Compass Montessori Secondary School

Narratives

Architect Narrative

This middle school and high school campus, set at the base of a distinctive mountain formation, provides the students with a unique environment to learn both social skills as well as classroom basics. In fact, this is the first Montessori high school built from the ground up in the United States.

The middle school (grades 7 — 9) is an Erdkinder school, which means literally “children of the earth.” This is a farm school where the students raise crops and livestock as well as learn in the classroom. The concept here is that during this age, students are under a lot of pressure from society — so they must leave society and go find themselves on the farm, to discover their true nature and talents. The students are divided into three groups, called “villages”, and each village has 60 students with four teachers. Students stay in the same village for all three years of middle school.

The architecture of the Erdkinder school reinforces all of these ideas by using an agrarian motif to make the students and teachers feel like they are truly on a farm. Each village is also a distinct entity with their own corner of the school, their own breakout area in the Commons, and their own exterior learning environments (both covered and uncovered). The Commons is where the three villages interact, have meals together, sit by the fireplace, read in the library, and develop a sense of community. The kitchen is also a unique learning environment, with students preparing and serving the meals to the entire school in a family setting around large wooden tables.

The High School (grades 10-12) is a more independent learning environment. Once the students have graduated from the Erdkinder school, they are ready to leave the farm and re-enter society. The High School fosters a sense of independence and encourages the students to reach beyond their familiar settings, even beyond this campus. The architecture reinforces this independence with an open student plaza, central commons, large auditorium for student performances, and a coffee shop run by the students. Teachers are encouraged to work together as a team by combining teacher offices in one area that overlooks the student commons.

Before constructing this idyllic campus, the design challenges of this school were many. The architect was hired less than 11 months before the school had to open, and the budget for construction was less than 80% of the budget of typical schools in this area. Both of these goals were met through intense collaboration with the design and construction team, and total support from the teachers, students and parents. Through design charrettes with all of the stakeholders (including students) the schools were designed in a very short time and construction began. The use of engineered metal buildings shortened the construction time as well as saved money. Through the inclusion of advanced daylighting techniques, environmentally sensitive materials and systems, and high levels of insulation, this school will be comfortable, safe and efficient for many years.

Educator Narrative

We hired our architect one September with high expectations and delivered a huge challenge. We needed to create the first public Montessori secondary facility built from the ground up. There was a farm school in Ohio that provided a design basis for our middle school, but we would have to define what a Montessori high school should look like, as there were no comparables in the United States. We need to get this designed and built within a year, and we needed to do it on a rock bottom budget.

First the architect held charettes with parents, students and staff to brainstorm ideas. Some excellent design ideas came from these fun meetings. Then he put together different design options and our entire community voted on their favorite designs. This process helped me to make informed decisions.

A site plan was finalized and we sailed through the public school zoning process. With the architect’s help, we hired a contractor and detailed out every square foot in terms of use, cost, and how quickly it could be built. Our priorities were clear: the project had to be completed by the start of school — the third week of August, second the project had to be within budget as there was no other money, and third, the project had to be meet the Montessori standards of a beautiful and orderly environment.

The end result was fantastic. We did open the third week of August. We were under budget and in fact had money left over to add details we originally thought were not affordable. And our site is beyond beautiful.

What works are the design itself, the finishes, and our ability to use every inch of space. At the middle school, we needed to divide our 180 students down to a number more in line with Montessori secondary education. We created three villages of 60. Each village has its own family style bathrooms, two large rooms that connect, storage, a sink area, and two rounded spaces that allow quiet workspace. The students can easily flow outside (another Montessori principal) by exiting directly out of their classrooms onto the porches. We connect the villages with a commons area that features a space large enough for 90 students to eat at once, a beautiful stone fireplace, and a small library. The commercial kitchen allows the students to create lunch every day for the entire community.

At the entry of our high school, there is a round commons. The students selected the shape. The heart of the school is a performance area, surrounded by classrooms. Each classroom has additional doors connecting it to adjacent classrooms. The goal was to invite collegiality between staff, and we’ve succeeded.

The only lesson learned is the HVAC system is too loud. Swamp coolers are great environmentally, but they are too loud for a Montessori educational environment. Every other aspect of our school met and exceeded our vision, budget and our unbelievably tight time frame.