Greenspring Montessori School
2025 Annual Report
Annual Report for the 2024-25 school year
2024-25 at Greenspring
Students Enrolled
We served 260 amazing students in 2024-25, offering them worthy challenges and tending to their spirits.
Granted in Tuition Assistance
Approximately one third of our students receive Tuition Assistance at Greenspring demonstrating our commitment to socio-economic diversity in our community.
Students enrolled in our Dual Language Program
35% of the students at Greenspring are enrolled in our Spanish Dual Language program. This program is part of our commitment to developing effective communicators.
Donated Meal Bags
We celebrated MLK Day of Service by creating over 100 Grab & Go Meal Bags for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Maryland. Taking care of community is a foundational part of a Montessori education.
Year in Review
At Greenspring Montessori School, we are guided by our Strategic Direction, with six areas we continually focus on each year. Those six areas include:
- Sharing Authentic Montessori values with the world
- Cultivating a Community of Empowerment
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
- Developing Effective Communicators
- Enhancing our Campus for Growth
- Inspiring an Allegiance to Nature
Tamara Sheesley Balis
Head of School
As I reflect on the 2024-25 school year, I am so proud of how our children and adolescents navigate this challenging, beautiful, intricate world around them. Our commitment is to continuously foster an environment where students not only excel academically but also develop the critical skills needed to engage meaningfully with others – skills that are more important than ever before. They are bright, talented, caring young people, and it is imperative that we rise to meet them with work that ignites their curiosities and passions, while also stretching them in new and meaningful ways. Our focus this year was around offering worthy challenges, and we had the privilege to witness their valorization as they demonstrated remarkable persistence and perseverance. Our students engaged in:
- Research and public speaking opportunities
- Advocating for others through learning about local government and attending Lobby Day
- Organizing fundraisers and giving back to their community
- Making space for diverse perspectives in their community meetings
Only through worthy challenges such as these can children and adolescents grow their persistence and perseverance. These opportunities, big and small, give them a chance to take responsibility for themselves and their community, take pride in their work, learn and make mistakes in a community that welcomes and supports them, and rise to the occasion as confident leaders.
This work to support our children and adolescents guided us throughout the year in our many initiatives. Together we participated in many professional development opportunities to offer accommodations and individuation in the classroom, engaged our board of trustees in efforts to grow our reach, and, of course, honor the spirit of the child every day in our work. Learn more about our many initiatives below.
Our Worthy Challenges
A worthy challenge is one that stretches a person just beyond their current abilities—demanding effort, focus, and perseverance—while still being achievable with persistence and support. In a Montessori context, a worthy challenge is developmentally appropriate, meaningful, and intrinsically motivating. It invites the child to engage deeply, solve problems, and build confidence through their own experience, not by seeking external rewards.
Cultivating a Community of Empowerment
Human-centered values empower community members to practice and embody ownership and trust so that each member – students, families, and staff members – live in a community built around and for its people.
From Our Faculty & Staff
“As a Montessori Guide and parent, I feel incredibly gratified to belong to Greenspring. I have seen my colleagues’ children grow up here, and I, in turn, am watching my own children rise through the years here while their personalities flourish. Our family feels connected in so many ways – through friendships with staff, other parents, and through our children’s friendships. This place has it all! We hope our gift to the Greenspring Fund acts as a small gesture of appreciation for this sense of belonging that we enjoy every day, and we especially hope that the allocation of funds towards future scholarships allows the school to provide that feeling of belonging for many more families going forward.”
– Greenspring Lead Guide
“I love the Greenspring community and feel blessed to care for the students and staff.”
– Administrator
“The school has been extremely supportive with me, even more when I became a mom. That’s something that I’m always going to appreciate and one of the reasons it makes me love this school so much and my job.”
– Greenspring Lead Guide
“I choose to support our Greenspring Fund because I wholeheartedly believe that Montessori Education offers the best opportunities for our children to become their best selves. By giving to our community, we can continue to provide our students with the best educational resources in an intimate and loving environment.”
– Greenspring Lead Guide
“I love working here, so glad I came to Greenspring Montessori School.”
– Greenspring Floating Partner
“This fantastic educational community should be accessible to all children, regardless of their financial situation.”
– Greenspring Floating Partner
“So happy to be a part of this community.”
– Board Member
“I give to the Greenspring Fund every year without fail. It is not a large amount, but every little bit helps. I believe in what we do here each day and I believe in the Montessori philosophy and way of life. If I can help to support that just a little bit, it is worth a few dollars out of my paycheck.”
