OUR MISSION
MCC is a supportive community, applauding the individual and diverse gifts of children and adults. As a dedicated, authentic Montessori program, we recognize the child as the foundation of peace. To that end, our classrooms are safe and nurturing environments where the child is allowed to explore and discover his or her unique place in the world. Our Montessori teaching enables us to strive to understand the individual needs of each child in our care, including their physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs, while we create an interdependent community to help propel success and support development.
Our environments are aesthetically designed to invite the child to learn with a full heart, mind, and spirit. We work closely with families to support and nurture the healthy development of children. Our teachers are supported and sustained with ongoing Montessori training and professional development in a warm, familial environment that inspires dedication and personal growth.
As a small business, we contribute to the local economy by using local resources and drawing employees and business support from the surrounding area.
Offering the highest quality in childcare and education services appropriate to the needs of the communities we serve, our program is designed to invite the child to learn with a full heart, mind, and spirit, and to support and nurture the parents and teachers who surround each child on their important journey from infancy to early childhood.
Our logo exemplifies the ideals of our Center. We are, at our heart, a Montessori Center, supporting the children in our care, at each level of their development—infant, toddler, early childhood—as they reach their potential. We aim to assist them as they grow toward independence, confidence, and self-esteem, and to help each develops a lifelong habit of learning, curiosity, and collaboration.
It is the light of their natural intelligence that we look to nurture.
HISTORY
The Montessori Children’s Center was opened in 1991 at the invitation of Maureen Ryan-Carr, the Assistant Administrator of Burke Rehabilitation Hospital. Maureen invited Carole Wolfe Korngold, Director, and Founder of the Center for Montessori Education|NY (CME|NY) to bring Montessori to the grounds of the hospital in the form of Montessori childcare for the employees of the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and the surrounding White Plains community. Maureen wanted to provide a deeper educational curriculum with the childcare that was present on the Burke campus in order to improve the benefits Burke Rehabilitation Hospital would be providing their employees. In 2018, we moved to a new location at 220 Westchester Avenue, West Harrison and began a new chapter of serving families in the Westchester area.
In addition to directing the Montessori Children’s Center, CME|NY has a teacher education program for Montessori teachers. CME|NY offers Infant and Toddler (birth to 3 years), Early Childhood (ages 2.5 – 6), training for an AMS Teaching credential, as well as as a Credential program for Montessori school heads, principals, and school leaders.
Led by K.T. Korngold, CME|NY serves as a resource for many Montessori schools, providing workshops, consultations, and training to independent, public, and charter schools throughout the United States.
K.T. Korngold has been CEO since 2011. She brings with her a lifetime of dedication to authentic Montessori principles and practices and a long connection with the programs of CME|NY. K.T. was instrumental in the original design of the Montessori Children’s Center. K.T. is a certified AMS CMTE|NY Infant and Toddler specialist and wrote a column for Tomorrow’s Child entitled “Bringing Montessori Home.” K.T. received her AMS CMSM credential in July 2013. As a child, K.T. was part of the model classroom of the first Montessori education program for Head Start teachers in the United States, a training that Carole initiated in Albany, NY in 1967. As CEO of and the Center for Montessori Education|NY, K.T. helps ensure that the symbiotic relationship between adult and child education continues to support the best experiences in Montessori.