Former school converted to event center

For countless students and teachers, fall means a return to the classroom and another year of sharing one of life's most challenging times with familiar faces, often in an equally familiar setting. However, one group of local students and staff were not among them.

Last July, the students of Flathead Valley Montessori Academy (FVMA), just north of Somers, received word that their school would not be reopening its doors this fall. Now, the building will be used as an event center and is currently for sale.

The news came as a blow to FVMA supporters who have fought to keep the school afloat from year to year. No one, however, fought harder to make the school successful than the school's head administrator, Jeff Pernell, who—along with ex-wife and partner Stephanie Pernell—had already exhausted his life savings and incurred substantial debt to make that happen.

"It was difficult for everybody involved," Jeff said. "It came right down to the bottom line that, basically, the school wasn't able to pay its rent. Because school wasn't able to pay rent, Pernell Partners wasn't able to pay the mortgage.

Pernell Partners currently retains ownership of the building, although it was placed on the market in July. The asking price, $850,000, will not be sufficient to recover the amount the Pernells have invested in the building. The building was constructed around the main shell of the former St. Katherine's Catholic Church—the Pernell's had the church building moved from a parcel in Bigfork, which is now owned by the Marina Cay Resort.

"We have well over a million dollars invested in it," Jeff said. "Between Stephanie and I, we're expecting heavy losses, but it was a worth-while try. You're given one chance in this life, and I'm still going to try and do things for the community because I still believe in it."

The Pernells struggled to keep the school viable before it even opened its doors. In fact, the couple taught a small group of students at the Woodland Montessori for the first year (2006-2007), while the building was still under construction.

However, the constant strain to trying to make ends meet eventually caused the couple to separate and then divorce, a year and a half later. Although the two continued as partners until last summer, Stephanie felt she had dealt with the financial insecurity for too long and decided to step down from teaching at the academy.

"We scrambled as a board to put together some kind of a package that we could present to another potential teacher," Jeff said. "We offered the job to two different candidates who both turned us down. At the end of July, we made a final decision to close the school.

In August, the board decided not to dismantle the non-profit because, the parents still want the school to succeed at some point, Jeff said.

Instead, the FVMA board will provide an extracurricular enrichment program that meets once a week, after school, as well as one Saturday a month.

The FVMA board presently refers to the enrichment program as X-Lab. The program will focus on various hands-on science projects, including wind turbines, rockets, aqua-ponics, Destination Imagination and the Future Cities competition, where FVMA has already proven itself by winning both regional and national awards.

Enrollment in the program is being limited to 10 sixth, seventh and eighth grade students due to limited facilities. The program will operate out of a shop owned by one of the parents.

The building will now also be available for wedding parties and any number of community or social events under the name the Hey Day Event Center.

"We're trying to keep it afloat until it sells. And if it starts making money, we might not sell it," Jeff said.

New preschool non-profit

As for the pre-school that operated out of the FVMA building, the school will rent its usual space but with a few changes. Instead of being run by Woodland Montessori, a group of parents—12 families in all—decided to form a non-profit, Lakeside Somers Montessori Co-op, and continue the school on their own.

The group formed largely due to encouragement from Carol Thomas, who has taught at the preschool for the past two years. Thomas, who boasts 30 years experience as a Montessori teacher, has worked closely with the parents during her tenure at the school and agreed to continue on with them. The members of the group refer to themselves as a co-op because of the collaboration between parents and teacher.

One of those parents, Andra Townsley, brings a wealth of business experience to the mix, as co-owner of both the Tamarack Alehouse & Grill in Lakeside and Fazooli's in Somers. Townsley has taken over the financial leadership of the co-op.

"Carol really gave us the confidence to do this on our own," Townsley said. "Doing that has been so fun and so worth it. Of course, Carol is wonderful and it has been a real labor of love for her. She really loves the families."

Townsley said the co-op is looking for a few more students and will hire a second teacher if the enrollment goes up.

Townsley will also be providing the beverage and alcohol service for the new event center.