Job Listing: Founding Teacher Leaders for Montessori Primary School

Hi, my name is Jaered Koichi Croes. I am looking to fund and start a Montessori micro-school (10-20 students) for the primary age group (3-6 years old). To do that, I am looking to hire two Lead Montessori Guides / Teacher Leaders to help me to start—and then run—a Montessori primary school.

My goal is to open the school as soon as possible, ideally sometime in 2024.

Founding a Montessori School

I'm not just looking for teacher guides to teach at a school. I'm looking to hire two individuals with the capability to start a new school from scratch, run the school's administration, and act as lead guides. They are big roles (but luckily, they share all these responsibilities), but I also think it is an exciting opportunity have autonomy to be able to implement your own vision of what a Montessori school should look like—all from the ground level.

I'm going to be there to help (especially) with the business and start-up side of things, as well as initial administrative work. But as things stabilize, the expectation is that all of the day-to-day administration will transfer to the two lead teachers. You'll be running the school, implementing the vision, and making sure that every student is getting the best possible Montessori education possible.

You Should Bring:

• A belief in, and deep understanding of, an authentic and high-fidelity Montessori: I believe very much in the Montessori method, and would like to create an authentic, high-fidelity Montessori preschool. That said, I am not certified in any way, so the teachers hired will need to bring that with them (or be in the process of getting Montessori certified). Applicants will ideally be well versed in an authentic Montessori methodology and have the classroom experience to implement Montessori methodology with 3-6 year olds effectively.
• Entrepreneurial energy: Especially in the beginning, it's going to be busy! We will be finding a space, leasing it, setting it up, remodeling, getting licensed by the state, doing marketing, recruiting potential students, talking to their parents, and so on. I'll be there to help a lot initially, but the plan is for the Teacher Leaders to run the show—especially as the school becomes more established. That means you are willing to make and implement decisions on your own / with your co-Teacher Leader, all for the sake of the children's positive growth and development. You will be implementing your vision of what a Montessori primary school should look like. That's a lot of work, so I'm looking for the type of people who find that kind of thing very rewarding.
• A desire to learn: You are excellent at receiving and sharing feedback. You are eager to develop your craft, learning and implementing new knowledge and ideas. You experiment. You are always trying to get better, doing what you can to improve the classroom, your students, yourself, and colleagues around you.
• A commitment to diversity: One of my longer term goals is to increase access to Montessori across more racially and socioeconomically diverse communities than normally have access. You should be committed to supporting and developing the school to serve children who would not normally be able to benefit from access to a high-quality Montessori preschool. For more information, see the long term plan.

Responsibilities

I've broken up responsibilities into phases, starting with helping to found and start the school, and then being a partner in running and teaching at the school.

As a Founding Teacher:

• Help to create an authentic Montessori school for the primary level (ages 3-6) in the West Linn / Tigard / Lake Oswego / Tualatin / Oregon City area (location to be determined). This includes helping finding a location, renovating / setting up the physical space, and getting the space ready to welcome students.
• Help to get the space and school ready for licensing with the State of Oregon.
• Act as the director of the school, as per the requirements of the state of Oregon, if necessary. Alternatively, I could act as the director—though I would prefer it if one of the teacher leaders acted in this role (this is for the State of Oregon's requirements—typical "director" duties and responsibilities will be shared by the teacher leaders). The other teacher leader will act as the substitute director, as per the State of Oregon's requirements.
• Help to design and build (and write for, etc) the school's website, marketing materials, and so on.
• Help with marketing and its implementation (this is more in my wheelhouse and is something I'll probably help with a lot in the beginning).
• Hire and onboard assistant teacher(s).
• Purchase materials, furniture, etc.
• Apply for grants and do fundraising to create spots for low-income families (I'm not familiar or experienced in this area, and not sure if this is possible, so it's tbd for now).
• Create and maintains the school's budget. Make (sound) financial decisions. Get the school to break even on a month-by-month basis within one year.

As a Teacher Leader

• Co-lead an enriching primary environment for children in alignment with authentic Montessori methodologies, your own vision for an ideal Montessori classroom, the surrounding community, and Oregon licensing requirements.
• Employ inclusive, anti-racist teaching practices.
• Support families in adopting aligned classroom and Montessori practices at home.
• Operate human resources and compliance practices.
• Operate and communicate with transparency to parents, students, and stakeholders.
• Plan and leads staff professional development.
• Engages with parents and families. Make them a part of the team, so to speak. Help them to be a part of their child's positive development.
• Manage an inclusive admissions and enrollment process.

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree
• Montessori Assistants credential or MACTE accredited Montessori credential 
• Experience as a Montessori Lead Guide
• You're registered in and have a Central Background Registry Number

Hours & Benefits

My goal is not to make money from this venture. My goal is for the school to be stable, sustainable, and in a comfortable place. That does mean making a profit, but that doesn't mean that we are driven by profit. Our metric of success should have to do with the success of the students.

As I come to understand and learn the costs / risks of running a school like this, my hope is to be able to pass more and more revenue back into the business. That could come in the form of reducing cost for students, creating scholarships for students who wouldn't be able to afford a Montessori preschool, paying teachers more, and creating additional schools as the need and opportunity arises.

I also believe that workplaces should give employees autonomy and trust, and that employees should have a high enough pay to not worry about their quality of life. They should have stability in their working hours, while also getting enough paid time off to recharge. I hope that the hours and benefits reflect some of this, and I'm hoping that as the financial side of things stabilizes, there will be more that we can do to make this a wonderful place to work for teachers.

• Full-time, salaried position.
• $48,000-$64,000/year depending on experience, with opportunity for additional growth as school's finances stabilize.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance fully paid by employer for the employee. Spouse and family options available (paid by employee).
• Paid national holidays.
• Additional PTO for sick leave / vacation.
• Retirement employer matching (Simple IRA or 401k, to be decided).

Hiring Process

To apply, please prepare a cover letter (PDF) and resumé (PDF). Feel free to go beyond a single page if you need to. I'd love to be able to learn more about you.

Once those are prepared, please apply via the following form:

If you have any trouble, or any questions, please feel free to email me at jaered@hey.com.

I'll get back in touch via email.

Next steps are a short interview (about 30 minutes, by phone), followed by a long interview (2-3 hours, by phone or in person).