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Head of Schools Letter to You
 Dear Parents, Faculty, and Staff, By now you should have received an email from Robert Dodd, Chair of the New Gate Board, announcing that The Montessori Foundation has entered into a long-term management agreement, whereby The Foundation will manage the day-to-day operations of the school.
I want to begin by acknowledging Paul Wenninger, and thank him for his contribution to New Gate over the last five years. We wish him well. Many of you have known Lorna and me for a long time. Some of you were part of the New Gate community during the years when we led the school together from 1994 to 2000. Others have come to know Lorna in the many roles that she continued to play at New Gate until she joined us at The Montessori Foundation. Those, who do, may recall our vision and the tireless energy that went into bringing our dream into reality. Over the last ten years, we have worked with hundreds of Montessori schools around the world. For us, working with children, teachers, and parents, and building excellent Montessori schools is a passion.
As time passed, we realized that the Montessori Foundation continues to need a model school of its own to demonstrate the principles of school leadership that we teach. Consequently, we began the process of establishing The Field School. Many parents and teachers who know both schools remark that the vibrant spirit and sense of community that are evolving in The Field School closely parallel the things they most appreciated in New Gate. The opportunity to bring the two schools together, picking up on our earlier work, is absolutely compelling!
Over the next few months, we will work together to clarify the school’s identity, core values, and programs.
Obviously, there will be some fundamental changes in emphasis throughout the school:
There will be an absolute commitment to exemplary Montessori education.
The second will be an unwavering commitment to expanding the school at every age level from toddlers through high school, hopefully adding a new program for infant development in the near future as well.
The third will be creating a culture of partnership; what we call ‘The Circle of Equals.’ We will want to explore this with you in much greater depth, but, for the moment, this will translate into:
- A high level of open communication, consistency, and candor
- A highly participatory and collaborative approach to strategic planning and decision making
- Monthly Community Meetings
- And a foundation of Montessori principles that will define every aspect of school leadership and governance.
And the fourth element of change will be the school's clarified identity, a fresh message, and a new name.
I do not know what name we may ultimately choose together for the school, but to underscore the changes that are taking place, and to respect the merging of the two schools, the name that we will initially use will be The New Gate-Field School.
 Our school logo shows three overlapping leafs. It is meant to represent interconnectedness, connection to the Earth, and the pattern of how we will weave the different elements together into one.
Some of the issues which we will be working on right away will include:
The future of Ashton Road: We are very aware that the school community has come to believe that the Ashton Road campus is obsolete and an obstacle to building a unified school community. Having worked there for many years, we know its strengths and limitations. We believe that the old campus may still be important to the school as a more convenient location for infant, toddler, and additional early childhood classrooms. Notwithstanding previous decisions, we want to take a fresh look at the integrity of The Ashton Road Campus without delay.
Financial Stability: This issue is of paramount concern. It breaks down into several components, which include:
Enrollment: The first element of restoring financial stability is to rebuild the school’s enrollment. We will devote much of our energy to working with prospective and present families. We will also be contacting families who left the school over the last two years to let them know of the changes that have taken place. Perhaps you have noticed the advertising and public relations campaign under way for The Field School. We will expand the campaign to reflect the newly combined New Gate-Field School. Additionally, stories about the ongoing development of the school’s programs, facilities, curriculum, and celebrations will be prominently featured in every issue of our magazine, Tomorrow’s Child, which is read by parents and teachers in thousands of Montessori schools across the United States and Canada.
Fundraising: Fundraising is incredibly important to every school, but it should neither be an endless barrage nor a normal way of balancing the operating budget. Unfortunately, at this time, we’ve found that fundraising is needed to balance the budget. This is something we would like to end as soon as possible. We believe that the best way forward is to rebuild enrollment, and return our fundraising emphasis to having fun together, making friends, and earning people’s loyalty, trust, and support. The Montessori Foundation brings a national presence to the area of fundraising, opening up new doors to potential projects that will benefit us, while also benefiting a wider audience. We will be exploring new outside fund raising opportunities. New Gate’s families have been generous in the past. We hope quickly reach a point where your support can help us fund new projects, enhancing the physical plant and allowing us to develop a wider range of programs.
Making Every Dollar Count: Thirdly, we will closely examine the current budget and look for opportunities to expand our income base and reduce our expenses.
A Montessori-International Baccalaureate Upper School Program: The Montessori Foundation is developing an international model for Montessori middle and high school programs that will join Montessori with the International Baccalaureate Program. We have promoted this idea for years, and thus far 20 schools have begun to pioneer their own programs. Our goal is to refine a replicable program model that will be prestigious, rigorous, and yet highly compatible with Montessori. Our middle and high school programs will be defined by an international course of study and a high emphasis on research, discussion, and field experience. Whereas most existing public school IB programs are intended only for the most gifted few, ours will be designed to succeed with a wider range of college-bound students. Recognizing that New Gate has an existing Montessoriinspired secondary program in place, we will carefully plan how we will phase in the IB to ensure a smooth transition over the next few years.
Supporting Programs and Facilities: The Montessori Foundation’s and New Gate’s original plans for Clark Road included extensive organic gardens, a pool, equestrian center, tennis courts, natural playscapes, a gym, and a community center where parents and other volunteers could meet. Obviously with a budget that is not yet in balance, we will not be tackling any large scale projects tomorrow. However, we remain as committed to fulfilling the original master plan as when we first developed it in 1996. Step by step, our intention is to identify the most important projects, gather energy and support, and get them done.
It has been a long journey for The Montessori Foundation and New Gate School to find our way back to our original partnership.
Speaking for everyone at The Montessori Foundation, we are excited at the opportunity and thrilled to see this re-commitment to the values on which Kitty Williams Bravo founded the school!
As a next step, we would like to invite you to join us at one or more of a series of round table discussions that we will be holding this week to begin the conversation. Feel free to join us for one or several of these gatherings. Lorna and I will meet with whoever comes for open, candid, and informal conversation, questions, and answers. If you need to arrive at a time in between the schedule times, just join us. We will post signs letting you know which classrooms we will be using to meet.
Note that we are going to hold some meetings at Clark Road and others at the old Ashton Road campus to give you some options that might be a little bit more convenient during the day.
Roundtable Gatherings
Wednesday - July 21st
1 pm and 2:30 pm 4:30 and 6:30 pm at Clark Rd
Thursday, July 22nd
9 am 11 am 1 pm and 3:30 pm at Clark Rd
Friday, July 23rd
9 am and 10:30 am at Ashton Rd
1:30 pm and 3:00 pm at Clark Rd
We will also be holding a special Community Meeting at the Clark Road campus next Tuesday evening, July 27th at the Clark Road campus. Childcare will be available for children who are too young to participate. Please let us know if you can attend either by emailing Lorna McGrath at lornamcgrath@montessori.org or by calling us at the Montessori Foundation to confirm: 941 729 9565.
We realize that many of you may be out of town, thus we will also hold another special Community Meeting in the next few weeks before we return to school. Look for an email with the date of the second Community Meeting to come from us in the next few days. We realize that you may have questions that cannot be answered on the spot. We promise to give each careful attention.
Meanwhile, recognizing that the next few weeks will be busy, feel free to email us with any questions or suggestions. Our email addresses are timseldin@montessori.org and lornamcgrath@montessori.org. If you prefer to speak to us before or after the upcoming series of meetings, you can either call The Montessori Foundation office number at 941-729-9565 or call us on our cell phones. Mine is 941-914-4103. Lorna’s is 941-504-2640.
Sincerely,
Tim Seldin
President
The Montessori Foundation
Head, The NewGate-Field School
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