2017-18 Annual Report

Princeton

Montessori School Nurturing Potential. Igniting Passion.

Nurturing Potential. Igniting Passion.

2017-18 Annual Report www.princetonmontessori.org

Dear Princeton Montessori School Community, It is our hope that this annual report to our school community will give you insight into our strategic direction, in support of our mission, and provide evidence of responsible fiscal care of our nonprofit organization. As a school, we are committed not only to providing the highest quality of education according to the Montessori philosophy, but also to providing transparency, meaningful and timely communication, adhering to best practices as an independent school, and engaging our parent body in a way that serves its educational and community-building needs.

This collective good work being done on behalf of the children we serve is evident daily throughout the school. As this is our 50th anniversary, we also hope that this report will be a call to action for parents to contribute to the community and to the continual development and sustainability of the school. That support will ensure we are able to meet or exceed our three year strategic goals in service of the families we serve. Thank you for your contributions of time, talents, and financial support! With your efforts and the sound governance of the trustees, we will be here for generations to come.

With gratitude, Princeton Montessori School Board of Trustees

2017-18 Princeton Motnessori School Trustees, from left to right: Joe Hargrove, Sunanda Bidkar, Michelle Morrison, Maeve Egner, Ugur Koyluoglu, Lee Gardner, Rita Zetterberg, Jennifer Ni, Peter Egbert

Our Mission Princeton Montessori School is dedicated to developing passion and nurturing the potential in each child, through the values and principles of the Montessori philosophy. We promote intrinsic motivation, independence, social responsibility, and a love of learning so that as global citizens, our students can lead fulfilling lives and work to better the world.

“The choices we make as parents speak to our priorities. Providing the very best foundational education for our children proves to be a decision that bears fruit for years to come. At Princeton Montessori School, our mission is to deliver the very highest quality education and to provide holistic development of children guided by a philosophy that begins with a deep respect for the child and regard for science-based tenets of how meaningful learning occurs. With a supportive group of parents, faculty, staff, and Trustees, we also provide a healthy, warm, supportive community for families to thrive in. We thank each community member for doing their part to ensure this is true!�

- Michelle Morrison, Head of School

Parent Association PARENT ASSOCIATION OFFICERS 2017-18

Dear Parents, The Parent Association of Princeton Montessori School is a vibrant and active organization of parent volunteers.

The mission of the Parent Association is to maintain a strong partnership and open communication among parents, faculty, and school administration. It strives to foster a warm and welcoming sense of community and opportunities to connect with other Princeton Montessori parents, as well as to be involved in school life. Parents or legal guardians of students currently attending Princeton Montessori School are automatically considered members and are invited to actively participate.

The 2017-18 school year was an active year for the Parent Association with activities that connected parents with one another, and connected the school to the community. The year began with Get Acquainted Socials, and throughout the year, members of the Room Parent Committee hosted family outings such as play dates. A Paint-and-Sip night hosted by the Social Committee was a great success, giving parents an opportunity to connect in a relaxed environment of creativity and fun.

In an effort to connect the school with the greater Princeton area community, the Parent Association organized activities that supported several childfocused charitable organizations. The Community Service Committee coordinated the school’s participation in supporting the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, a winter hats-and-gloves drive, and Toys For Tots. In addition to helping our less fortunate neighbors, these community service activities were designed to engage our children so that they would learn about the needs of others and how their efforts can make a difference.

CO-CHAIRS: Cheryl Gregov & Laura Shepherd SECRETARY: Zhen Chen COMMUNITY SERVICE COORDINATORS: Tracey Baskin, Maria Wimmers & Nicholl Young SOCIAL COMMITTEE CHAIRS: Brittany Hendricks & Meera Mehta PRINCETON COMMON GROUND REPRESENTATIVES: Patricia Farmer & Rupal Kothari FARM-TO-SCHOOL PROGRAM CHAIRS: Alex Cardona & Andrea Mecray PERFORMING ARTS COMMITTEE: Patricia Farmer PHOTOGRAPHY COMMITTEE: Bahar Jalali

The Parent Association’s Farm-to-School / Nutrition Committee continued our relationship with a local area farm to provide educational programs for our Elementary and Middle School, designed to help students better understand where our food comes from. In addition, the Farm-to-School / Nutrition Committee worked with a local farm to offer discounted memberships to a farm share program offering weekly deliveries of fresh organic fruits and vegetables to Princeton Montessori families.

