Meet Sussex Montessori’s Head of School, Lisa Coldiron!
SEAFORD, DE — We are excited to welcome Lisa Coldiron of Bethany Beach, DE to serve as the inaugural Head of School for the new Sussex Montessori School!
Coldiron has deep community ties to western Sussex County through her work as the Sussex County Director of the acclaimed Read Aloud Delaware program, and most recently as the Sussex County Health Coalition grant manager. In these roles, Coldiron served Sussex County families in partnership with the Seaford School District, the Boys and Girls Club, Parents as Teachers, the Parent Information Center, and the Family Support and Healthcare Alliance Delaware, including families with limited English proficiency as well as those who were food-insecure, or clothing-insecure, or homeless.
Coldiron received her degree in Early Childhood Education, with a minor in music, from Elizabethtown College in 1981 and later took advanced coursework at the University of Delaware.
She taught music for eighteen years at The Tatnall School, where she became department head, as well as at the Montessori Learning Center in Wilmington and CACC Montessori in Hockessin, where, Coldiron said, she “came to appreciate the child-centered, teacher-guided environment where the development of the whole child is paramount” that characterizes the Montessori philosophy.
All three of Coldiron’s children attended Montessori schools in Wilmington.
At Sussex Montessori, Coldiron will take the reins of a new charter elementary school for grades K-6, scheduled to open in the fall of 2020.
Her responsibilities will include hiring and managing the training of 12 classroom teachers for the first school year (for grades K-3), developing administrative policies and procedures, and working with SMS’s Outreach Specialist, Kaneisha Trott, to ensure that the first-year student demographics of the school represents the cultural and economic diversity of western Sussex County.
“Sussex Montessori is pleased to bring Lisa on board as our Head of School,” Board Chair Linda Zankowsky said. “Lisa brings a variety of experiences to the school including working with families and children across Sussex, governing board work, marketing, and an entrepreneurial mind set.”
“We are excited to work closely with Lisa as a board to support her with everything needed to successfully build the school and to build a Montessori culture in the school and community.”
Contact Lisa at lisa.coldiron@sussexms.k12.de.us
