Barbara Katavolos - School Director & Head of Toddler Class

Hello. I'm Barbara, and I've been teaching in Montessori toddler classrooms since 1997. I found Montessori after a six-month search for a school that would offer my child an exceptional education that made sense in the long run. At the time, my daughter Eleni was almost one year old. I wanted a school for her that would provide an all-around good environment for learning, teach her to respect all things, prepare her to handle herself for any experience that was presented to her and give her the tools to peacefully resolve conflicts. What I found was much more than that.

After taking the Montessori philosophy course at the Village School in Glen Rock, NJ, I realized what a genius Maria Montessori must have been. She created materials that break down every step of learning into hands-on materials that the children manipulate. By working with materials, the children learn in an interactive way. I was hooked. We moved to Dutchess County in 1997 and Eleni and I started at the Brendon Montessori School (BMS) in the fall of that same year. Eleni completed her 12th year of Montessori last year, and I am still impressed by the method.

BMS underwent many changes over my 11 years there, and closed in 2008 after 25 years in the community. Erin Castle and I decided to open a new Montessori school in LaGrange. We are fortunate to be working with many of the teachers, students and families that we had been with at BMS.