Cherokee Christian Church in Prairie Village will be vacating its building at the northwest corner of 75th Street and Belinder Avenue this spring or summer if a bid to turn the property into a Montessori school goes through.
Global Montessori Academy has submitted plans for the site that will go before the Prairie Village Planning Commission for approval tonight. If the commissioners grant Global Montessori the needed Special Use Permit to operate a private school on the site, Global Montessori would relocate from its current facilities at Unity Temple on the Plaza, which it has outgrown.
If the Special Use Permit is approved and the sale finalized, Global Montessori would look to enroll approximately 110 students for the 2014-2015 school year, according to its Planning Commission application. With current maximum enrollment of around 90 at its Plaza location, the school would be able to accommodate around 150 students on the Cherokee Christian property. The plans before the Prairie Village commission suggest the school would not make substantial alterations to the exterior of the property, but that it would convert some of the parking lot into a playground.
Cherokee Christian Reverend Trish Winters confirmed that the sale was in process, but declined to comment on the future of the congregation. She did say that the people who had reserved community garden space on the site will be able to cultivate their plots as planned for this spring and summer.
Global Montessori would serve kids ages 2 through 9.