Longtime BI Montessori preschool closing at end of school year

Leaps and Bounds, a Montessori preschool in the center of Bainbridge Island, will be closing its doors at the end of the school year due to lack of adequate staff, following a nationwide trend of labor shortages in childcare.

Lead teacher Donna Johnson made the decision to close the school after her longtime support teacher Vicki Jacobsen resigned to care for an elderly relative.

“She is irreplaceable! If you know me at all, it’s not just about finding a person for a job; it’s about finding the right person for our classroom family,” Johnson wrote in a letter to L&B parents. “It is hard enough to find someone who has the work ethic to show up every day, come rain or shine. Finding someone who can understand a child’s sensitive heart while allowing them to learn, grow and be themselves is rare.”

Leaps and Bounds has two staff, both of whom were born and raised on Bainbridge, with Jacobsen’s family roots on the island going back generations, Johnson said. The two have worked together for 25 of the 30 years that L&B has been open.

The Montessori curriculum focuses on students’ independence and problem-solving, giving each child a “project” that they navigate at their own pace with some guidance from a teacher. L&B is one of four Montessori schools on the island, and one of two that teaches a mixed-age classroom of students between two-and-a-half and six years old.

There can be a big disparity between the development of students, but that’s a strength, Johnson said.

“The nice part of having mixed-age groups is that everyone is at a different level. We see something like this every day: a child will be scribbling one week, discouraged, and the next week will be writing letters beautifully. Everyone gets to see that child’s accomplishments, and witness it, and go ‘Whoa, if he can do it, I can do it,’” said Johnson.

410 students have enrolled in L&B over the years. A large percentage graduate knowing how to read, Johnson added, and most enroll in kindergarten at the BI School District. A handful enroll in a private school or move off-island every year.

L&B is one of the most affordable private daycare options on the island, explained L&B parent Genviève Caruncho-Simpson, and losing it will mean an additional challenge for families. Where parents in Washington can expect to spend about $20,000 annually to care for an infant, L&B was one of the few options on BI with below-average tuition while preserving high-quality education, she said.

“The demand for affordable, high-quality early childhood education on Bainbridge Island exceeds the available supply,” said Caruncho-Simpson. “This shortage affects families’ ability to find suitable care options, underscoring the importance of programs like Leaps and Bounds, which have historically provided accessible Montessori education to the community.”

But staffing challenges aren’t unique to Bainbridge or even Kitsap County. The childcare sector in Washington state is in a tailspin, advocates say, and there’s a shortage of Montessori teachers worldwide.

To teach Montessori, childcare professionals must earn a training credential for each child’s development level, a process that can take up to two years. Even training for traditional childcare can be cumbersome, said Susan Brown, CEO of Seattle-based Kids Company.

“One of the most pressing issues in child care is retaining our experienced staff. Current education requirements do not always recognize the deep expertise that long-term educators bring to the table,” wrote Brown. “Many providers with years — sometimes decades — of experience are being pushed out of the field due to rigid, one-size-fits-all credentialing requirements that do not reflect the skills they already have… They are the backbone of high-quality early learning.”

Johnson added that as a childcare professional, one of the biggest challenges she sees for parents isn’t just affordability — it’s the lack of all-day childcare. L&B offered part-time care, with two three-hour classes daily; it’s common for families who work all day to enroll their children in two different preschools, Johnson explained.

On top of staffing shortages, there are very few affordable real estate options that could support the needs of an all-day preschool, Johnson said. In the future, she hopes someone else will open a preschool at the L&B location, but she may continue to offer childcare through summer camps from June 9-13 and June 16-20.

“With L&B closing, that’s sadly one less option for BI. It would be wonderful if someone stepped forward and opened an amazing place for children,” said Johnson. “I will miss the families very much, it has been an honor to part of their lives, it has meant the world to me. I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to do what I love, with the most amazing people on earth.”