Cambridge Montessori School

About CMS

Board of Trustees

June 15, 2011

Dear CMS Community,

Our school year ends, and the year has been a good one. Our children have grown in learning, personality, and accomplishment. Each has completed another step in his or her CMS education, true to our child-centered mission; some are completing a three-year Montessori cycle; some have completed our curriculum and leave us for chosen high schools. Nature’s Classroom, Kroka, Plimoth Plantation; Festive Performances, Celebration of the Arts, sixth-grade Senior Project presentations; our Extended Day program, clubs, our sports teams – we offer our children a rich environment designed to bring out the best in each, and we work hard each year to do so.

This year CMS itself grew with its first ninth-grade graduating class at one end of our spectrum – a superb group of students – and a third Toddler room, the Lilac Room, at the other. This summer Passport will again welcome more than 160 summer camp participants to CMS at roughly one hundred a week, each spending three to four weeks with us on average.

In all, your school, a $5 million institution of some 220 students, is doing well.

This year has also been a year of transition, which by nature is challenging at times. We are shifting from the eight years with David Harris to the new leadership of Dr. Ingrid Tucker, who will join us as our new Head of School on July 1. David led us through the conversion from a cooperative to a fully accredited independent school and created much of the platform – Toddler through Middle School, a three-facility campus, sports, clubs, and Passport – upon which we continue to build. In this past year we have revisited our strategic direction as we recover from the “great recession,” focusing on our existing campus, selecting a new Head, and affirming our fundamental commitment to the quality of our classrooms and programs.

This year’s transition has been led by Interim Head of School Victoria Londergan, and I cannot thank her enough for the effort, focus, and dedication she has shown in helping us through this first year of transition and to the start of our new chapter with Ingrid. My thanks are broad, though, as I am grateful to our teachers, administration, and parent community who withstood the shock of last summer’s crisis, gave their clear attention and support to our children, and produced an outstanding year of learning, growth, and celebration. Thank you all.

As I have written before, Cambridge Montessori School is a unique place and environment, and our community serves our school well. We blend the progressive, intellectual, and international character of Cambridge with a deep belief in the values of Maria Montessori and the educational approach of contemporary American Montessori – so much of which we see replicated in parts, but not in whole, at many other schools. We, CMS, have both beliefs and methodologies that serve the educational goals we wish for our children, and I hope and trust you can see that in the curiosity, intellect, maturity, and joyful learning that your own child shows. Our community is built around this mission, as realized in our children’s education, in their understanding of a diverse and changing world, and in their preparation for the excitement and responsibilities of a caring, fulfilling life in the twenty-first century. This mission is the core of what we share.

In the coming year we will re-examine how we will continue to best serve that mission as we look at the future for our children and for our school. Ingrid, with the Board, will lead us in a strategic process that will require your input – be it full-on participation in the development of strategic components, or questions and feedback as we review and revise the plans we sketch out. We as a community will take this shared mission and match it to the goals we define for Cambridge Montessori School as we assess the decade before us and our second fifty years. A year from now, we will have a strategic plan that carries the best of what we have to a new level, building on all we have done and taking us to a new leadership role in Montessori, and New England, pre-K to middle school education. Please return in the autumn ready to play your important part.

As for the Board, allow me to thank Trustees Megan Ostuni, our Clerk, and Maria Guest, who have served us well and will be stepping down with the end of this school year. We welcome new Trustees Anja Langbein-Park, Jon Turner, Laura Russ, and Zeke Bowman, all current parents, to their first three-year terms and look forward to the skills and talents they will contribute.

The summer offers us all a good break, and I hope yours, and your child’s, is enjoyable, useful, and happy. It also offers moments of consideration or reflection that help us keep life’s goals, challenges, and hopes in perspective, away from the bustle and schedule of the school year. I believe many of our aspirations lie in the generation that follows us and the world we hope they will enjoy and create – so please use a summer thought or two to think of how Cambridge Montessori School can best serve them today for what they will do tomorrow. Help us lay that out next year, for them and for those students that will follow.

CMS – faculty, staff, Ingrid Tucker, your Board – will be ready for you and your child in September. Thank you for a good past year, as plenty awaits us in the new one. Enjoy the summer!

Yours,

Webster O’Brien

President, Board of Trustees

Board of Trustees

The Cambridge Montessori School Board of Trustees is committed to the preservation and implementation of the School's mission. Members are parents of current and former CMS students, educators, professionals, and community leaders who share a belief in Montessori education and a passion for CMS. As a group, the Board is responsible for the hiring and evaluation of the Head, strategic planning, and the long-term financial stewardship of the School. In short, the Board exists to ensure that Cambridge Montessori School is viable for the children of its current students.

The Board works through strategically based committees, which include Finance, Committee on Trustees, Head Support and Evaluation, Development, New Campus and Facilities, and Strategic Planning. The last three welcome parents and faculty who have the time and talent to contribute. Each trustee is active on at least one committee, typically meeting monthly. Committees make recommendations that provide insight and direction for Board decisions.

In 2004, the Trustees approved a strategic plan to add a middle school encompassing grades 7-9 and unify the present split campus in one expanded facility embodying principles of sustainability. Unusual for a Montessori school, this vision builds on nearly 50 years of experience in early childhood education to offer a comprehensive, integrated program, preparing children aged 2-15 to enter a college preparatory independent or public high school. CMS's mission is to educate students to be self-directed, independent learners as well as responsible citizens of a global community who value diversity and effectively solve problems. Parents have enthusiastically endorsed our plan because it offers an unparalleled curriculum and educational environment.

In September 2010, the Middle School will be complete with the addition of grade 9. An interscholastic athletic program features soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and running and flag football in the spring. The Board and Administration are actively pursing the vision for a new and expanded campus in the Cambridge area. As we grow, we expect to increase from 200 students to over 300, adding curricular and extra-curricular programs to further broaden our program and create a wealth of opportunities to enrich the lives of our children.

Board Members