Jarrow Montessori plans satellite campus at former Harmony Preschool site

BOULDER — Jarrow Montessori Elementary School plans to establish a satellite campus for its older students a stone’s throw from the main school at the former Harmony Preschool site.

The private school was given a use-review nod this month by Boulder’s Planning Board to set up shop at 3990 15th Street, a small building about one-third of a mile from Jarrow’s home base on Orange Court that will have the capacity for about 30 students. 

The proximity “will allow teachers, administrators, students, and parents to walk between the subject property and the main campus,” the Montessori school wrote in a memo to Boulder planning staff. “Having all of the resources of the Jarrow Montessori School so close by will allow the school on the subject property to have flexibility in a variety of functional areas, including overflow parking.”

The roughly one-third-acre former Harmony site is expected to be turned into “dedicated space for our fourth through sixth graders,” Jarrow principal Debbie Senoff-Langford said. 

In addition to the classroom building, the 15th Street site will have an outdoor space with space for gardening, science, physical education, art and meals.

Jarrow School Inc. bought the property in April for $1.35 million from Sevvom Jennae Ann, according to Boulder County property records.

“When Harmony preschool closed its doors, they were keen on Jarrow buying the building and felt heartened that we would continue to serve children, which Harmony did for 30 years,” Senoff-Langford.

Demand — especially for educational services for younger students — was a driving factor in Jarrow’s purchase.

“The need to expand early childhood services has increased dramatically in the past few years, as many daycare providers went out of business during the pandemic and have not been able to resume their business operations either due to financial circumstances or inability to find qualified teachers,” the school said in a memo. “This situation is now exacerbated by the fact that many parents now must return to their offices for work, driving additional need for childcare. An early childhood curriculum-based program is needed more than ever.” 

The school’s ability to meet the demand for early-childhood programming “is limited due to classroom space” at the main campus, Jarrow’s memo said. “There is a 60-child waitlist for children aged 18 months to three years. Jarrow receives inquiries daily, so the need for this vital service continues to grow.”

Jarrow’s enrollment at the Orange Court campus “includes 38 children aged 18 months to 3 years, 80 preschool children aged 3 to 6 , and approximately 50 elementary students divided into two groups: first to third graders and fourth to sixth graders,” the memo said. “Moving the latter group of the eldest students to the subject property would open up classroom space to serve an additional 25 or so early childhood, toddler, and preschool children on the campus.”

A few neighbors expressed concerns about traffic and parking in letters to Boulder planning staffers, but members of the Planning Board were unswayed.

“This seems like a wonderful reuse of an existing space,” Boulder Planning Board member Laura Kaplan said.