Adolescent Program Director Announcement
May 15, 2015

Dear MSLF Community,

We are pleased to tell you that we have succeeded in filling the role of Montessori School of Lake Forest Adolescent Program Director. Since Ann Jordahl left this position in order to lead the school in June, 2013, we have conducted two formal searches and directly approached several individuals, in ongoing efforts to fill this position. We are grateful to Bev Adamczyk who agreed to temporarily direct the Adolescent Program during the 2013-14 school year.

We searched carefully for an individual to fulfill our Adolescent Program’s distinctive criteria, including:

  • A wide range of experience in working with young people; developing and leading programs; teaching, collaborating with colleagues, students, and parents; expanding enrollment; managing critical issues-all skills necessary to ground the Adolescent Program.
  • The capacity to continue to build our Adolescent Program by developing local, urban, national, and international connections both within the Montessori community and within the larger worlds of higher education, sustainability, arts and culture, and service.
  • The ability to engage in critical thinking across the disciplines; offer sound and well-proven leadership skills; collaborate with and support parents; and serve as a good guide for students as they prepare to enter high school and college, and to develop part-time and full-time job opportunities.
  • Teaching experience with a wide range of youth; familiarity with Montessori education; possessing an advanced degree; the insight to engage successfully with the challenges of Montessori philosophy, and the maturity to collaborate well with our high performing faculty, our sophisticated parent body, and our richly varied and high-potential student body.

After a 3 year search, MSLF has appointed Stephen Sennott , a teacher and youth mentor who worked at Illinois Institute of Technology, where he served 14 years as Assistant Dean and adjunct professor in the College of Architecture. Steve is already known to many in the MSLF community, most recently as a Chicago tour guide for the Adolescent Program, a former committee volunteer, an alumni parent, and the spouse of Ann Jordahl.

Steve’s application and qualifications indisputably established him as our single strongest candidate for the position. His deep familiarity with Maria Montessori’s collaborative approach to education and community has informed his teaching, advising, and administrative tasks. The Adolescent Program students will be well served, too, by his experience as a mentor for Chicago-area middle school and high school students engaged in the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Saturday Studios and as the director of IIT’s summer high school workshop, “Experiment in Architecture.”

We have worked carefully with MSLF’s Board of Directors and have pursued this opportunity fully aware of the challenge and promise it offers.  Per their guidance, candidate interviews were conducted by a team. The selection process prompted a useful review of procedures, and to maintain the integrity of our employee communications we have added a formal whistleblower policy to the Employee Handbook. In addition, Ann has taken steps to insure that Steve’s formal report and review process will be conducted by another employee than herself.

We are confident that Steve will foster the MSLF Adolescent Program as a teacher, mentor, and program director. To this end, he will seek to develop relationships with the full MSLF community beginning this spring, before he formally joins the MSLF faculty this fall. He will be reaching out to faculty and students and there will be opportunities to meet him during the spring and summer. Please feel free to invite him to events or to contact him with ideas or questions.

We are fully committed to maintaining the Montessori School of Lake Forest as an open learning community, focused on serving the parent-child-teacher triad, on behalf of all of your children. To that end, we seek to hire only the very best in faculty. Please contact either of us with comments, questions, or concerns. As you know, the door is always open.

Best wishes to all of you, and please join us in welcoming Steve to MSLF.

Ann Jordahl
Executive Director
Tom Zengeler
President, Board of Directors

MSLF Retirement Announcement

January 29, 2025
Dear MSLF Community, After over 20 years of teaching Lower Elementary students at MSLF, Kathryn Jasinski has shared her plans to retire from teaching at the end of the current school year. There is no doubt about the impact Miss Jasinski has had on our school community during her long tenure here. Kathryn has been well known for her dedication to her students, to developing the whole child, and for her passion for Montessori education, always staying true to the core tenets of Montessori philosophy. Her legacy at MSLF will certainly live on in each of the students who have been lucky enough to have been in her class and in the many words of wisdom she has shared with her fellow colleagues, past and present. No doubt each one of her current or former students who receives a note from her in the mail instantly recognizes her perfect cursive writing and the thoughtful note inside. Kathryn’s care of her students extends well beyond their time in her classroom as she has kept in touch with dozens of her former students and has even welcomed some back to work alongside her as assistants. She has been a mentor to many, imparting her years of expertise on all those who have had the privilege of working with her. While we are sad to see her go, we know that she will enjoy her well-earned retirement, and we look forward to celebrating Kathryn’s legacy more this year. MSLF is pleased to announce that Laura Earls will be the new Lower Elementary lead teacher for the 2025-26 school year. Laura has been co-teaching in our Upper Elementary classroom since the beginning of the current school year. Laura Earls joined the MSLF team from Higher Ground Education where she was Regional Program Lead, working to elevate program quality in all Guidepost Montessori schools across the Chicago area. It was during this work that she realized how much she missed working directly with children in the Montessori classroom and decided to return to teaching. Laura received her BA in art history from the University of Dallas and completed graduate work at the University of Notre Dame. Soon after, Laura shifted her career to education and earned her AMI Elementary Montessori Certification (6-12 years old) at the Montessori Institute of Milwaukee. She then taught in an Elementary classroom at Forest Bluff School, and her classroom was profiled in Paula Polk Lillard’s book, Montessori Today. After moving to Wisconsin to raise her three children, Laura received her AMI Primary Montessori Certification (3-6 years old) at the Midwest Montessori Institute. After that, she worked as a Primary Directress and Director of Admissions at a Montessori school in Wisconsin, as Head of School of Forest Bluff School, and as Senior Head of School at Guidepost Montessori. Laura has three grown children who all experienced Montessori education themselves and are thriving in college and beyond. Laura has lived and studied in both Paris and Rome and is an accomplished pianist. Laura is excited to make the transition to the Lower Elementary classroom and looks forward to working closely with current and new Lower Elementary families next year. She also looks forward to meeting families in the Lower Elementary classroom during the Open House on February 5. With Laura transitioning to the Lower Elementary classroom following the current school year, MSLF will be conducting a search for a new co-teacher to work alongside Debbie Lincoln in the Upper Elementary classroom for the 2025-26 school year. We are thankful to Laura for all the support she has offered the Upper Elementary community this year. Please join me in wishing Kathryn a peaceful and fulfilling retirement and in welcoming Laura to the Lower Elementary community. Sincerely, Hope Allegretti Head of School - Executive Director Montessori School of Lake Forest

Montessori Assessments at MSLF

By Teresa Pavelich • January 8, 2025
An overview of how Montessori schools assess student progress and development
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