Classroom 1

     Melanie Smith earned a B.S. in early childhood education with ESOL certification from the University of South Florida. She holds a Florida certification pre-K thru 3rd grade, and is currently earning her Montessori elementary certification through the Seacoast Center Montessori training program.

     Melanie taught for two years at St. Joseph School in Bradenton, Fl. She enjoys using American Sign Language and Spanish in her classroom. She has a wonderful son and has lived in Florida since 1998. Before moving to Florida it was her privilege to spend 8 years joyfully serving our country in the US Army. Her favorite part was living in Germany and traveling through Europe.

     Melanie is originally from the Louisiana/Texas area of the U.S. She enjoys working with children and being a part of the learning process. Melanie loves children and thinks they are the greatest people on earth. She joined the IVMS staff in 2005.

     Michelle Froelich received her B.S. in Psychology and Sociology from Illinois State University. She has lived all over the county from California to Florida, as well as Bad Aibling, Germany. Before joining the staff at I.V.M.S. she worked in child welfare in DeSoto and Sarasota counties for five years. She is obtaining her temporary certificate in PreK-3rd.

    Michelle is a military veteran. She enjoys spending time with family and putting her creative side to good use. She has one daughter who attends the school and loves it.

 

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Classroom 2

     Fatma Singer is a Primary Directress certified from 3 to 6 years old. She holds a credential from the Washington Montessori Institute. Fatma is bilingual in Turkish and English. She was born in Istanbul, Turkey and grew up in Washington, DC, and New Rochelle, NY. In addition to her 3-6 Montessori credential, Fatma holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of the Bosphorus and a 6-9 Montessori elementary certification from the North American Progressive Montessori Teacher Training Center. This is Fatma's fourth year at IVMS.

     Fatma has two wonderful grown children. Her daughter, Serra, is a doctor of Chinese medicine with her own acupuncture practice and Fatma's son, Kerim, is an attorney specializing in energy law. Both children live too far away in Massachusetts.

     Jennifer Brown has lived in the Venice area for 28 years coming from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Graduating from SCTI with a preschool teacher CDA, she has taught preschool for 10 years. She has been married for ten years and has three beautiful girls. Heather and Brittany attend IVMS and Meaghan will join the program next year.

 

 

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Classroom 5

    Valarie Murphy has a BA degree in elementary education. She has worked with disadvantaged children in an inner city environment. Valarie has worked with special needs children in a public elementary school. Valarie is completing her 6-9 Montessori Certification from New Gate Center for Montessori Studies and holds a Florida Professional Certification in Elementary Education K-6. She has completed all requirements at New Gate Center for Montessori Studies for Elementary I teacher training. This is Valarie's fourth year at IVMS.

 

    Nancy Buscher has been a professional writer since 1981. She created, wrote and hosted Kaleidoscope, an interview/talk show for a television station in Indiana. Many of her children’s stories, poetry and plays have sold or been produced. One of her plays was produced for Piccolo Spoletto, Charleston South Carolina’s annual cultural festival.

    She was an Associate Staff Member for BYLINE Magazine from 1992 to 1996. Nancy was nominated three times for the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award, South Carolina’s prestigious arts award. From 1994 to 1999 she was a Writer’s Guild of America Signatory, an agent representing screenwriters to the film industry. From 1999 to 2004 Nancy worked for Habitat for Humanity Venice Area, Inc., who services all of South Sarasota County. She was hired as Administrative Coordinator and later promoted to Administrative Director.

    Nancy joined IVMS in January of 2006 and returns again as an Assistant Teacher to Valarie Murphy’s kindergarten and first grade students in Room 5.

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Classroom 19

     Lucy Ferris holds a B.S. in Elementary Education from the University of Maryland as well as an AMI Primary Montessori teaching certificate from the Washington Montessori Institute. She taught at Evergreen Montessori School in Kensington, MD for 3 years and The Academy of the Palm Beaches for one year. For the past 7 years she has been teaching at The Montessori Children's School of Key West. Lucy has received her Florida PK-3rd grade certification. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, painting and cycling.

 

 

 

    Kasey Duff will join Island Village Montessori as an assistant teacher in room 1, working with Ms. Karmelah. Kasey is a parent at our school and has worked as a substitute for the last few years. Kasey has her associate’s degree and is one year from completing her undergraduate program in physical education. Kasey will work also work with IVMS students as a PE instructor in addition to our current PE instructor, Kathy Bixby.

 

    Robin Howe (picture coming soon) has a master's degree and is certified in Spanish K-12. He is completing his Montessori early childhood training this year. For the first semester Robin assisted in our early childhood program with Ms. Wilfriede and Ms. Pam. Robin also taught Language Lab for our Middle School program and tutored students in LE 19 in the Spanish Language. Robin attended Montessori schools since he was a young child.

