After six years, the partnership between Ballard High School and the Casa Maria Montessori preschool, which has been housed at the school rent free, is coming to an end. Tight budgets and a new program means the preschool has to move out the end of June.
BHS Principal Phil Brockman tells our news partners, The Seattle Times, that a new program for students with autism needs the space. “We feel badly that the early-learning program will no longer be housed at Ballard, but we really do not have a choice,” Brockman tells the Times.
The executive director of the preschool, Gail Longo, tells the paper that parents of both preschool students and some high school students are writing Brockman letters not to close the preschool.
The preschool program at Ballard was the last of its kind at Seattle Public Schools, in the wake of two similar programs closing at Nathan Hale and Ingraham. The partnership gave high-school students the opportunity to observe preschool students and learn about early childhood education. Students could even intern at the preschool for one period during the day.
You can read more about this partnership in this Seattle Times article by Andrew Doughman.