Clark Nexsen worked over a year with Charlotte’s Omni Montessori School to create the first comprehensive facility master plan for the school, founded in 1985 by a group of parents interested in providing an authentic Montessori education for their children. Initially, seven acres of land was purchased in then-rural south Charlotte and 43 students enrolled in a metal building with two classrooms and a parent volunteer office. Today, Omni Montessori has almost 200 students on two campuses, serving children from primary through middle school.
As a first step to achieving the long-anticipated master plan, the Clark Nexsen planning team recommended the following steps to set up a successful planning process:
- An Omni Montessori School planning committee was established to facilitate school community engagement and build consensus for the plan
- All existing materials and data were gathered to assist the planning process (floor plans, survey, schedules, class size, projections, etc.)
- The planning committee was asked to consider and create a list of known needs (must do’s) and desired changes or additions (what could be’s) concerning physical space on the campuses as a potential action plan
- The committee was asked to create a vision statement for the campus master plan – what are the goals to guide the physical future of Omni Montessori School in support of its educational mission?
The master plan, created with the input of the planning committee, administration and guides (teachers), and through Town Hall meetings with the community of parents, families, and supporters of the school, envisions managed growth on the primary/elementary campus and stewardship of the middle school campus, which is a working farm. Omni Montessori School now has the guide plan it needs to follow a step-by-step process that will increase capacity on their lower school campus that will feed enrollment growth for their middle school.
