The Bend-La Pine School Board on Tuesday approved letting a Montessori charter school open in Bend that it denied last fall.

The group trying to open Desert Sky Montessori Charter School submitted a proposal to the district in fall 2015 to open in September 2016 with first through eighth grades. Charter schools in Oregon are privately run, publicly funded and sponsored by a local school district or the state.

“It was almost a year ago that the first version of this came to us,” Superintendent Shay Mikalson said Tuesday, adding at that time, “there was recognition it might not be ready,” from the group trying to create the school.

In October 2015, the Bend-La Pine School Board deemed the application incomplete and voted not to approve the plans to open the school.

About 20 people from the group backing the school came to show support at Tuesday’s board meeting. Shelly Phillips, co-president of the Desert Sky Montessori Charter School Board, highlighted changes the charter school group made to its original plan. Phillips said Desert Sky Montessori is on track to raise $25,000 this year. The group is also planning to reach out to the local Head Start program and Family Access Network to get in touch with more underprivileged potential students.

Laying out the charter school’s growth plan, Phillips said the group plans to enroll 150 students in year one— the 2017-18 school year — and grow by 30 students per year so as not to overburden the already quickly expanding Bend-La Pine Schools.

A report Tuesday night by Brad Henry, the district’s chief operations and financial officer, showed the Bend-La Pine Schools gained nearly 500 students this school year. In 2015 Bend-La Pine Schools enrolled 371 new students.

Phillips said Desert Sky Montessori plans to have one kindergarten with up to 30 children; two lower elementary classes each with about 10 first-graders, 10 second-graders and 10 third-graders; and two upper elementary classes with up to 60 students between the two — 15 fourth-graders and 15 fifth-graders in each class.

She named four people who have taken on advisory roles for the new charter school, including Melissa Harbert, current director at Lewis and Clark Montessori Charter School in Damascus, southeast of Gresham, in the Gresham-Barlow School District.

Taking questions from school board members, Phillips said Desert Sky doesn’t have a physical location secured yet, but the group is interested in east Bend. It has been difficult to make “real world” and “real money deals” before the application was approved, she said.

“We can’t really start securing a space on it right now and start paying rent now,” Phillips said.

Bend-La Pine School Board Chairwoman Peggy Kinkade asked about whether Desert Sky Montessori would see enrollment from older elementary children, not just the lowest grades.

Phillips said the school group has interest from families with upper elementary-age children and more than 800 intent-to-enroll forms.

“I feel like we’re well-positioned to fill in those spots,” Phillips said.

The Desert Sky Montessori group also submitted a proposal to the Redmond School District in 2015, which the Redmond School Board in late January said was incomplete.

— Reporter: 541-383-0325,

kfisicaro@bendbulletin.com