Mountain Montessori is a 501(C)3 not-for-profit school founded by a dedicated group of Vail Valley parents. In 2004 this group sought out Martha Teien and invited her to direct a new Montessori program, based on their past experience with her as a Montessori Educator. In a matter of months the founders were able to find the right location, raise enough funds, and donate their own time to create a primary school for their children and the children of the Vail Valley.
These founders and their director, wanted to create a school that provided exceptional early childhood education for Eagle County children. They believed the way to accomplish this was to:
- Build a school with excellent teachers who were passionate about their work and about the children
- Create stability for the children by having the same teachers each day versus different teachers on different days
- Maintain a classroom size of no more than 20 children per day in order to provide a balanced classroom for the children
- Provide a classroom and playground that promotes learning, creativity, exploration and responsibility
- Set the school up as a non-profit so that profits would never override what is best for the school, the children and our community
- Take care of our teachers by treating them as real teachers and not as just as care givers, provide a work environment that allows for balance of life, and encourage yearly professional development in order to promote commitment and longevity of tenure
- Finally, the founders believed strongly in Martha Teien's philosophy of allowing "What is best for the child?" to continually guide the school.
Mountain Montessori would like to recognize Alice Ruth, Ron Alvarez, Michele Evans, Patti Hardenbergh, Glen Davis and Matt Shapcott for their faith, generosity and personal investment. They worked incredibly hard to make an idea they had in the summer of 2004 become a reality in November 2004. Thank you to our founding Board members!