Families, faculty scrambling after Loudoun County Montessori school abruptly closes

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. - Parents in northern Virginia are scrambling to find classrooms for their children just days after a  Montessori school abruptly shut down, leaving families and faculty members frustrated. 

Guidepost Montessori School closed its doors after Higher Ground Education, which operates the school, missed two rent payments, a spokesperson for the company told FOX 5.

They say the payments were missed due to financial difficulties and Higher Ground Education was reportedly negotiating to pay their landlord back with interest. 

A spokesperson told FOX 5 that during those conversations, the landlord quote "locked the doors without warning, late on a weekday evening, deliberately displacing dozens of families with the maximum possible disruption."

The lockout was discovered by a cleaning crew. Otherwise, families and teachers would have shown up to a locked building in the morning.

The administration says they knew eviction was possible but had no indication of an imminent lockout preventing them from orderly and collaborative advanced communication to families.

"I luckily, am a part-time employee of Walgreens, so for me, I was able to pick up some extra shifts at Walgreens and not have to fully worry about where I was going to, you know, have my employment,"  lead guide Jessica Corpuz told FOX 5."Going forward, it's just getting our resumes back out there, trying to figure out where we all go from here." 

Other Montessori schools across the country are apparently in similar scenarios and Higher Ground Education says in other states, they were told this type of lockout would be illegal. Even here, it’s very rare.

They admit they are experiencing financial difficulties describing this as a short-term challenge.

FOX 5 was told children's and teachers' belongings are still locked in the building.