Guidepost Montessori closes 6 Colorado locations, impacting 300 students

DENVER (KDVR) — One of the nation’s largest Montessori schools will close its doors in Colorado leaving hundreds of parents searching for new schools in the coming weeks.

There are 300 students in the Guidepost Montessori system in Colorado. FOX31 spoke with parents who must find another facility for their children by the end of March.

“Try to find a place that's not only comfortable for her but that we're comfortable with, that we can afford,” Aaron Cheek told FOX31.

Many schools have waiting lists making it difficult to place new students at this time of year. Parents also say their children will likely experience an emotional impact as a result of the disruption.

“My daughter has spent so much time building these relationships with their caregivers and really learning how to trust these people to take care of them,” said Katie Cheek.

The school’s corporate office told the FOX31 Problem Solvers that the closure is a result of slow recovery from the labor market crisis and losses of more than $50,000 per month. The staff renegotiated rental agreements and tried other means of finding a remedy but could not keep the doors open.

Parents say they appreciate that Guidepost Montessori informed them that the staff will provide transitional support, assist in the records transfer process and refund deposits but wish they would have received more notice that the schools were closing.

A Higher Ground Education spokesperson provided FOX31 with a statement, which follows in part.

“When things go well, our teachers and families don't need to think at all about what it takes on the back end to make Montessori accessible, in the way we have made it our mission to
do. But, in fact, our mission is not an easy one. Higher Ground Education and Guidepost Montessori were founded in 2016 by a small team of educators who wanted Montessori
education for our own children, believed that a different approach to education was both possible and necessary, and were committed to making it available to as many children as possible," the spokesperson said.

"We started with nothing but conviction, but the path has not been a straight-forward one. This method of education is very specialized, and, in fact, very expensive."

The school system spokesperson noted that teachers at the school received training "equivalent to a Master's degree," and cost upwards of $11,000 per person. The school system offers the training to each staff member free of charge, the spokesperson said.

"The educational materials are expensive as well. Our state-of-the-art classrooms can cost $30k-$40k to set up properly, in a manner that meets our standards. This is why, historically, high-fidelity Montessori has only ever been available to small pockets of children," the spokesperson said. "Our mission as an organization has been to figure out how to make it available on a wide scale."

The education system said the decision to close the Colorado locations was not made lightly and said they appreciated the hard work and effort of school leadership in staff in trying to make the schools profitable.

"We know this is an incredibly disruptive and heartbreaking decision for our staff and families," the system's statement said. "If it could have been avoided, it absolutely would have."

The organization said that if possible, it would return to Colorado.