The Cincinnati district is reopening one of its former campuses later this year as a Montessori school.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Bramble Montessori Lab School is opening on the former Bramble Elemenetary campus largely because families from Xavier University's Montessori Lab School no longer want to stay there after school leaders decided to drop its Montessori programming.
The school is set to open for the 2025-26 academic year.
Xavier University announced in November that its Montessori Lab School would no longer follow the Montessori model, and instead transition to a traditional laboratory model. Some families from that school have been looking for a new home since, and found one with Cincinnati Public Schools.
“We are thrilled to welcome these families into Cincinnati Public Schools,” Superintendent Shauna Murphy said. “Montessori education has been a cornerstone of [the district] for 50 years, and this new pre-K-8 lab school at Bramble will ensure that students continue to thrive in an authentic, student-centered learning environment.”
The Cincinnati district re-acquired the Bramble campus after a charter school operating in the facility shut down in 2023.
Montessori encourages students of different ages to learn alongside one another and emphasizes community. It focuses on hands-on projects and promotes child-led learning.
