Our Staff

Rainbow Montessori School actively seeks a wide variety of staff in order to share all manner of talents and interests with the children. All head teachers are certified Montessori instructors, and are committed to creating an optimal environment for every child placed in our care. We truly love the children and enjoy working and learning with them. Our staff is very stable, and the children usually spend their years at Rainbow with the same teacher. 

Renate Chadwick founded the school in 1983 and has recently retired from the classroom after nearly 40 years of teaching. She still teaches German to all of our classes, comes to join us whenever we need an extra helper, and substitutes as needed.

Renate's daughter Barbara Davis has been teaching with with us since 2009 and is the school director. She is the head teacher for the afternoon class with her co-teacher Melanie Bohmeyer,  who is also a German native and was a teacher in Germany. Melanie started as an assistant in Julie's class last year and decided to get her Montessori certification, so she will be completing her training this year and hopefully teaching in the afternoon class for years to come!

Julie Schoenbacher teaches the 8:45-12:45 4-hour class, and is in her 8th year with us. Her specialty is botany, and she teaches all about plants and shows the children how to grow things throughout the year. Her co-teacher is Cynthia Muszynski, who was a public school teacher until she brought her daughters to Rainbow Montessori 20 years ago and decided she'd rather teach here! Cynthia has been here for almost 20 years and is retiring in June 2025--but she'll be back to help and visit!

Jen Sherer teaches with Martha and Barbara in the 8:30-12:30 4-hour class. She has a background in science and has fascinated the students with her science lessons! Jen's co-teacher Martha Diliani, has her Masters degree in Education, and has been teaching with us since 2015. Martha brings the perfect combination of patience and humor in her work with her students.

We are lucky and grateful to have such a wonderful staff. Teaching assistants are all trained directly by the teaching faculty. Our assistants share a desire to work with children and come to us experienced in early-childhood development and usually stay for many years. Often, assistants are preparing to receive their own Montessori teaching certification. 

Melanie will lead the afternoon class next year, as Barbara is stepping out of the afternoon class; and Cynthia is retiring in June. We are therefore hiring for TWO assistant teacher positions for the 2025-2026 school year. Please contact us if you or anyone you know would be interested in the BEST job in the world!

The staff distributes a monthly newsletter detailing the children’s activities and projects, current curriculum, and upcoming events or celebrations. We encourage parents to communicate freely with their child’s teacher and discuss any concerns or questions about the child’s progress at school.