids will be next year.

“I know I’ll never find anything to replace this,” she said of the arboretum. “But I want at least some open spaces and grassy fields and thickets where kids can go and hide.”

She’s started the relocation search, which must be done in the next few months, she said, so construction can be finished in time for school next year.

Manz said she’s looked at land and old houses near Chase Middle School as well as near Logan and Grant elementaries. She’s willing to build or renovate, but her main aim, she says, is to find a space that will capture the essence of the arboretum.

With 60 kids filling the two classrooms, every day is a whirlwind of activity, much of it centered on the arboretum.

“The setting is a really important part of their experience here,” said Patricia Terry, whose 4-year-old daughter, Emily Von Essen, attends Woodland.

“When we attended open house, we spent maybe a third of the time in the classroom,” she said. “Then we went outside, and she was showing me the rest of what her days are like.”

The news of the school’s move has left many parents wondering about the parks department decision and the future of their children’s education.

“I’m a pretty firm believer in what they’re doing here,” said Steve Bruce, a Peaceful Valley resident whose daughter, Natalie, is in her second year at Woodland. “The children are basically really close to the outdoor environment. It’s very wholesome.”

Bruce said he questions the wisdom of the city’s decision.

“People say they want the building to go back to the public. Well, I’m a member of the public too, not just a parent,” Bruce said.

“People should be mature enough to understand the value of the school and leave it here.”

This year, Steve Faust enrolled a second child, 3-year-old Charles, in the program after son Wilson moved on last year. He said he, too, appreciates the Montessori philosophy, but a relocated school will present difficulties for some families.

“Distance does become a factor at some point,” he added.

While most parents said they would continue at Woodland regardless of the location, Manz worries she will be a novice of sorts when she opens again next year.

“I realize wherever I go, I will lose some parents,” she said. “That makes me a little nervous. I don’t want to start over.”

But in the end, Manz decided not to challenge the city’s decision, despite parental assurances they’d back her fight.

“I’ve been here a long time, and they’ve been good landlords,” she said. “But I don’t feel like I have a right to protest.”

Her one concern, she said, is that the building be put to good use after Woodland has moved on.

“If they’re not using the building in a meaningful way, then they’d be depriving a whole community for no good reason,” she said.

Her focus will now turn to re-creating a legacy like the past decade and a half at the arboretum.

“I have college kids who come back and visit,” she said. “They don’t remember the teachers, necessarily, and they may not remember me.

“But they remember the willow trees, and they remember the duck pond. That’s what we’ll miss.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)