Berit Leonard, South Classroom
Berit came to America from Norway as a young woman.  She has a degree in Economics from Sagamon State University in Springfield, Illinois.  Berit worked in the aerospace industry as a financial analyst for 13 years. She has done MBA work at the University of Denver.  Berit did Montessori training at the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies in 1995, and has been a Montessori teacher since then.   Berit is a Field Supervisor for Montessori interns from the Montessori Training Center of the Rockies. She has two grown sons and a grandson who lives in Seattle.  Her special interests are reading, knitting, dancing, travel and music.

Dot Breeden, South Classroom
Dot is from Indiana and has a degree in Elementary Education from Indiana University.  For seven years, she taught all ages at the elementary level, most recently first grade in Espanola.  In between teaching assignments, she worked at a guest ranch in Wyoming, and taught horse back riding in Japan.  Dot started teaching in a Montessori classroom in 2004.  She has two daughters, Kira and Ellie, at El Dorado Elementary.  Her hobbies include horses (she has three), gardening and music.  Dot has her own business, a vacation rental home, Los Portales de Santa Fe, in the mountains of Pecos.

Ann Bracher, North Classroom
Ann is a native Santa Fean.  She has a degree from New Mexico State University in Business.  Ann was an auditor for the State of New Mexico for 10 years.  When her daughter was a baby, Ann started a child care business in her home.  In 1990, she began teaching at a Montessori school.  She did her Montessori training at the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies in 2000.  Ann’s daughter, Jaime, is a college student in Las Cruces.  Ann enjoys gardening, sewing, cooking, and her two dogs, Tootsie and Molly.   

Dora Brandt, North Classroom
Dora is from Mazatlan, Mexico, and still brings her family back to visit every year for a seaside vacation.  She went to a technical college in Juarez. Then she worked in quality control for an auto manufacturer.   Dora came to Santa Fe before her two sons, Marc and William, were born.  Dora became a Montessori teacher in 2002 at the school that her sons attended.  She teaches Spanish to El Dorado Elementary children on Friday afternoons and in the summer.   Her hobbies include crafts, dancing, gardening and painting. 

 Joan Shankin, Director
Joan lived in California and Texas as a child.  She has a degree in English from Texas A&M, with minors in Education and Business.  She taught in high school and middle school before she had her own retail business for 11 years in Houston.  She did Montessori training at the Houston Montessori Center in 1997, and taught in an elementary Montessori classroom for 4 years.  She has two sons that both went to Montessori school. Her youngest, Quinn, is at Children’s Garden Montessori.  Her elder son, Luke, is at El Dorado Elementary.  Joan is currently enrolled in the NCME-NM teacher training course for preschool Montessori certification.  The course will take two years to complete.