Stefanie Stafford was enrolled at the ABC-Stewart School in Columbus, at age 5.
During Stafford’s time at the ABC-Stewart, school founder Merry Carmichael served as director — and as Stafford’s math teacher.
Now, a few decades later, Carmichael is teaching Stafford something new — how to take over at ABC-Stewart’s new school director.
When former director Mike Gorday retired at the end of the 2018-29 school year, Carmichael came out of retirement to serve as director until she could find a replacement.
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“She wanted to make sure it was a good fit,” Stafford said. “And she wanted somebody who was younger, so they would stay for a long time. … She was looking for someone to be committed to this school for decades.”
Stafford works at the school as a teacher in a 3- to 6-year-old classroom. She began working at the school in 2015 teaching in a classroom for 2-year-olds.
And she has two children enrolled at ABC-Stewart. Her son, Jackson, is in the third grade. Her daughter, Scarlett, is 4 years old and is one of Stafford’s own students.
ABC-Stewart resumed in-person learning on Aug. 10. In the morning, Stafford teaches in the 3- to 6-year-old classroom alongside a few other teachers. In the afternoons, Carmichael shows her the ropes of leading the school.
As director, Stafford will be in charge of scheduling, finances and keeping the ship sailing, she said.
Right now, she is working under the title “interim director.” When school lets out for summer, Carmichael will step down and Stafford will fully step into the role of director.
In addition to teaching and training to be director, Stafford has also gone back to school to earn her Montessori credentials through a one-year “fast track program.”
“So I’m doing two years’ worth of work this school year,” she said. “It’s a lot, but it’s just kind of how I am. I like to get things done and out of the way.”
In addition to a busy schedule for Stafford, the new school year also brings a variety of adjustments for ABC-Stewart due to COVID-19. These include social distancing, masks, temperature checks and different seating arrangements.
Stafford explained that usually, ABC-Stewart students are allowed to move freely around classrooms and choose where they want to sit. This year, students are still allowed to move freely but may only work in their assigned seat.
For teachers, the COVID-19 changes also bring increased cleaning and sanitization of classrooms and materials.
“Instead of just being teachers, we have about five jobs rolled into one,” Stafford said. “But I think that’s why teachers are so capable of doing it, because we’re passionate about our jobs. And we’ll do whatever it takes … You know, we want our children in face-to-face learning. eLearning is not suitable for any child. It’s not. The best thing for children is to be in the classroom. So it has definitely been a harder school year, but I still would rather be here, doing 20 different jobs, than sitting at home teaching my children on a computer.”
She said that in the spring, the school faced certain challenges when it came to eLearning. ABC-Stewart is a Montessori-based school, and Montessori teaching methods are very “child-led” and individualized.
“So we’re not standing up in front of the classroom and teaching everybody the exact same thing,” Stafford explained. “We’re going off of what that child independently needs. I might have a child who’s not reading at all. And in that same age, I might have a child who’s reading chapter books. So we have to really be independent when it comes to eLearning, and that is more of a challenge. But we did a great job of it. … We learned from our mistakes, and now we know what to do differently if we have to go to that this time around.”
ABC-Stewart talked with other Montessori schools about their approaches to eLearning during the pandemic. The school also worked to keep learning individualized by communicating with parents and sending home materials for students. She said they also recorded several videos for Google Classroom.
Stafford said that most students returned to in-person classes in the fall, though a few families have opted for eLearning. During their downtime, teachers upload eLearning content for these students.
She said it feels “amazing” to be back and that the best part of that is seeing students again.
“Coming into school and seeing little faces so happy to see you can turn anybody’s bad day into a good day,” she said.
In spite of the challenges and busy schedule that awaits her this year, Stafford looks forward to her new job and the future ahead of her.
“This school means so much to me, and it means a lot to me to keep it thriving and keep it going for another 50 years,” she said. “We just celebrated our 50th anniversary last November. So I would love to see that again.”
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According to the American Montessori Society, the Montessori approach to education was developed by Italian physician Dr. Maria Montessori and "fosters rigorous, self-motivated growth for children and adolescents in all areas of their development—cognitive, emotional, social, and physical."
The five "core components" of the approach are:
- A trained Montessori teacher
- Multi-age classrooms that "facilitate mentorship among the students and encourage leadership development
- Montessori materials, which are "specially designed" and "provide a hands-on approach to learning"
- "Child-directed work"
- "Uninterrupted work periods"
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