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Staff Menu |
Support Staff |
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Katie L. Smith graduated with from Edison Community College (Ft. Myers, FL) with an Associate of Arts degree in Education, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Special Education from Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, Oh) She has taught grades K-4 , as well as 7th and 8th, in both inclusion and self-contained settings. Katie has worked with students who have had a variety of health impairments, as well as cognitive, educational, emotional and behavioral disabilities. We are excited about having a person with Katie's qualifications become part of out Montessori community.
Louise Vare started in 2002 with IVMS, having worked,
at various times over the last 25 years, in the Sarasota school system.
Originally from Stamford, Connecticut, she graduated with high honors
from the University of Florida and holds a degree in speech pathology
and audiology through the College of Education. Louise is also certified
as a speech/language therapist through the State of Florida. She and
husband Bob have five children ranging from elementary school through
college years. Louise enjoys the ability that our charter school provides
to work with smaller group settings for speech and language therapies.
She is also a parent at IVMS.
Fran Gratz joined IVMS in 2005 as an assistant teacher/co-teacher working closely with Katie Smith. Fran holds a Masters of Arts degree in Special Education from Florida Gulf Coast University (Ft. Myers, FL). She has also earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Montclair University (Upper Montclair, NJ). Before joining IVMS, Fran worked with special needs children in the classroom for three years in both private and pubic school systems. Fran holds a Florida professional certificate for Special Ed K-12 and Kindergarten through 6th grade. Fran is currently earning her Montessori Elementary I certification through Seacoast Center training program in Orlando this summer, and has qualified for a Florida K-6 certification. Originally from New York, Fran has been a resident of Florida for the past 8 years. She is married to Cliff and has one son, Matthew who attends Lemon Bay high school. “I look forward to working with our children and seeing their faces light up when they achieve individual successes”.
Tammy Balser joined IVMS in 2002. She graduated from the University of South Florida with a BS degree in elementary education and has her Florida Teaching Certification. In addition, she has her Montessori elementary certification from the North American Progressive Montessori Teaching Center. She loves working with children because she enjoys helping them make new discoveries each and every day.
Brandreth Anne Blow graduated from Lynchburg College with a BA in Marketing. Prior to coming to IVMS Brandreth work with such companies as Nordstrom, Arthur Andersen and Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice. She brings to IVMS 12 years of experience in global training, computers, customer service, and bookkeeping. Originally from Connecticut; Brandreth has been a resident of Florida for the past 10 years. She is married to Jim and has three children Abagail, Matthew and Christopher. Abagail is a student at Pine View, Matthew is in his third year at IVMS and Christopher is just learning to crawl. She loves to bake, being in the outdoors, and spending time with her family. She is active in her church and is a Girl Scout troop leader. Sharing knowledge with others is what thrills her most and she lives for the “aha” moment when an individual learns something new and that joyous smile appears on their face. She is very excited about joining the IVMS team.
Kathy is originally from Connecticut and received her degree in physical education from Southern Connecticut State College. A former state gymnastics champion, Kathy has also coached 3 competitive gymnastics teams and currently runs her own mobile preschool gymnastics program. She is also the PE teacher for the Center for education Montessori School in Bradenton (where she resides) and has taught there for eight years. Kathy is married and has two daughters, a son-in-law, and two grandchildren. Angeline
Parkin-Milambiling Angeline Parkin-Milambiling began teaching
at Island Village Montessori
Stephanie Welch taught preschool for four years before working at IVMS. She attended the University of North Carolina and the University of Tennessee as a fine arts major. Stephanie is currently completing her BA degree through Charter Oak College. She is an accomplished painter, wife, and mother of three wonderful sons.
During the 30 years as a professional musician and instructor, Peter studied Classical and Jazz music at Cabrillo College and Chabot College in California. He also studied privately with Jazz Greats: Don Haas (Benny Goodman), Smith Dobson (Gary Burton), Dave Smith (Joe Pass), and Ray Brown (Stan Kenton). From Classical, Rock, Reggae, Ethnic, and Jazz, Peter has participated as a studio and stage performer. Well rounded in many styles, he is comfortable with conveying the vast interesting world of music. In 2001 he moved to Florida with his fiancée and began to study psychology at USF. He has been performing and teaching here in Venice since. After obtaining his Bachelor in Arts, he found himself interested using motivational techniques with kids and music. As a father and a teacher, he enjoys working with kids and is excited to be part of Island Village Montessori. He is applying for State Certification for Psychology and Music. |
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Misty Sirianni started as assistant mathematics teacher at Island Village Middle School in 2006. She received her Bachelors of Natural Science in Mathematics from the University of South Florida. She has worked in research, taught math in private schools and run her own tutoring business. Ms. Sirianni enjoys traveling, gourmet cooking, and spending time with her husband and children. Their two daughters attend Island Village Elementary. She is also a published fine artist, specializing in mixed media and print making. Her husband is also an artist and upon retiring they plan to open a studio. Dana and her husband have three awesome children, the two oldest attend IVMS and their youngest attends IVM preschool. Prior to coming to IVMS, Dana home schooled her children in PreK thru 2nd grade curriculums. In addition to being an assistant teacher for IVMS, Dana is also this year's PAC secretary and looks forward to serving IVMS parents and students in both capacities.
