Rock Hill schools mull name for Montessori, Ebenezer combined campus

The Rock Hill school district is working to keep history in the name of the new Montessori school campus.

During Monday’s school board work session, Rock Hill parent Paul Holmes announced the top two choices for a name. Holmes said a naming committee of parents, teachers and school administrators gathered input from other parents, school administration, district leaders and community members.

The top two choices were Ebenezer Avenue Academy and Ebenezer Avenue Elementary School: Traditional, Montessori, Inquiry, Holmes said. Holmes recommended the board approve Ebenezer Avenue Elementary School: Traditional, Montessori, Inquiry at the Oct. 23 business meeting.

The top name was chosen based on a desire to tie the new campus name to the history of Ebenezer Avenue Elementary School and represent both choice and traditional students on the campus, Holmes said. He said keeping Ebenezer Avenue in the name was important as the school has served the community for decades.

“We wanted to make sure we kept it as historical as possible,” Holmes said.

Board member Windy Cole agreed that keeping the historical name is a must.

“There’s so much tradition with that school,” she said. “When we make drastic name changes, it causes a lot of hurt feelings and disappointment. It’s a very important name to the community.”

The board will need to approve the name at the business meeting before it is final.

Montessori, a hands-on learning experience focused on peer learning and student choice, soon will have a dedicated space on the campus of Ebenezer Avenue Elementary School. The approach includes mixed-age classrooms. The program, one of Rock Hill’s school choice programs, has been housed at The Children’s School.

The Rock Hill school board unanimously agreed last year to build a new Montessori center at Ebenezer Avenue Elementary School.

The new Montessori facility will be designed specifically for the Montessori program, to serve children from prekindergarten to second grade.

Montessori students in third to fifth grade have already been moved from The Children’s School to Ebenezer Avenue, where an inquiry program has been launched that includes many popular features of Montessori.

The Children’s School will continue to serve Montessori students in K3 through the second grade until the new building is ready.

The $8 million building is expected to be completed in January 2018.

This story was originally published October 10, 2017 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Rock Hill schools mull name for Montessori, Ebenezer combined campus."