Mission Statement

Greenstone Montessori, Inc. serves our community, both locally and worldwide by providing excellence in education and providing a place for families to come together.

Statement of Purpose

The Purpose: Greenstone is dedicated to providing quality education and care in a comfortable classroom setting with a focus on meaningful activities designed to complement the child’s family life. These activities are used to guide children toward the acquisition of social, intellectual, physical and practical life skills. Greenstone also has a goal for providing a “place where families come together”. It is our goal to offer parenting classes, classroom education and social opportunities for our community’s families to have a sense of belonging and overall enjoyment with their time spent at our facility.

The Philosophy: Since 2005, Greenstone has existed for children to take full advantage of the child’s own self-motivation and unique abilities. Montessori education is both a philosophy of child growth and a method for providing such growth. It is based on the child’s developmental need for freedom within limits. Our carefully prepared environment enables the child to consistently experience success.

The Goals: Greenstone will strive to:

• …provide high-quality educational programs consistent with the Montessori philosophy.
• …foster self-confidence, caring and independence for its children.
• …respect children as different from adults, and as individuals who differ from each other.
• …meet the needs of the families in our local community
• …be as financially strong as it is educationally vibrant.
• …provide a strong sense of community for the children and their families that seek to perpetuate itself.
• …offer a positive and nurturing work environment for employees.
• …recognize the unique and special relationship we have with our downtown neighbors.

In October 2007, with the help of our parents, we have drafted our Community Accords document, which outlines the values and principles upon which our policies are guided by.

History

Greenstone Montessori School began as a private school established as a Limited Liability Partnership. Owned by Abby & Diana Nartker. Greenstone Corner, LLC purchased our location at the corner of Main Street & Sweigle Avenue in Molalla, Oregon, in May of 2005. In 2008 the school transitioned into a non-profit corporation and remains a tenant of Greenstone Corner, LLC. In preparation for the school, significant work has gone into the property by the Nartker family and our Greenstone staff & families. Our main building has been a beautiful two story church for over 100 years. When we purchased the building we converted the entire building into classroom space for the children along with a small office space upstairs. The courtyard was secured and a beautiful flagstone area was laid by Vince (Diana’s husband), Vance (Abby’s husband) and Diana. The backyard play area was newly fenced and a play-structure and bike path was constructed from parents through the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP). The original Molalla Library also stands on the property and is a planned project for future use.

In June of 2005 we started the search for accredited Montessori teachers. We offered positions to Denée Longan, who was just graduating from the AMI training center in Portland and Crystal Miyamoto, a 20 year veteran teacher from Colorado. Due to unfortunate circumstances, Crystal was not able to join us when school began. In our initial business plan, we had hoped for 7-10 students our first year. We began our first school year with 15 children enrolled in our Children’s House Program. At the start of our first year, we were staffed with Denée and Abby in the classroom and Diana caring for the school finances. A new search was extended and we were fortunate enough to find three amazing new staff members for the remainder of the 2005-2006 year. Gail Booth joined us as a part-time Children’s House Assistant in Denée’s classroom. We hired Dawn Cowan, a well-known Elementary teacher in the Portland area, who happened to be on Maternity Leave from her classroom at Childpeace Montessori, as a part-time teacher and advisor for our Elementary Program. And we hired Charity Thompson, a fresh new graduate with an English Degree and who just returned from working in Guatemala for a year teaching English and Spanish to Mayan speaking people, as a full-time Assistant for the Elementary Classroom. Abby took on the roll of full-time Administrator and General Manager and Diana as the full-time Financial Officer and Manager of the Grounds. Their husbands Vince and Vance play a key roll in the maintenance of the property.