Angeline Parkin-Milambiling began teaching
at Island Village Montessori in 2004. Angeline has a Bachelor of Arts
in Studio Arts at the University of Minnesota and has her Florida
Teaching Certification for Art K-12. She also studied art in Florence,
Italia in 2002. Angeline rejoices that IVMS and the community embraces
the Arts so warmly.
Katie L. Smith graduated with from Edison Community College (Ft. Myers, FL) with an Associate of Arts degree in Education, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Special Education from Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, Oh) She has taught grades K-4 , as well as 7th and 8th, in both inclusion and self-contained settings. Katie has worked with students who have had a variety of health impairments, as well as cognitive, educational, emotional and behavioral disabilities. We are excited about having a person with Katie's qualifications become part of out Montessori community.
Louise Vare started in 2002 with IVMS, having worked,
at various times over the last 25 years, in the Sarasota school system.
Originally from Stamford, Connecticut, she graduated with high honors
from the University of Florida and holds a degree in speech pathology
and audiology through the College of Education. Louise is also certified
as a speech/language therapist through the State of Florida. She and
husband Bob have five children ranging from elementary school through
college years. Louise enjoys the ability that our charter school provides
to work with smaller group settings for speech and language therapies.
She is also a parent at IVMS.
Tammy Balser is in her fourth year at IVMS. She graduated from the University of South Florida with a BS degree in elementary education and has her Florida Teaching Certification. In addition, she has her Montessori elementary certification from the North American Progressive Montessori Teaching Center. She loves working with children because she enjoys helping them make new discoveries each and every day.
Jennifer Sessa joins the IVMS staff this year as an assistant/ESE teacher. She graduated with a BA in Psychology from Western Connecticut State University and a Masters of Science in Quantitative Analysis from Southern Connecticut State University. She recently completed the Alternative Certification at Manatee Community College. She is certified in Elementary Education K-6 and Exceptional Student Education K-12. She is also working on her Montessori training through the Montessori Live courses. Jennifer moved to Florida from Connecticut in 2001. She is married to Tom and they share three children, Dylan, Zackary and Toriana.
During the 30 years as a professional musician and instructor, Peter studied Classical and Jazz music at Cabrillo College and Chabot College in California. He also studied privately with Jazz Greats: Don Haas (Benny Goodman), Smith Dobson (Gary Burton), Dave Smith (Joe Pass), and Ray Brown (Stan Kenton). From Classical, Rock, Reggae, Ethnic, and Jazz, Peter has participated as a studio and stage performer. Well rounded in many styles, he is comfortable with conveying the vast interesting world of music. In 2001 he moved to Florida with his fiancée and began to study psychology at USF. He has been performing and teaching here in Venice since. After obtaining his Bachelor in Arts, he found himself interested using motivational techniques with kids and music. As a father and a teacher, he enjoys working with kids and is excited to be part of Island Village Montessori. He is applying for State Certification for Psychology and Music.
Bob Cloutier is the Upper Elementary French Instructor. He joined the IVMS staff in September 2006 after moving to Florida from New Hampshire. He is a graduate of Rutgers University with a BA in Zoology and has worked in state and federal government agriculture, the biotech industry and owned two businesses and a dairy/beef farm. He has received his Florida Certification for General Science, grades 5-9, has taught in adult education and been involved with children in 4-H, as a Little League coach and school photographer. Swimming, playing guitar, photography, forestry
and agriculture have always been among some of his favorite pastimes.
