So many thousands of little feet have shuffled through the halls of Sands Montessori in the West End that the once-bright blue carpet is worn to dusty blue-gray.

        Sands — the first public Montessori elementary school in the nation — spent 22 years in its four-story brick building.

Gary Browning, principal of Sands Montessori. (Ernest Coleman photos) | ZOOM |

        Slated to close at the end of this year, the structure has housed Cincinnati Public Schools students since it opened in 1912 in what is now a mostly black, impoverished neighborhood.

        But while some parents have pleaded with the district for years to move the 600-plus children out of the crumbling Poplar Street magnet school, others say the school community and the West End neighborhood will suffer when its moves to the mostly white Mount Washington area next school year.

        “It brings a lot of diversity to the neighborhood,” said Acacia Coaston of East Walnut Hills, whose two daughters, Alexis, 7, and Ashley, 8, attend Sands.

        The battle to move has pitted schools against schools and parents against parents.

        But Sands officials say they hope their school community will rally around the relocation so they can focus on educating the children and preserving the school's blend of cultures.

        “As much as possible, we want to keep our families,” said Principal Gary Browning Jr.
       

A symbol of diversity

        Sands Montessori is a symbol of diversity.

        The program and other magnet schools — drawing students from all over the city — sprang up throughout Cincinnati schools in the 1970s when the district faced court-ordered desegregation.

        As part of a voluntary desegregation move before a lawsuit was settled in 1984, Cincinnati schools merged several Montessori programs into Sands in 1979. The school drew a racial mix of students with its specialty program and extra resources.

Paint peels on the wall above a doorway at Sands as two teachers review paperwork. | ZOOM |

        Montessori education is a teaching method that encourages more hands-on and sensory learning than in traditional classrooms. Classrooms are stocked with education materials such as beads for counting. Students are grouped in multigrade classes and move from lesson to lesson without constant direction from teachers.

        The Montessori philosophy also stresses diversity, encouraging students of many races and different socio-economic and religious backgrounds to learn from one another.

        Ms. Coaston said she'll be surprised if the school loses its diversity in the move to the Eastern Hills school campus because she and other parents likely will follow the successful Montessori program there.

        In fact, both schools are in the same school-district quadrant — meaning children who now take the bus will still be bused by the district.

        But other parents think the move will cause the school to lose its socio-economic balance — about half the students receive free or reduced-price lunch.

        They also worry the school will lose its racial mix — more than 57 percent black, more than 33 percent white and 9.5 percent other races — by moving to a more affluent community.

        “A lot of kids go here whose parents don't have transportation for parent meetings and things at night,” said Etta Trammell of East Walnut Hills. “Low-income parents won't have transportation out there.”

        Her two children, John Sanders, 6, and Jamauria Sanders, 8, attend Sands and take the bus home.

        “Nobody asked our opinion,” said Shannon Davis, who lives in the West End. His two children, Page, 8, and Adam, 11, attend Sands and walk to school.

        His comments sparked a lively debate last week with the president of the parent-teacher organization, Jenny French, as they stood across the street from the school.

        Ms. French and others argue they've sought many opinions and pursued many options, including housing the school at the more centrally-located Academy of World Languages building in Evanston and in the Hyde Park School. Those options met with passionate opposition from parents and teachers at those schools.

        Sands parents active in relocation efforts say a decision had to be made now.

        “We've looked at and investigated numerous avenues,” said Ms. French, who has four children attending Sands. “It boiled down to the fact there was one location available. It was not our first choice.”
       

A building crumbles

        Mr. Browning said school officials and parents plan to find creative means to preserve or even improve the diversity emphasized in a true Montessori program.

        For example, they hope to secure express buses to transport children who have to leave school early or stay late and have no other transportation.

        But staying in the current building was not an option because of its poor condition, he said.

        Last year, a window from a rotted sill fell from the school to the pavement below, he said. The asphalt paving and front concrete steps are cracked. Plaster occasionally falls from walls because of a leaky roof, teachers say. Classrooms can reach more than 100 degrees on summer days, and chilling winds howl through the old windows in the winter.

        The cost to renovate, according to the Ohio School Facilities Commission, would be $8.8 million.

        Nevertheless, teachers — who struggle with the undersized classrooms and lack of greenspace outside for students — say they'll miss the old building.

        The neo-classical revival architecture is intricate, with elaborate floral detail embossed in the terra cotta trim around front windows. The stairs inside the school are marble. Many of the classrooms have wooden bookshelves built into the walls.

        “It has a real charm,” said teacher Ginny Zimmerman, whose three children attended Sands. “I think we're really going to miss it, but that's superseded by the crumbling of the school.”

        Teachers say they'll miss the neighborhood, too, where children weekly walk to swim lessons at the LeBlond Boys & Girls Club. They'll even miss their tiny garden across the street.

        But they also say a Montessori program demands much more than Sands can offer, such as wide classrooms for children to spread out on the floor to do hands-on activities.

        Because gardening and outdoor activities are important to the program's philosophy, the 14-acre Eastern Hills campus leaves many teachers at the 2-acre Sands site starry-eyed.

        Students are unsure and divided about what the future holds.

        “I'd like to stay,” said 9-year-old Alexandra Liberatore. “I know where I am.”

        But as the heat hovered at 85-plus degrees in her classroom last week, Alexandra fanned herself and said, “But I'd like to have air-conditioning.”

        Eight-year-old Page, whose father stood outside the school debating with Ms. French about the move last week, may have summed the uncertainty the best, saying, “It might be a great year out there.”
       

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