Head of School - Director

Founder & Finance Manager

I was born and raised in Lynchburg, Virginia and moved to Harrisonburg in 2007 to get my undergraduate degree in early childhood education. After graduation I began working as a PALs Aide in the public school system, spent time in a daycare with two year olds, and then eventually found an afternoon position at a Montessori school. After seeing this model of education, I moved to Elliott City, Maryland to get my master’s degree in primary Montessori training. I worked for two years as a primary guide in Nashville and when I moved back to Harrisonburg in 2017, I started working in the pre-primary room at AMCC . In 2021 I had the honor of stepping into the director role here at AMCC and have enjoyed cultivating a wonderful environment for our students, staff and families.

In between the teaching and training, I married my husband, Kyle in 2014. We had a rascally and sweet little boy, Crawford in 2016, who has been in a Montessori classroom since he was 3 months old and just joined our Elementary Program here at AMCC! This past June we welcomed our second son, Levon to the family and he loves all the attention he gets as the office boss baby! When we’re not at the school, we are with friends and family, enjoying live music or out and about in downtown Harrisonburg.

Fred has been involved in education since 1978 and as a head of Montessori schools since 1998. Before beginning Albemarle Montessori Children’s Community, Fred was head of school for eight years at Thacher Montessori School in Milton, Massachusetts. Previously, Fred was head of the Montessori Community School in Charlottesville for seven years. He has served on numerous non-profit boards, both local and national, and been a speaker at several Montessori conferences. Fred is currently mayor of the small town in which he lives.

Fred ran a consulting business, served as a senior administrator at the university level, and worked as an administrator at a private high school in Pennsylvania. He has also taught history at the high school and college levels, and coached lacrosse from youth through high school.

Fred has a B.A. in History from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in History from the University of Pennsylvania, a certificate in executive education from the Darden School of Business at UVa, and two Montessori credentials: one as an administrator from AMS, the American Montessori Society, and the other as a 3-6 teacher from AMI, the Association Montessori Internationale.

Fred is originally from Albemarle County where his two children were born. Fred’s wife, Alice, works as a Montessori upper elementary lead guide and consultant for AMI.

Chelsei grew up in Appomattox, VA during her early childhood and later moved to Buckingham for her school years. She has always been interested in the acquisition of knowledge and athletics which landed her at Longwood University to study Kinesiology. After working in multiple childcare settings, she found her love of Montessori here at AMCC in the Primary 1 community and decided to switchgears to pursue her AMI Primary Training. She completed her Montessori training in July 2023 and has high hopes for the generations of kind humans she will teach!

Outside of AMCC, Chelsei has many hobbies including crystal collecting, reading, crocheting, traveling, spending time with her loved ones, and tackling DIY furniture projects. She also spends time outside of AMCC researching more and more ways to better support the children in her program. She leads a wonderfully diverse group of children aged 3-6 and loves to welcome more families as the eldest age out of her program to maintain an always thriving environment where the needs of children are the focus!

Pre-Primary Lead Guide

Elementary Lead Guide

I was born in North Carolina and raised around the States as a military child until my family settled in Charlottesville in 2011. I have been working at AMCC since 2018, where I started as an intern in high school. Within that same year, I was hired as an assistant and aftercare worker, where I slowly made my way around different areas at AMCC, including pre-primary, primary, and elementary. In 2019 I left to study Psychology at James Madison University where I also was a part of a collegiate Acapella group, and came back every summer to help run the AMCC Summer Program. Upon graduation from JMU, I prepared to begin my full dive into the world of Montessori. I completed the first session of my AMI-training at the Washington Montessori Institute in D.C. I am continuing my training through the summer of 2024. In August of 2023 I was overjoyed to step into the Primary 1 Classroom (the Firefly House)!

In addition to my love for teaching, I am passionate about plants, cozy spaces, and living intellectually. I currently reside in Charlottesville where I spend time trying new foods, watching movies, and spoiling my 15-year-old Yorkie Terrier, Big-Boy.

I am from Ruckersville, VA and grew up right down the road from AMCC! I lived in Ruckersville my whole life until I went to college in Harrisonburg, VA. I started working at AMCC summer of 2022 as a part of the aftercare staff and fell in love with the Montessori Method. I graduated from Eastern Mennonite University in May 2023. I received a Liberal Arts degree with a focus on Elementary Education. I had many different majors in college, but happily perused Elementary Education which led me to the Montessori route. I began my AMI lead guide training at the Washington Montessori Institute in July of 2023 and I look forward to my completion of the program in August of 2024.

I am delighted to currently be working with the Pre-Primary community! It is such a special age of discovery and exploration. Children are absorbing the world around them. It is so fun to see the ideas that pop up in their little minds. There is never a dull day!

In my free time, I enjoy working out, watching a good TV show, and reading. Art is also a huge hobby of mine! I hope to continue to include more of it within my environment and pass along skills to the children. Sports are also a huge part of my life. Watching a Sunday full of football with my family or playing soccer with my brothers or my time playing collegiate soccer will always be special memories!

Jessica Catlin grew up in Albemarle County and began working at a Montessori school while in college. After graduating from UVa with a BA degree in Art History, Jessica worked at Montessori schools in Florida and Pennsylvania before getting her AMI Montessori elementary teaching credential in 2009. She then became a lead guide of an elementary classroom at Ruffing Montessori School in Cleveland, Ohio. Jessica has also served as an album reader and research assistant at a Montessori training center in northern Ohio. She joined Albemarle Montessori in 2018 to open our comprehensive elementary program. She has a lovely classroom of 1st-6th graders that are always “cooking up some fun” in the kitchen and “diving deep” into research projects throughout the year! In her free time, she loves taking walks with her sweet dog and is an avid reader.