Bob has two grown boys living in NH and still owns a home there. Sheila Leal
Sheila holds a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from from Carroll College in Helena, Montana. She will be receiving her MBA-Master of Business Adminstration from Argosy University in Sarasota, Florida in the Fall of this year (2007). She has her Florida Teacher Certification in Spanish K-12. Sheila has taught Spanish at the high school level in the Sarasota School District for three years.She holds her certificate of completion for Highly Qualified Teacher Requirements under the HOUSSE qualifications of No Child Left Behind. Sheila has taught Spanish at the preschool, elementary, and middle school levels at the Foreign Language Institute of Montana in Helena, Montana. She also has taught Conversational Spanish Courses at MCC-Venice Campus. Before teaching, Sheila worked for the U.S. INS (Immigration & Naturalization Service) as a student aide and translator. She has a deep passion and love for languages and sharing this ability with others. She has lived throughout the U.S.including Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. She has two wonderful children, a 17 year old boy and 11 year old girl both of which have attended Montessori preschool. Her passion is to enrich the lives of students through foreign language in the Montessori setting.
Kathy Nixon has an AB in Latin and
English and a Master's in Library Science from Indiana University
and holds Indiana and Florida teaching licenses in Language Arts 6-12,
Latin K-12, and Media Services K-12. Kathy and her husband moved to
Florida 5 years ago and are enjoying living here immensely. She has
taught Latin and English at three schools in Indiana and been the
media specialist at two. Since moving to Florida she was the Youth
and Adult Services Librarian at North Port Public Library for one
year, and for four years she was the media specialist at Laurel Nokomis
School. She says, "It is so exciting to be at IVMS and be part
of the school's beginning."
Annette Ballou has a B.S. in Education from Central Connecticut University, a M.S. in counseling and a 6th year in Family Therapy from Southern Connecticut University. She has been both a teacher and Social Worker in the state of Connecticut, teaching everything from Pre-K to college psychology. While a Social Worker she placed children for adoption and supervised an adolescent group home for seriously disturbed and drug addicted teenagers. After moving to Florida she taught middle school language arts at Laurel Nokomis for three years. She says, “I am delighted to be teaching here at IVMS where both teachers and students are a pleasure to be with.”
Kathy is originally from Connecticut and received her degree in physical education from Southern Connecticut State College. A former state gymnastics champion, Kathy has also coached 3 competitive gymnastics teams and currently runs her own mobile preschool gymnastics program. She is also the PE teacher for the Center for education Montessori School in Bradenton (where she resides) and has taught there for eight years. Kathy is married and has two daughters, a son-in-law, and two grandchildren.
Jim Dunn came to Island Village through our Montessori Live Project. He has a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Computer Science. Jim has over 30 years experience as a software engineer for Fortune 500 corporations and over 10 years experience owning and operating a wedding and event videography business.
Diane Kreutzer is a retired reading specialist with considerable professional and life experience. During her professional career in New York State, Diane was Adjunct Professor with the Graduate in Reading Division of the College of New Rochelle and Adjunct Professor of Reading, Child Development and Supervisor of student teachers in their field settings at St. Joseph's College. Prior to that Diane spent 20 years as a Coordinator and Supervisor of Special Reading Programs, as a reading specialist, and as a classroom teacher in New York State public schools. She has a doctorate degree from Columbia University, Teachers College in addition to a Bachelor's degree and two Master's degrees. For the past decade, Diane has served in the volunteer sector in Venice. She is a past president of the American Association of University Women, Venice Branch; a past president of the Islip Area American Association of University Women; Chair of the Nominating Committee for the Florida State Board of the American Association of University Women. She has served as member, chair, and co-chair of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Venice committees: Adult Education, Spiritual Fellowship, Nominating, Music Director Search, and Finance committees. In addition, as a Venice resident she has used her professional expertise as a tutor for Literacy Volunteers of Sarasota, volunteer at Taylor Ranch After School Care, and as a volunteer with Big Brothers/Big Sisters at Island Village Montessori School. In her personal life Diane is wife, mother, and grandmother of ten children from two to nineteen. She is thoroughly enjoying her experience with the children and staff at IVMS, and loves being able to use her talents for such a good purpose. Diane loves the children and this has put a new zest in her life. |
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Kathy is originally from Connecticut and received her degree in physical education from Southern Connecticut State College. A former state gymnastics champion, Kathy has also coached 3 competitive gymnastics teams and currently runs her own mobile preschool gymnastics program. She is also the PE teacher for the Center for education Montessori School in Bradenton (where she resides) and has taught there for eight years. Kathy is married and has two daughters, a son-in-law, and two grandchildren.
Angeline Parkin-Milambiling began teaching
at Island Village Montessori in 2004. Angeline has a Bachelor of Arts
in Studio Arts at the University of Minnesota and has her Florida
Teaching Certification for Art K-12. She also studied art in Florence,
Italia in 2002. Angeline rejoices that IVMS and the community embraces
the Arts so warmly.
