Our Team
“To stimulate life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself--that is the first duty of the educator.” ----Maria Montessori
Mi Escuela Montessori sees its staff as involved, responsible changemakers who share in our commitment to actively pursue educational equity and promote the values of independence, inclusion, justice, courage, creativity and bilingual communication. We provide a robust professional development program which includes weekly professional learning communities for lesson study and child study teams. Our team is committeed to supporting students with special needs and students who are emerging bilinguals.
Founder and Executive Director
Kelly De La Cruz began teaching in 1998. She has significant experience with 15 years of teaching at all educational levels from preschool through higher education. Kelly has a B.A. in Communication Processes and Disorders and a Masters of Education in Special Education from the University of Florida.
Kelly holds Primary Montessori certification from Association Montessori Internationale and Secondary I Montessori certification from American Montessori Society. She holds Florida teacher certification in Middle Grades Integrated Curriculum 5-9, PreKindergarten-3rd grade Primary Education, English for Speakers of Other Languages and Exceptional Student Education K-12. She is also certified as a Speech Language Pathology Assistant. Kelly has worked as the lead teacher in self contained and inclusive Special Education settings and within Montessori Primary and Secondary Settings. She assisted in launching Lakeland Montessori Middle School where she later served as co-lead on the secondary curriculum team developing and presenting high fidelity Montessori secondary curriculum. She taught internationally at Escuela de las Americas in El Tigre, Venezuela. She was an adjunct professor of Early Childhood Education at Polk State College, and she has presented on numerous topics at national Montessori conferences. Kelly, her husband, Milton, and their two children, Sophia and Nicholas, moved to Lakeland in 2005. Her passion for Montessori and dual language education grew from her desire to provide her own children with a bilingual Montessori education. Now that her children are in high school, she wants to expand opportunities for other families in Polk County to access this innovative and supportive approach to education.
Kelly holds Primary Montessori certification from Association Montessori Internationale and Secondary I Montessori certification from American Montessori Society. She holds Florida teacher certification in Middle Grades Integrated Curriculum 5-9, PreKindergarten-3rd grade Primary Education, English for Speakers of Other Languages and Exceptional Student Education K-12. She is also certified as a Speech Language Pathology Assistant. Kelly has worked as the lead teacher in self contained and inclusive Special Education settings and within Montessori Primary and Secondary Settings. She assisted in launching Lakeland Montessori Middle School where she later served as co-lead on the secondary curriculum team developing and presenting high fidelity Montessori secondary curriculum. She taught internationally at Escuela de las Americas in El Tigre, Venezuela. She was an adjunct professor of Early Childhood Education at Polk State College, and she has presented on numerous topics at national Montessori conferences. Kelly, her husband, Milton, and their two children, Sophia and Nicholas, moved to Lakeland in 2005. Her passion for Montessori and dual language education grew from her desire to provide her own children with a bilingual Montessori education. Now that her children are in high school, she wants to expand opportunities for other families in Polk County to access this innovative and supportive approach to education.
