Montessori school moves from New Brighton to Fridley

Harbon Montessori School has a new home for the upcoming school year.

The Fridley City Council earlier this month approved a special use permit allowing the private school serving students in preschool through fifth grade to move into St. Philip’s Lutheran Church at 6180 NE. Hwy. 65.

“Harbon has been a household name in the north suburbs in Montessori for many years,” Hal Erks, the school’s president and co-owner told the council before the vote. “We have been invited to come here. We think this a fantastic opportunity.”

Harbon opened in 1952 and has served more than 6,000 children, Erks said. The school with about 50 students most recently operated at New Brighton Christian Church, but needed a new location after the church decided to do something different with the space and didn’t renew Harbon’s contract, Erks told the Fridley Planning Commission in July.

Erks said Harbon was invited to St. Philip’s by the church’s pastor, who has had two sons go through the program.

In approving Harbon’s permit, the council revoked a special use permit that since 1994 allowed St. Philip’s to run an adult day care on the site. The church no longer runs the adult day care, but still held the permit.

“Welcome to friendly Fridley,” Mayor Scott Lund said after the unanimous vote. “I hope it is a successful move for you.”