The Parent Association continued its partnership with representatives from other area independent schools to organize two school-hosted lectures that featured distinguished speakers addressing contemporary educational and parenting issues.

The Princeton CommonGround lectures are a valuable resource for parents and are free and open to the public.

The Parent Association recognizes that it is the teachers and staff that make Princeton Montessori School such a wonderful experience for our children. This gratitude and appreciation was expressed with a Holiday Brunch and an end-of-year Faculty Appreciation Lunch with food generously provided by parents from all programs.

The Parent Association looks forward to another year of connecting with families, the school, and our community. We encourage all of our families to get involved!

Warm Regards, Cheryl Gregov, 2017-18 Parent Association Co-Chair

Strategic Plan 2017-2020 As we look to the future of the school, we envision a thriving, accessible, and diverse institution that is exceptional, progressive, environmentally friendly, and grounded in the philosophy of Montessori and best educational practices. Our future community of learners and their parents will be connected, equally dedicated, and supportive of the organization and its constituents. The strategic work we do in the coming years will be to this end.

We are proud to report on our year one progress on reaching our stategic goals.

Education Ensure all programs have healthy enrollment and offer the highest quality education by incorporating research-based, 21st Century best practices in keeping with American Montessori Society standards; and provide measures on student outcomes.

Outcome: Increased Innovation In 2018, Princeton Montessori School proudly received authorization for the Middle years Programme as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School. A new committee was formed to plan faculty professional development, intended to increase faculty attendance at professional development opportunities throughout the year. An improved employee growth and development plan (GDP) system was implemented to align faculty and staff performance with organizational goals. A new internet network was installed providing secure and uninterrupted service throughout the building to increase bandwidth, network speed and support technology needs in the classroom. Finally, a second copier was installed in the Upper School wing to support teachers with their preparation needs.

Outcome: Quality Assurance Communication During the summer of 2018, the school funded curriculum projects for Upper School (grades 1-8) intended to meet curriculum transparency and improvement goals. In 2017, Princeton Montessori School partnered with Dr. Noble and

Associates to provide psychoeducational support to teachers, parents and students. We also initiated annual reading screenings, conducted three times a year for grades k-5, which allows the school to offer early interventions for at risk readers.

We also initiated the use of a Wilson-based reading curriculum, called Fundations, for use in Elementary and Primary programs.

Finally, an expert high school placement professional was hired to work with middle school students and parents in the transition from our Middle School Program to area high schools.

Outcome: Full Enrollment For the 2017-18 academic year, the school had the highest enrollment of the past four years. This was a direct result of leaderships’ focus on developing a contemporary independent school admissions team model, forming and benefiting from a Retention Committee, improving our marketing and branding, and most importantly, investing in quality improvements within each program. In making strides toward helping parents better understand the value of a quality Montessori education, we created program-specific videos, restructured our Back to School Night format to allow hands on interaction with materials and teacher described purpose of curriculum. The school has improved its promotion of key and unique happenings and traditions, such as our middle school trip to Spain and involvement with Montessori Model United Nations, which will also benefit retention.

Strategic Plan 2017-2020 Outcome: Increased Diversity & Inclusion A Diversity & Inclusion committee was established and now meets regularly to examine ways in which the school can better serve the diverse needs of its families and staff and ensure an inclusive environment for all, ending in a report of recommendation to the HOS. Parents, faculty, and staff are invited to serve on the committee. We also added books to Primary & Elementary libraries that meet diversity and inclusion goals. Moving forward, the school is considering different events that celebrate diversity and respect families of all kinds. A professional development session for faculty is planned for fall of 2019 on how to establish a class environment that is actively inclusive.

