Executive Director Post: Building a Haven

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Five years ago, a courageous group of parents stepped out in faith for a dream, my dream. They enrolled their children in an untried school, a place with no history, no tracks to follow, and nothing to rely on but a shared belief in what education could be. Together, we planted a seed called Mi Escuela Montessori. Today, as we enter our sixth year, that seed is breaking through the earth into something bigger, deeper and permanent.

This afternoon, our staff took a field trip. We boarded our new second bus and headed over to 1702 N. Wilson Avenue in Bartow, to see our future forever home. Stepping onto the construction site was like looking at an unfinished Thomas Kinkade painting, (my Nana’s favorite artist), where under the brushstrokes, you can already feel the light pouring off the canvas.

We walked the empty halls, stopping at rooms in every stage of development, from toddler to Children’s House, already textured and painted, including their accent walls, to lower elementary where they were beginning to texture. We stood in the visual arts room, quiet for now, but ready for clay and thread. We walked the music room, listening to the silence that will turn into strings, drums, and beautiful voices singing together. We stepped onto the floor of the dance studio, which will soon be springform, and imagined where the mirrors will catch children's dance movement. We explored the cooking lab, the cafeteria where we will break bread, and the second floor , where drywall is being installed, the maker space and support spaces, and the classrooms where upper elementary and middle school minds will build the future.

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Then, our teachers claimed their space. They wrote their names on the room numbers. They danced down corridors, hugged, prayed, and cried. They knelt on the cold and dusty concrete and wrote intentions directly onto the subfloors, laying a blanket of love beneath every step your children will take.

Mrs. Rushing wrote, "I wish any who enter this space be filled with imagination and joy."

Kelly De La Cruz wrote, "You are our future and because of you I have hope for a more just, loving and peaceful tomorrow."

Miss Meaghan left a message for our 2025-26 graduating eighth graders, honoring the architects of our school’s heart who paved the way even if they will not study under this new roof.

Before we left, we paused to thank the crew from Henkelman Construction, whose hands are shaping this sanctuary. Our teachers gathered around, as workers ate their lunch, and called our thank you's and blessings on the hands that are making our next step possible.

When parents walk through our doors on Thursday, they will see a campus that is deeply loved, but visibly worn. They will see our sloped church rooms and our upper elementary learning inside a 1970s-style gymnasium framed by temporary walls. The chrysalis is always tighter than the wings it carries.

This interim season will ask for your patience. But a building does not make a home; the spirit inside it does. The light of our school has never lived in brick and mortar, but in the hands of our guides and the hearts of your children.

We are anticipating our move late this fall, aiming for a FULL relocation by lbest case) late November or (worst case) mid-December, perhaps stepping onto the first floor even sooner. Until then, we carry the promise of what is coming into the space of what is. Thank you for walking this road with us, for trusting the dirt before the bloom, and for holding this vision close as we begin our most extraordinary year yet.

With love,

"Miss Kelly"