Brandreth Anne Blow graduated from Lynchburg College with a BA in Marketing. Prior to coming to IVMS Brandreth work with such companies as Nordstrom, Arthur Andersen and Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice. She brings to IVMS 12 years of experience in global training, computers, customer service, and bookkeeping. Originally from Connecticut; Brandreth has been a resident of Florida for the past 10 years. She is married to Jim and has three children Abagail, Matthew and Christopher. Abagail is a student at Pine View, Matthew is in his third year at IVMS and Christopher is just learning to crawl. She loves to bake, being in the outdoors,
and spending time with her family. She is active in her church and
is a Girl Scout troop leader. Sharing knowledge with others is what
thrills her most and she lives for the “aha” moment when
an individual learns something new and that joyous smile appears on
their face. She is very excited about joining the IVMS team.
Louise Vare started in 2002 with IVMS, having worked,
at various times over the last 25 years, in the Sarasota school system.
Originally from Stamford, Connecticut, she graduated with high honors
from the University of Florida and holds a degree in speech pathology
and audiology through the College of Education. Louise is also certified
as a speech/language therapist through the State of Florida. She and
husband Bob have five children ranging from elementary school through
college years. Louise enjoys the ability that our charter school provides
to work with smaller group settings for speech and language therapies.
She is also a parent at IVMS.
Katie L. Smith graduated with from Edison Community College (Ft. Myers, FL) with an Associate of Arts degree in Education, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Special Education from Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, Oh) She has taught grades K-4 , as well as 7th and 8th, in both inclusion and self-contained settings. Katie has worked with students who have had a variety of health impairments, as well as cognitive, educational, emotional and behavioral disabilities. We are excited about having a person with Katie's qualifications become part of out Montessori community.
Yvonne Kuhn joins Island Village Montessori
North as the head teacher for the early childhood program as well
as assistant teacher for our kindergarten students. Yvonne and her
sister, Yolanda, ran a school together in Tennessee. Yvonne received
her AMS early childhood training from the Orlando Teacher Training
Education Institute and has been a teaching since 1991. She is applying
for her Florida Preschool Director’s credential and is CDA exempt.
Yvonne received her associate’s degree from St. Leo University
in Tampa.
Martha Barrett joins our staff as an early childhood assistant teacher. Martha has assisted in both toddler and 3-6 year old classrooms at New Gate School. Martha speaks fluent Spanish and is originally from Central America. She has five children who have grown up in Montessori environments. Martha is working on her bachelor’s degree in education.
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Jan is the Administrative Assistant/Director of Marketing and After-School Programs. She was also the first President of the IVMS parent's group, PAC. Before semi-retirement, Jan and her husband, Bob, operated a custom home-design construction company. Currently, Jan continues the operation of her energy conservation company. "Having six grandchildren, three of school age and three in preschool is what brought me to Kym's side and to become actively involved with IVMS. I want for my grandchildren as well as for all children the opportunity to receive a quality education and enjoyment of the learning experience IVMS provides." Besides enjoying her time at IVMS, Jan also loves gardening, decorating, her cats and time with her family.
Jo-Anna has lived in Florida for 16 years. She is a native of Connecticut. Jo-Anna has a husband, Jerry, and two children. Eileen is a senior at USF and Michael is a freshman at USF. She has a dog named Tank and two cats, Bully and Little Bit. Jo-Anna has been in education for 28 years. Joanna has been at IVMS in the aftercare program since 2002.
Kathy is a Sarasota native. She has been married 27 years and has two children, Mike and Kimberly. Kathy works with Jo-Anna both in the aftercare program and during the day at Child Development Center. Kathy has worked with children for 14 years. She is currently attending MCC to get her AS in early childhood. Her favorite vacation is to go to Ft. Myers beach for sun ‘n fun.
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Katie
Smith
Louise
Vare
Fran
Gratz 
Tammy
Balser
Brandreth
Blow
Kathy
Bixby
Stephanie
Welch
Peter Simms 
Misty Sirianni 
Jennifer Sessa 
Bob Cloutier
Sheila Leal moved to Southwest Florida about 5 1/2 years ago from Helena, Montana where she lived for 12 years. She grew up in a multilingual home where her mother spoke Italian and her father spoke Spanish. Both of her parents immigrated to the United States in the 1960's, her mother from Italy and father from Cuba and met in Boston, Massachusetts where she was born. 
Kathy
Nixon
Annette
Ballou
Yvonne
Kuhn
Martha
Barrett 
Jan
Pearman
Kathy
Shultz
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