 

     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.

 

 

 

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Classroom 3
Bi-lingual Spanish/English Classroom

     Yolanda Casillas-Chona joined IVMS in 2003. She has completed all requirements at New Gate Center for Montessori Studies for Elementary I teacher training. She has a B.S. in Business Administration from Indiana University with a concentration in Spanish and has completed the M.A. coursework for Creative Writing at Columbia College in Chicago.

      Her past experience includes 6 years as a Montessori parent-volunteer while her sons have attended Montessori schools in Indiana and Sarasota. Her youngest attends IVMS. This year Yolanda will be teaching grades 2-3 and incorporating Spanish in some of the Montessori lessons. Yolanda is happy to be working at IVMS with such a professional and supportive staff. Her many interests include photography, writing, gardening, and outdoor activities with her husband and two young sons.

 

 

     Ursula von Bargen-Seitz Fortner - grew up in Hamburg, Germany where she attended a Montessori school from grades one through eight. In 1985, Ursula emigrated to Florida where she obtained a Bachelors Degree in Secondary Mathematics Education from the University of South Florida, Tampa.

 

 

 

 

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Classroom 6

    Monique Czaja joins Island Village Montessori School as a head teacher for classroom 6. Monique has AMS Montessori Elementary and Early Childhood certification and has been teaching since 1978. Monique has been a teacher trainer since 1986. She received her bachelor’s degree from Bradford College, in Massachusetts, with a concentration in liberal arts and Humanities. Monique speaks Spanish and French and has been a ski instructor. Monique is highly qualified under the HOUSSE program under No Child Left Behind.

 

 

 

 

     Kristin Comeau Pic and Bio coming soon

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Classroom 7

    Myrna Bonhomme received her AMI 3-6 primary directress diploma from the Institut Supérieur Maria Montessori in Paris, France. Myrna comes to Island Village after two years of teaching experience at a Montessori school in Florida. She brings with her an enriched background in both art and the French language and holds a temporary Florida teaching certificate for both. During her decade-long Paris residency, Myrna earned BA degrees in both art history as well as plastics arts from the University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne. She also has a BA in fine arts from the Lebanese-American University of Beirut. Myrna is fluent in English, French, and Lebanese. She has completed all requirements at New Gate Center for Montessori Studies for Elementary I teacher training. Myrna Bonhomme has received her Florida PK-3rd grade certification as well as certification in K-12 Art and French.

     Dana McLean moved with her family to Florida in 2004 from Washington state. She comes to us with a business degree and an entrepreneurial background. Dana, along with her husband, owned and operated two small businesses in Washington. Her love for writing became the brainchild for a bi-monthly newsletter with over 150 distribution points. She also used her business knowledge and retail experience to open a consignment store that focused solely on children's clothing, books and toys.

     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.

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Classroom 8

     Leah (Linda) Kovach came to IVMS as a head teacher in 2004. She has Florida certification for K-6, and a Permanent Ohio elementary certification for K-8. She earned her Masters in Education at Xavier University with a concentration in Montessori, and taught at several private, traditional elementary schools in Ohio. She completed training to acquire the 6-9 Lower Elementary AMS certification in 2006.

 

 

Jason Hunter earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Indiana University in 1999.  He has many years of experience working with children through his association with the YMCA.  Jason was the School Age Director for the Englewood YMCA for five (5) years.  In this capacity he worked directly with children, hired and trained staff, and implemented the department budget.  Jason has shown tremendous leadership and community building skills since joining our staff, and communicates openly and gently with children and staff.  Jason is married and is the devoted father of his beautiful young daughter Faith.

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Classroom 9

    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 has just completed all requirements at Seacoast Center for Montessori Studies Teacher Training for Elementary I Certification this past summer.

     Originally from New York, Fran has been a resident of Florida for the past 9 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”.

Rebecca Crissy - joined Island Village Montessori in 2006 as Assistant Teacher to Ms. Fran. She comes to IVMS with a B.A. in Speech Communication from the University of South Florida. She previously taught 6th Grade Language Arts in Orlando before becoming a full-time parent and community volunteer.

   After spending 3 years in beautiful Asheville, NC, where she helped set up the ChildWatch Program at the Reuter YMCA, she realized that “home is where the heart is” and returned to Florida. There she and her husband ran a Management Consulting business. She was delighted to have discovered IVMS, as both parent and educator. She is obtaining her temporary certificate in Speech (6-12) as well as Elementary K-6.

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