In 2006-07 we were upset by a change in Fire Inspectors who found that our building was not suitable for our use. Three weeks before school started it was shut down and construction began again. After six months of housing the Elementary class in the office and the Children’s House in a modular building on the front lawn; the school has been restored to its proper places. Not only did we have change in our space, but our staff has changed this year as well. Robert Hale-MacKinnon, a teacher with a decade of experience runs our Elementary program which has jumped to 15 children this year and has taken over the upstairs of our main building. Kate Rudolph is the Directress of the Children’s House along with support from another AMI Teacher, Cindy Guschov. This dynamic team both have years of experience with children both as mothers and Montessori teachers. The Children’s House has grown to its maximum capacity of 30 children. We hired Cindy with the plan that she will take over the Silverton Children’s House that will be opening Fall of 2007.

In 2007-08 we have sadly lost two locations in the Silverton area and thus have decided not to open a Silverton campus at this time. Our Children's House is being led by Carly Migneault and our Elementary by Robert Hale-MacKinnon. Suzanne Voldman joined us as an Administrator Coordinator for the office, Crystal Pierce as a Children's House Assistant and Lena Wood as an Elementary Assistant. We are focusing on building the current classrooms and wait list for the Children's House so that hopefully in the near future we again can look to opening a second Children's House. At this time the second Children's House would be house on our current campus in Molalla.

For the 2008-09 School Year, Greenstone has undergone many changes in its evolution which is normal for schools to experience. Due to the extreme costs of the unexpected remodeling in 2006, Greenstone was not in a financial situation to withstand the current economic realities that so many of our families faced. Since the majority of our families attended from outside of the city limits of Molalla, gas prices started to become a factor as to whether a few families could afford to attend the school. Unfortunately the school could not buffer a reduction in attendance with its coffers dry. The school needed to be restructured to save it. Today, Greenstone Montessori, Inc, a non-profit corporation, exists and is rebuilding in a healthy manner. The school needed to close the Elementary program to reduce expenses and supported the growth of a new Children’s House in Silverton that is separate from Greenstone, to ensure our children we had invested in continued to be supported in their development. We hired an amazing Administrator that has the passion of the original owners and has the experience to build Greenstone to its original vision. Our caring and well-loved Assistant Crystal Pierce has returned to the classroom with our new teacher, Amber Sayle who holds an AMI diploma from the Montessori Institute Northwest. We have built a board of directors for the school that is well balanced and highly dedicated to the long-term vision of Greenstone. The Board members are: Abby Nartker, President; Sergio Molina, Vice President; Melinda Alexander, Secretary; Heather Border, Treasurer; Carly Migneault, Montessorian; and Mary Mueller, Grant Writer. (see their bios for more information about these amazing people).

Five Year Goal

2005-06 Our five year goal is to increase our enrollment and expand into to our additional spaces. Our target is two Primary classrooms (ages 2 ½-6), one lower Elementary (ages 6-9) and one upper elementary (ages 9-12) with a total enrollment of 70. We are also working with local groups to help support the building of a Middle School Program in our area.

2006-07 Our goals remain the same as far as growth. We have filled the Children’s House in Molalla and look forward to growing our second classroom in Silverton in the Fall of 2007. With these two classes being feeder classes for our Elementary Program we are excited to watch it grow and expand to the anticipated two classrooms as well. We are also still very supportive of any potential Middle School Program that may come to our area and are watching closely to their developments.

2007-08 Again our goals remain the same as for the desire for a second Children's House. At this time we are focusing on that being onsite in Molalla at the current campus. Upon maximizing the second Children's House, it would now be in our five year goal to add a third Children's House outside of our Molalla campus. Currently Silverton appears to be our best town for this to happen. Over the summer Robert Hale-Mackinnon (our Elementary teacher), Kathleen Campos (a current parent and substitute) and Abby Nartker (Head of School/co-owner) launched the non-profit Open Montessori Initiative (OMI). The purpose of the OMI is to support children to attend Montessori schools and to support the development of more Montessori schools. With the OMI, it is our vision to not only bring more children to Greenstone that otherwise may not be able to afford the tuition, but also to support the work of an adolescent program to be developed.

2008-09 Currently the goals have been adjusted, however, the larger dreams that were the previous goals are not completely out of the vision. Our new five year goal is to build two solid Children’s House classrooms with wait lists on the Molalla campus. The secure long-term financing through grant writing and fundraising to ensure the stability of the school for the future.