Faculty & Staff Attract, retain, and develop an outstanding, compassionate, and diverse faculty who embody a growth mindset, are committed to our organizational goals, and work in alignment with administration to ensure excellence in education and strong relationships with families.

Outcome: Enhanced Accountability Measures Several new faculty members were hired, after completing their internship here, who meet our high standards of professionalism and competency. In the fall of 2018, during the all-faculty meeting, the professional qualities of a teacher were explained and expectations were set forth to all faculty and staff for the upcoming year and then incorporated into individual and team goals for the year. Increased educational leadership and oversight of programs through direct observation and feedback has been implemented by HOS and Director of Education.

Finance Strengthen our financial platform to best serve the school’s mission, values, and long-term sustainability.

Outcome: Expense Model The Finance Committee of the Board added to its agenda for the 2018-19 school year to create a three- to five-year sustainable operational expense model for multiple scenarios. In addition, we have added Cost Center Manager training and tracking which allows us to pivot midyear as needed and minimize cost related surprises. In 2017-18, the school has set the stage for changing the fiscal calendar cycle to better meet the needs of our organization. The business office continues to work diligently to meet all auditor recommendations. The Board of Trustees has established an Investment Group Committee to better maximize our return on investments and cash.

Outcome: Build a Sustainable Tuition & Retention Model Outcome: Data-Driven Action Plans

Internal Community Ensure parents have a solid understanding and an appreciation of how a Princeton Montessori School education meets and exceeds academic standards while incorporating life skills that serve children as they reach adulthood. Communication models and parent offerings will aid in building community involvement and school appreciation.

Outcome: Increased Knowledge and Appreciation of a Montessori Education In 2017-18, the school solicited feedback from Parent Association representatives about their understanding of Montessori Outcome: Competitive & Transparent Compensation education, and used that feedback to target more concise In 2017-18, for the first time ever, a faculty salary guide was shared with the teaching staff, allowing our faculty compensation information in the weekly planner. Administration has adapted the approach that, “every communication is an opportunity to model to be transparent. Minimum salaries for all faculty educate on the benefits of Montessori education.” In 2017positions were increased from the previous year beyond the 18, the school hosted a parent workshop intended to help annual salary increase percentage.In addition, employee parents understand the Montessori curriculum by explaining the benefit packages were improved through increased society contributions with a commitment to continue to build to a market materials and having parents experience a day in the life of their child. The school continues to use school events as a platform competitive level. For the first time ever, all faculty and staff to demystify Montessori, and to educate constituents on the received a modest bonus at the end of the 2017-18 fiscal year. outcomes of a Montessori education.

Outcome: Exceptional Staffing Outcome: Increased Parent Participation In 2017, Princeton Montessori School was reaccredited, School leadership has worked diligently to partner with the and continues to maintain the highest level of accreditation Parent Association, and solicit their input and feedback for key granted by the American Montessori Society (AMS). The school matters. The HOS has implemented an “open door” policy and increased the offerings to teachers for professional growth and keeps set blocks of time free each week to meet with parents development through workshop and conference opportunities.

The school improved its hiring procedures and candidate vetting and hear their concerns or ideas. In 2017-18, the school formed a Retention Committee to make recommendations for attracting process, resulting in hiring the “best and brightest” candidates. and retaining mission-appropriate families. Through these The school has also improved its onboarding and orientation efforts, we see greater parent participation and more interest in process for new hires. the Parent Association for 2018-19.

Strategic Plan 2017-2020 Outcome: Effective Communication In 2017-18, the school began researching new communication tools intended to streamline parent communication. Different software options have been evaluated and we have been benchmarking with other schools. Planning is in place with a goal to launch a more robust parents-only website by Fall 2019.

Montessori Compass, a classroom-management software that helps teachers share students’ academic progress and social development, and also simplifies parent communication, was installed and is being tested in the elementary programs during the 2018-19 year. Full implementation, planned for 2019-20, will create a more personalized connection with the school community.

External Community Leverage relationships with outside service organizations to increase educational offerings and create broader community awareness and support of the school.

