School rallies community to stay open
Butler Montessori School has partnered with local businesses to help generate enough community support to remain open this school year.
The school, located in the Covenant Presbyterian Church near Butler Middle School, partnered with seven local businesses to organize a raffle to raise money.
School board president Jill Adkins said the school purchased $25 gift cards from the businesses. The businesses then donated $25 gift cards to the school's raffle.“We saw it as a way for us to support them and they could share our raffle and increase community involvement,” Adkins said.The businesses involved are Cannella Cafe, Cummings Candy & Coffee, DeWalt's Health Food, Miller's Quality Meats, Peter's Chocolate Shoppe, Upper Crust Shop and When Pigs Fly BBQ. The first-place prize will be $200 in gift cards; second place, $100; and third, $50.Tickets can be purchased on the Butler Montessori School Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ButlerMontessoriSchool or by emailing butlermontessori@yahoo.com. Ticket sales began on Dec. 17 and a winner will be drawn on Jan. 3.
Butler Montessori School had a significant decrease in enrollment this year, due in part to the coronavirus pandemic. Adkins said they started the school year with only enough funds to keep the school open until December.“When we started the school year, we knew we wouldn't have enough money for the whole year,” Adkins said. “If we didn't open though, we most likely would not re-open.”The school, open to children age 3 through kindergarten, usually has more than 20 students enrolled in a single year. However, enrollment dipped to just 13 this year. Adkins said tuition generally covers the school's operating cost, but having half as many students enrolled meant tuition would only cover about half of the school's costs this year.To make up the difference, the school has turned to parents, alumni and the community for support.
Founded in 1974, Adkins said the 46 years worth of alumni and parents were the first people to offer help. The school uses the Montessori method, developed in the early 1900s by Italian physician Maria Montessori. Teacher Germaine Schaeffer said the method is sensory-oriented, focusing on using a child's senses — touch, sight, smell, hearing — to learn.“Once you see the program unfold, it kind of brings you right in,” Schaeffer said.Schaeffer, who is in her 11th year of teaching at the school, and Christine Love, in her 38th year, put two children through the school.Through a GoFundMe campaign page and a raffle for lottery tickets, Adkins said they had raised enough money to stay open through April. She is hoping to rally enough community support to fund the final month and a half of the school year.Adkins said this will ideally be “round one” of the Main Street Mania raffle. She said if it goes well, the school would like to do one every few weeks into the spring. Adkins said any local downtown small business interested in participating can contact the school.
