Joan Shankin, Director and South Classroom

  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 ten years in Houston. She did Montessori training for the elementary level at the Houston Montessori Center in 1997, and taught in an elementary Montessori classroom for four years. She completed the Montessori preschool certification with the NCME-NM teacher training course in Los Alamos in 2010. She has two sons: Luke and Quinn, who attend La Mariposa Montessori School.

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 enjoys gardening, sewing, cooking, and visiting her family in Denver.

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. Her hobbies include crafts, dancing, gardening and painting.

Carolyn Zamudio, Toddler Classroom

Carolyn grew up in southern California, and moved to Santa Fe in 1989. In 2010 she received her International Montessori Diploma for Infants and Toddlers from the North American Montessori Center. She has two children, Gabriel, at Monte Del Sol Charter School, and Marina, at El Dorado Community School. Her background is in music, art, literature and the culinary arts. She loves the school and is devoted to the children.

Jodi Henson, Toddler Classroom and Aftercare

Jodi was born and raised in Albuquerque. She attended many Montessori workshops at Loyola University in Maryland and William & Mary in Virginia. She has been a part of the Montessori community for 10 years. She completed the Montessori primary training at the NCME-NM teacher training course in Los Alamos in 2010. She and her husband and son, Aidan, age 5, live in Moriarty. Jodi enjoys camping, the outdoors, and spending time with her family.

Belle Ponder, Aftercare

 BELLE PONDER was born and raised in Newport, Arkansas and attended Randolph-Macon Woman’s College where she received an A.B. in Philosophy in 1973, and then received a M. Ed. In early childhood development and education at Antioch Graduate School in 1975, then she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico where she founded the Santa Fe Pre-School Inc. and was the director as well as a lead teacher from 1975 until 1995. Meanwhile she received a M.A. in counseling from Antioch Graduate School in 1987. While directing the pre-school she taught Parenting Classes at the school. From1997 till 2006 Belle was a Therapist Facilitator with the Youthworks Program in the Public Schools in Santa Fe, where she also provided therapeutic programs for high risk youth. From 2006 to 2009 Belle was Supervisor of Viva Familia Program at the Santa Fe Rape Crisis & Trauma treatment Center.

Belle has excellent communication skills, a thorough knowledge of early childhood development, has expertise in a variety of teaching methods for at-risk parents and children, and is a registered community trainer of teachers.

Belle is a mother of two daughters and step-mother of three other children and a grandchild, by her husband, Thor Sigstedt. They live on a ranch in Spirit Valley along the Galisteo Creek. She loves to cook and do artwork of various sorts and also sing and dance.