Outcome: Maximize our Campus Use In the spring of 2019, Princeton Montessori School students will perform an original musical about Maria Montessori, written and directed by the school’s artist-in-residence music teacher, Alex Mitnick. The musical will include a timeline of Maria’s life and her impact on education, as well as key tenets of her philosophy. It will be heavily promoted and open to the public. For 2018-19, the school has increased the number of times the SSAT test is held onsite, as this attracts families from outside the school to come visit our beautiful environments.

Outcome: Acheive Environmentally Friendly Operations In 2017-18, our focus was to take steps to decrease our energy use, cost, and inefficiencies by hiring a consultant to create action steps.

Outcome: Maximize Revenue-Generating Alliances In 2017-18, we renegotiated our rental agreements with current partners to be more comprehensive and competitive, ensuring we are maximizing the availability of our spaces to generate revenue.

The school added two new rental partnerships in 2017-18.

Outcome: Strong Relationships In 2017-18, as part of the planning for the school’s 50th anniversary year, work was done on reconnecting with alumni families, former faculty and staff, past trustees, and old friends Effectively convey the attributes and advantages of a of the school. Many of these families have been invited to the anniversary events being hosted this year. In addition, new alumni Princeton Montessori School education to current and events are being held in 2018-19 to provide a means for young prospective families.

PMonts alumni to reconnect with each other.

Outcome: Continue to Build a Strong Reputation Outcome: Cultivate Local Relationships In 2017-18, leadership has worked to build alliances with parents In 2017-18, the school expanded its partnership with Cherry to better understand how our communications are perceived from Valley Farm and was named in a grant awarded to NOFA NJ a parents’ perspective. As a result of this partnership, the school to develop a farm to school “playbook.” The funding will help has been able to improve the way in which school happenings Princeton Montessori School to further develop the farm to school are explained in the weekly planner. An ongoing focus will be to, programming and partner with West Windsor Plainsboro Regional “demystify the curriculum.”

District to develop and scale the farm to school program with Outcome: Consistent and Visible Brand Awareness lasting impacts at the regional level in Mercer county. The school also solicited various providers to expand the offerings for afterYear 1 progress: This year, the newly-formed Marketing committee school clubs and fitness programs. evaluated the school’s marketing materials and determined a plan for balancing traditional (print) advertising versus digital marketing, Outcome: Strengthen Montessori Relationships based on the preferences of current families. The goal is to smartly place our advertising to ensure the school has maximum exposure to the broadest range of potential families.

Communication

Campus

Maximize the potential of the school’s beautiful grounds and state-of-the-art facility for student learning purposes.

Promote this aspect to seek other revenue sources for the school by engaging mission-friendly organizations across the greater community. Ensure the facility is maintained and improved upon for long-term sustainability.

Outcome: Community “Give Back” Celebrations marking the school’s 50th anniversary are underway.

In 2018-19, our anniversary year, the community is invited to various school events for both internal and external members of the community. In the fall of 2018, the school hosted a guest speaker, “Personalizing 21st Century Education,” which was free and open to the public.

Outcome: Effective Marketing Strategy In 2017-18, we worked with an independent marketing consultant to develop a strategic marketing plan for the school. Currently, a working draft is in place. Over the next two years, we will work towards completing the plan, and begin implementation.

In addition, we increased our investment in online marketing through our partnership with Varident, and as a result, the number of school tours and inquiries have increased dramatically.

Finally, a Marketing Committee, which includes representation from administrations, parents, trustees, and industry experts, was created to investigate additional marketing techniques and opportunities in the our area.

Financials Dear Princeton Montessori School Community, Princeton Montessori School’s fiscal year runs from September 1 to August 31. Princeton Montessori School’s revenues for the 2017-18 fiscal year totaled $5,682,567 against $5,410,812 of expenses and $220,181 of capital expenditures.

Our revenues are primarily driven by tuition and fees. Other sources of revenue include the SummerQuest program, PCTE (our teacher training program), and the Annual Fund, which continues to be essential to meet our basic expenses. In the fiscal year 2017-18, 86% of our revenues resulted from tuition and fees. Thanks to the donations of parents, staff, alumni and the Board of Trustees, the Annual Fund totaled $103,883 versus its budgeted target of $120,000.

