The Del Ray Montessori School, earlier this month, won approval from the city to change ownership and reopen a decades-old daycare that closed in Old Town last year.
The city’s planning and zoning director, on Aug. 5, approved change of ownership paperwork, allowing Del Ray Montessori School to reopen at 721 N. Columbus Street. That is the former home of the Flagstone School, a licensed daycare for young children (18 months to five years old) that closed last fall after more than 30 years in business.
Jennifer Bush, the DRMS head of school, said the plan is to move operations by this December to the N. Columbus Street location and to a townhouse in the 600 block of N. Washington Street.
“It’s always been our plan to expand and find a a more permanent home for our school,” Bush said. “We’ve been located at the Del Ray United Methodist Church (100 E. Windsor Avenue) since 2011, since our inception, and moving forward our lease ended, and so we were on the hunt.”
The N. Columbus Street building was constructed in 1950, sits on 4,500-square-feet and has four large classrooms, a kitchen, front office and a fenced outdoor playground area, according to a real estate listing.
The daycare is on the same property as Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church, and the project also got the written consent of Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.
“As owner of the above-referenced application for Property, I hereby consent to the filing of an Street, and a change of the ownership of the Day Care Center located at 721 N. Columbus any related requests by The Del Ray Montessori School,” Burbidge wrote.
Bush said that school leadership toyed around with changing the name, since it will no longer be located in Del Ray.
“We decided not to because we’re carrying the spirit of who we are,” she said. “We were founded in Delray, and we’re carrying that spirit with us into this new location because it’s who we are and and what we do.”
She also said that the N. Columbus Street school doesn’t need a lot of interior work.
“We’re giving it a little bit of a face lift on the inside,” Bush said. “Making sure that the space also coordinates with our aesthetic and what we envisage for our children in our classroom, and then that’s it. But no major demolition, no major uplift.”
The school currently has about 65 students, and Bush expects it to grow with the new spaces in Old Town.
“After we move in all of our furniture, then we’ll be able to get our licensing inspector in there to really measure out our capacity that we’re able to hold, and we anticipate it to grow considerably,” Bush said.
