TPS's Emerson Elem. To Be State's First Montessori School

A nearly $9 million dollar expansion and renovation is happening right now at Tulsa's Emerson Elementary.

The new school is going to be the first of its kind in the state. 

Once completed, Emerson Elementary will be the first public Montessori School in the state of Oklahoma.

Twenty acres of land, just north of the IDL, is a full-on construction zone.

"Emerson has been an open concept building really with no standard classrooms. This will be a change in the configuration of this space as well as expand it," said Emily Hutton, TPS policy and advocacy coordinator. 

In August 2018, Emerson Elementary will be able to fit 600 students and be a model for a different type of education - the Montessori style. 

"It is a true and longstanding program that is a method and way of being and way of learning," Hutton said. 

In 2015, voters approved a bond issue that gave this project the green light. 

6/19/2017 Related Story: Tulsa Public Schools Projects $561 Million In Preliminary Budget

"Tulsa is very fortunate to have a community that supports our schools and supports the mission of the district," Hutton said. 

There will be a brand new early childhood wing and an extended auditorium, along with an outdoor amphitheater. 

The amenities aren't just for the children who attend Emerson, they're going to be available for the entire neighborhood. Things like bike and walking trails, orchards and observation areas. 

"We wanted to make and design a school that the community and parents wanted and that's what we've done here," Hutton said. 

When it first opens, the school will house 4-year-old students through second grade, and then phase up and build out from there.