Expenses were managed aggressively throughout the year: 68% of our revenues were paid to cover personnel salaries, benefits and professional development; 4% for supplies and activities; 6% for premises; 7% for operating expenses; and 10% to meet the interest and principal of the loans that financed the newest construction of our facilities. We also paid down our second mortgage debt of $72,200 this year, yet still have $6,555,000 of debt against our first mortgage.

As planned, the school invested $220,181 of its net surplus of $271,755 to improve educational programming, employee compensation, facility maintenance and improvement, and technology.

Kind Regards,

Ugur Koyluoglu Board of Trustees, Finance Committee Chair

Enrollment Overview September 2016-2017

September 2017-2018

September 2018-2019

Infant

11

10

8

Toddler

36

35

38

Primary

64

76

74

LE

21

24

28

UE

31

22

29

MS

16

19

13

Total

179

186

190

Financials Financials (unaudited) for the 2017-18 Fiscal Year 1%

2%

Revenues: $5,682,567

8%

n Net Tuition and Fees - $4,886,968

3%

n Summer Quest - $447,653 n PCTE - $196,731 n Annual Fund - $103,883

86%

n Other - $47,332

Expenses: $5,410,812

10%

n Personnel - $3,891,279 n Supplies and Class Activities - $243,128 n Operating - $403,647

6% 8%

72%

n Premises - $316,749

4%

n Debt Service Coverage - $556,009

Surplus Income: $271,755 = 4.8%

Capital Expenditures: $220,181 $105,387 Building Improvements and Accessories $79,181 Technology Software $15,121 Furniture $20,492 Other Above presented figures are our unaudited financials for the 2017-18 Fiscal Year. They are sourced from the school’s financial management reports. Each year, an external auditor audits the school’s financials records and prepares an independent report on its findings by the end of November. This audit report is used for official filing purposes.

Annual Giving

Dear Princeton Montessori School Parents, Faculty, and Friends, On behalf of the Princeton Montessori Trustees, we extend our sincerest gratitude to all of you who contribute to our community. For those who donated to the 2017-18 Annual Campaign, your generosity allowed the school to fund faculty development, purchase new materials and equipment for the children, and ensure our ability to maintain operational expenses. You can see your donations at work on the new toddler playground equipment, classroom refurbishments, and recent teacher development opportunities.

As with many other independent schools, tuition alone does not cover all of the school’s annual operating expenses. In fact, tuition only covers about 86% of these expenses. The school relies on donations from Trustees, Parents, Alumni, Corporations and Friends of the School to bridge this gap. And remember, all donations to the Annual Campaign are tax-deductible, while tuition is not. We are incredibly grateful to all of those who helped support the campaign last year. We were delighted to see so many families among the list of our caring contributors!

As we look ahead to the 2018-19 school year, we are excited to celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary!

In recognition of this significant milestone, we hope to reach 100% participation in support of our 50th Anniversary Campaign. As this is a special year, it is our sincerest hope that the entire community will rally to make a meaningful contribution to the campaign. We look forward to sharing more details about the 50th Anniversary Campaign soon. Stay tuned!

We hope you will make Princeton Montessori School a priority in your family’s philanthropic endeavors by showing your support for the school’s 50th Anniversary Campaign. Every gift makes a difference - no matter how large or small. In the words of Winston Churchill, remember, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

Sincerely,

Rita Zetterberg & Peter Egbert Trustees and Co-Chairs of the Princeton Montessori School Annual Fund

