Future in Focus
Future in Focus
The strength and stability of Woodland Hill Montessori School is readily apparent and gives the school a strong foundation from which to spring. Woodland Hill Montessori School provides a learning environment that emphasizes guided self-discovery, love of learning, and personal and social responsibility, preparing students to be global citizens. Applying Montessori methodology to both our educational philosophy and our practice of school governance, the Board of Trustees and the Head of School engage in strategic planning with openness to new opportunities and attunement to challenges unique to our school at this moment in history. We aim to be nimble and durable in the face of headwinds. This approach is essential for upholding and strengthening our school’s mission, ensuring we stay true to our core values, maintain fidelity to our philosophy, and create space for growth, evolution, and innovation.
Our Mission
Woodland Hill Montessori School – a diverse and engaging educational partnership of parents, teachers, children, and community – nurtures a child’s love of learning and sense of social and personal responsibility using the childcentered Montessori philosophy and curriculum to develop the intellectual, spiritual, physical, artistic, and academic excellence inherent in each child.
Our Path
WHMS has been on a path of expansion since our inception nearly 60 years ago. Since our move to the North Greenbush campus in 2002, we have achieved significant growth in our beautiful campus, our classroom offerings, and the number of children we welcome into school each day.
WHMS remains a healthy institution with gifted and diligent teachers, hard-working and creative staff, and well-maintained facilities with a growing recognition of excellence in Montessori education. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic upending many of our daily activities, the impact of the 2020-2023 Strategic Plan can be seen on campus today with the expansion of our athletic offerings, commitment to our Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion principles, sustained engagement of our strong community, increased alumni engagement, and continued financial strength.
In the 2025-2028 strategic plan, we look to maintain these strengths and build for the future by deepening our sense of community, enhancing our academic richness, and laying the groundwork for our school’s sustainability.
“Clearly, we have a social duty toward the future - the individual who exists as a silhouette around the child, a duty towards this individual of tomorrow. Perhaps a great future leader or a great genius is with us and their power will come from the power of the child they are today. This is the vision which we must have.”
Maria Montessori, The 1946 London Lectures, p. 140
Our Process
To develop this strategic plan, the Board of Trustees nominated a Strategic Planning Committee, which began a comprehensive and collaborative process of gathering community input by facilitating a series of listening sessions with parents, students (6th-8th grade), administrative staff, and faculty over the 2023-2024 academic year. The collective results of these sessions became the foundation of our strategic planning survey, which was distributed to the larger parent and teacher community between June and July 2024. In testament to the strength of our community, we received a robust response, providing the foundation upon which we developed this framework for our future. The Board of Trustees is now pleased to present this Strategic Plan for 2025-2028. Through our strategic planning process, we heard consistent themes from constituents within our community.
To ensure succinctness and focus, we have consolidated these themes into the following categories:
Academic Richness Community Strength
Academic Richness
• Ensure excellence in our academic curriculum to empower students to thrive in an increasingly global, complex, and ever-changing world.
• Progress academic opportunities in areas of language, wellness, and STEM.
• Express, explore, and measure academic rigor and relevance as well as student outcomes at each developmental stage while staying faithful to our Montessori pedagogy.
• Support the lifelong learning of faculty and staff, expanding their expertise to address the continually changing needs of our students and community.
• Honor the ‘whole child’ philosophy, developing our students’ social, emotional, and cultural competencies.
Community Strength
• Strengthen our bonds across faculty, staff, Board of Trustees, and parents to remain focused and aligned with the mission of WHMS.
• Support our commitment to our Equity & Belonging mission.
• Deepen the sense of belonging and reduce barriers to equal participation.
• Connect with the skills and talents of our parent and greater community in meaningful capacities of curriculum extension and experiential learning.
Sustainability
• Balance competitive tuition with compensation/benefit rates.
• Maintain our facilities and protect against unexpected events.
• Ensure our financial sustainability for future generations including preparation for future strategic opportunities by embodying a culture of giving, contribution, and philanthropy within our community.
Implementation
With the establishment of our 2025-2028 Strategic Plan, it is the responsibility of the Head of School and staff to identify the tactics supporting each of these strategic objectives. The Board of Trustees is responsible for the long-term planning and fiduciary responsibility for the institution. As such, the Board of Trustees provides oversight to ensure that progress is being made in a timely manner consistent with the Montessori educational philosophy and mission of WHMS. During scheduled board meetings, the Head of School report will include the efforts, successes, and challenges met in the implementation of the 2025-2028 Strategic Plan.
This new Strategic Plan provides direction to continuously live our mission and deepen our impact. Who we are today is the result of the time, energy and planning of those community members and leadership that came before us. Who we will be in the future will be the result of humble leadership, bright minds and thoughtful support of our wonderful community. Thank you to all those who contributed to our new 2025-2028 Strategic Plan!
2024-2025 Board of Trustees
Julie Massry Knox, President
Erika Solomon, Vice President
Michael Logan, Secretary
Beth Armstrong, Treasurer*
James Browning
Julie Clancy
Wendy Gilman
Andrew McClain
Lisa McGrath
Casey Parker
Jesse Roberts
Sara Stevens*
Rex Tien
*Strategic Planning Co-Chairs
Contributing Past Trustees
Tamara Gatchell
Nicole Lenihan
Eric Ledet
Alex Pieterse
Head of School
Michelle Edwards