Our Teachers

The members of our dedicated staff have been working together for over ten years to create a rich and lively environment for their community of young learners.

Teresa Chocano, a resident of Orcas Island since 1991, is the current Director for the Orcas Montessori School. Soon after moving to Orcas Island, she served as assistant in the Montessori school classroom for two years before attending Antioch University to earn her Washington State Teaching Credential and Masters in Education. She has endorsements as K-8, Early Childhood and K-12 music teacher. Both of her children attended Montessori preschools, her daughter here on Orcas. Over the past 20 years, Teresa has participated and watched the school’s progress from its early days to the present. As director of the Montessori School since winter of 1998, she has fund-raised and overseen building improvement and expansion projects. Teresa has watched the school’s population grow in size and parent enthusiasm for the program lead to the establishment of a Montessori classroom in the public school for grades 1-3. Before returning to the Montessori School, Teresa taught and performed music, wove tapestries, and was a substitute teacher for grades K-12. She especially enjoys the rewards of interacting on a daily basis with our children and their families and observing the benefits of the Montessori environment on the lives of our families.

Tom Rubottom has been involved with the Montessori community since 1994, when he began as a teacher’s aide at the Northwest Montessori School, Seattle’s oldest A.M.I. Montessori classroom. He received his professional Montessori diploma from the Montessori Training Centre of British Columbia in 2000, and has been living and working as the head guide of the Orcas Montessori School ever since. Tom’s education also includes a B.A. in psychology from Bowdoin College. “While I came to Montessori largely by chance, I have been both inspired and humbled by the experience of seeing Dr. Montessori’s methods ring true with such an incredible diversity of children, and I feel exceptionally lucky to have been able to play a role in bringing her work to an island that offers such energy and support to our program.” When not in the classroom, Tom fills his day by taking in the beauty of Orcas, playing his bass and his banjo, and enjoying life with his partner Madeline and their son Finnian.

Serena Burman spent her early years on the East Coast, living in a Camphill Community–a village designed for mentally handicapped adults–and attending Waldorf kindergarten.  Later, she attended a Waldorf high school as well. Serena strongly believes that each of these experiences led to her desire to help cultivate rich environments for young children. In the 2010 – 2011 school year, Serena worked as an in-classroom aid for one of the Orcas Montessori students, and all the children benefited from Serena’s presence. It is with joy that we welcome her back this year as our new Orcas Montessori School Assistant!

Ina Drosu was the Orcas Montessori School Assistant from the summer of 2000 through the spring of 2011. Born in Romania, and after living in Europe, the US and Canada, she found her permanent home on Orcas where she devotes herself to studies in philosophy, history and art. Ina has left her Montessori School Assistant position to pursue her art, but will remain involved as a substitute teacher. Thank you Ina!!