Annual Giving 2017-18 Princeton Montessori School Annual Fund Donors Leaders’ Club $10,000+ Joe Hargrove & Carla Servin Ugur & Ayşe Köylüoğlu Pacesetters’ Club $5,000-9,999 Pete & Mary Ellen Egbert Michelle & Rick Morrison Rita Zetterberg & James Kaplan Schnitzer family Cornerstone Club $2,500-4,999 Abi family Anonymous Louis & Amal Barrood Lee & Nigel Gardner Saltarelli family Kevin Sullivan & Rebecca Piccone Patrons’ Club $1,000-2,499 Steven Back & Wendy Golden Bai/Wu family Cindy & Pete Betz Urvish & Sunanda Bidkar Choi-Shields family DeCheser/Shepherd family Hou/Liu family Amar Gautam & Amanda Maher Andrea & Chris Mecray Alissa & Darren Miele Caroline & Thomas Scriven Marsha & Joe Stencel Wei Sun & Jennifer Ni John Weihe & Hui Cao Innovators’ Club $500-999 Banner family Cardona family Chen family Gong Chen & Yao Lu Zheng Chen Davis family Rehana Farrell Gregov family

Lindsay Spring Emma Zetterberg

Elizabeth Clarke Tom & Ginny Cusack D’Andrea family Damon Grandbouche Cherri Green Gulati family Brittany Hendricks Tarem Hendricks Hodges family Carol Lawton Lin/Weber family Loizides/Fruscione family Mehrota/Prasad family Linda & Dustin Moskowitz Patel/Pandya family Sweta & Shashi Prasad Petry-Reitknecht family Reuland family Richmond-Moll family Sarkar family Karen Spring Chris & Katie Sullivan Swanson-Berman family Vahia family Wolfson family

Pat & Jon Hlafter Huang & Que family Janssen family Li/Wang family Zhiyong Lin & Wenjun Wu Esra Ozer Jim & Deborah Peters Strickland family Neil & Jiachen Tang Creators’ Club $300-499 Burnfield family Anita Canzano Junjie & Zhen Chen Jeffrey & Alescia Dingle Fang family Tom & Courtney Fennimore Ferri family Friedland/Parker family Hal Friedlander & Chloe Brown Glatz/Kirsten family Claiborne & Jessica Hancock Frank & Zoe Horneck Jumper/Horrigan family Christian & Andrea Kalb Yibin Kang family John & Clare Kowalak Victor Liu & Sonya Xu Neumann family Sadhu family Jiancong Sheng & Xiaoquian Zhao Joyce & Larry Tatsch Shaun & Hetal Weber Megan Whitman Zuoli Xu & Yiping Wang

Faculty/Staff Tracey Baskin Missy Bowman Jennifer Christiano Ginger Christie Kathy Chrzan Ursula Connors Banu Eser Patricia Farmer Erin Galbraith Kate Garzon Amy Gerstacker Kelly Glenfield Eliza Hammer Michelle Jacob Maria Johnson Anjum Khan Amy Krupa Derry Light Sally Luke Kathy Marmion Lisa Meisenbacher Sue Ellen Miller Vandana Monteiro Seyedeh Mousavian Andrea O’Brian Nuria Perez Marina Pocino Alona Procaccini Mary Reuter May Shazah Sabuhi Kathy Sellers Ayla Sen Gwen Shangle Eric Swartzentruber Peggy Thompson Jad Touma Christina Uchrin

Current Students and Young Alumni Jessie Vallette Briar Kenny Easwaran Celeste Gabai Andrew Gardner Chris Gardner Tessa Marmion Hessmiller Anne Marie Hinrichs Taylor Hwong Caleb Light-Wills Daniel Marmion Xan Nowakowski Chris O’Brian Adam Schnitzer Tali Schnitzer Steven Spinner

Sustainers’ Club - up to $299 Anonymous Bartlett family Brennan family Chambers/Salih family Chen/Lu family Chin/Chan family

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

%

Amount

%

Amount

%

Amount

Trustees

100%

$57,750

100%

$43,100

100%

$40,549

Faculty/Staff

58%

$4,125

87%

$4,200

55%

$11,623

Parents

53%

$82,600

55%

$55,000

56%

$44,511

Friends/Alumni

40%

$9,400

22%

$12,000

45%

$7,200

2017-18 Total Donations: $103,883

Princeton Montessori School 487 Cherry Valley Road Princeton, New Jersey 08540 609-924-4594 www.princetonmontessori.org