Meet Our Team

Administration

  • Head of School & Finance Manager

    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 on Pantops Mountain 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 has consulted for Montessori schools for twenty-five years and served on the Board of Directors of the American Montessori Society.

    Prior to working in the Montessori world, Fred served as a senior administrator at the university level, as well as worked as an administrator, teacher, and coach 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 is a former mayor of the small town in which he lives.

    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 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.

  • Director of Admissions & Assistant to Head of School

    Bio

Lead Guides (Teachers)

  • Lead Guide, Ladybug Toddler Classroom

    Bio

  • Lead Guide, Monarch Butterfly Primary Classroom

    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 switch gears 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!

Classroom Assistants

Service Team

  • Director of Education

    Bio

  • Lead Guide, Dragonfly Toddler Classroom

    Bio

  • Lead Guide, Firefly Primary Classroom

    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.

  • Assistant, Bumblebee Primary Classroom

    Bio

  • Support Specialist

    I’ve been working with Montessori for over a year. It has been such a great experience working with the kids. My role is a primary assistant, which I help make sure the environment is clean and safe for students. I am very excited to be working at Albemarle Montessori for the upcoming school year. I am hoping to learn and gain more knowledge about the kids and the Montessori philosophy. 

  • Co-Director of Aftercare

    Bio

  • Associate Head of School & Lead Guide, Elementary Classroom

    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.

  • Assistant, Monarch Butterfly Primary Classroom

    Bio

  • Director of Operations

    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 is in our Elementary Program here at AMCC! Our second son, Levon, joined our Toddler program this summer! When we’re not at the school, we are with friends and family, enjoying live music or out and about in downtown Harrisonburg.

  • Lead Guide, Dragonfly Toddler Classroom

    Elizabeth Yates, also known as Liz, was born in Seattle but spent her formative years in Great Falls, Montana. She relocated to Virginia in 2010 and has dedicated nearly a decade to teaching. She welcomed her first child, Karlee, in 2012. Karlee attends William Wetzel Middle School. Her initial experience working with children was at Dulin Co-operative Preschool in Falls Church, where she progressed from a parent volunteer to a substitute and ultimately a preschool teacher. Subsequently, she had her second child, Natalya, in 2017. She then accepted a position at the Montessori School of in Northern Virginia, where she developed a strong affinity for the Montessori method. 

    In 2023, she and Jason, her fiancé, purchased a home in Madison, Virginia. She applied to AMCC, and Natalya is currently enrolled in the Elementary program. Liz began her career at AMCC as an assistant in the primary classroom. Presently, she serves as a co-lead alongside Kirstin in Toddler 2, also known as the Dragonfly classroom. When Liz is not engaged in school-related activities or middle school events, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, indulging in movies, music, and delicious meals.

  • Lead Guide, Bumblebee Primary Classroom

    Bio

  • Assistant, Firefly Primary Classroom

    Bio

  • Assistant, Elementary Classroom

    Bio

  • Support Specialist

    Bio

  • Co-Director of Aftercare

    Bio