– Greenspring Lead Guide
An Engaged Board of Trustees
Behind every great school is a group of committed individuals who give generously of their time, talent, and vision. Our Greenspring Montessori School Board of Trustees exemplifies this spirit in every way. Their work, often behind the scenes, has a powerful impact on the daily experiences of our students, families, and staff.
Our board members bring a wealth of professional expertise from fields such as education, health and wellness, finance, law, technology, real estate and fundraising. In addition, several of the trustees are parents of current or former Greenspring students, bringing a unique perspective to their work. Together, our trustees provide thoughtful guidance on strategic planning, ensuring that the school’s mission and values remain at the heart of every decision made. They help set long-term goals, evaluate progress, and chart a sustainable path for our future growth.
The board’s support extends far beyond governance. Board members can be found in our classrooms observing and receiving lessons from the children and at school events such as Grounds Day. In addition, our trustees support the school financially through giving to our Greenspring Fund and Capital Campaigns.
Our trustees have volunteered their time in numerous areas this year. Take a look below to see some of their major accomplishments. Perhaps most importantly, our board members serve as ambassadors for our school’s values — modeling integrity, curiosity, community and lifelong learning. They remind us that education is a collective effort and that when we work together with shared purpose, we can accomplish extraordinary things.
We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to our board for their unwavering support and belief in what we do. Their leadership makes a lasting difference, and we are deeply grateful for their partnership in helping every student thrive.
Shanie Nelson
Director of Advancement
Enhancing our Campus for Growth
Our trustees have volunteered their time in numerous areas this year to enhance our campus for future growth.
They brought in and managed contractors to renovate Monocacy which is now our new, larger home for our Adolescent program.
They met with landscape architects in an effort to move our Outdoor Master Plan forward.
They researched and interviewed investment advisors so that our investments are well looked after.
They recruited new board members so that we have a group of trustees with various backgrounds, skills and talents.
Financial Report
As in years past, we maintained a balanced budget and continued to build a healthy financial foundation, ensuring that our resources directly support the students who learn and grow here each day. Thoughtful stewardship allows us to sustain our prepared environment, including our programming, our faculty and staff and our beautiful spaces, that help the children feel inspired, challenged and cared for. Our strong financial footing reflects the shared commitment of our community to creating a stable and nurturing environment where every child can thrive. With these resources in place, and a deep commitment in growing them, we look forward to continuing to invest in the experiences that make our students’ time at Greenspring Montessori School truly exceptional.
The Greenspring Fund
Giving in 2024-25
Highlights in Giving
in total giving
Fund-a-Need
We received $8,977 toward items for our annual Fund-a-Need. With these contributions, we were able to purchase awnings for our Elementary Outdoor Environments and supplies for our art program.
Book Fair
We received $2,832 back during the Scholastic Book Fair and we purchased 540 new books for the Greenspring Library.
School Fundraisers
Our Upper Elementary students raised a total of $4,946 at their Comfy Dinner and Bingo Night Fundraisers. These funds were put toward their trip to the Montessori Model United Nations in New York. Thank you to everyone who supported their big work!
Volunteering
Thank you to all those who saw a need on campus and volunteered their time and materials to support our community. We want you all to know that you made a difference in the support our staff felt during the year.
“The Greenspring Faculty and Staff continue to amaze us. We truly appreciate the kindness, thoughtfulness, compassion, dedication, and purpose that they bring with them every day. What our children are getting here at Greenspring is truly something different and very special! Thank you for all that you do!”
“We are happy to support Greenspring Montessori community thrive and grow.”
“Greenspring Montessori has brought alive and brightened a light that other schools had started to dim in our child. We are so happy to be part of this community and the incredible educators who make up Greenspring Montessori. ”
“To watch our grandson grow and thrive is such a blessing! With the guidance and love from the staff, we are grateful!”
“When I first considered sending our daughter to Greenspring, I knew it would be hard to do financially. We were provided with tuition assistance, which made it feasible. Without that support, we couldn’t have sent her. Now we are in a position to give back to the community and help another family send their child to Greenspring. We will forever be grateful for the opportunity to join this amazing community.”
“This fantastic educational community should be accessible to all children, regardless of their financial situation.”
“I think that the right to education of every child in society is very valuable, and whatever we can do to ensure that our children are well educated, our donations will contribute to that.”
“So happy to be a part of this community.”
“Greenspring Montessori School is a special place and provides children with an amazingly unique educational and life experience. The skills that children learn here are unmatched by any other school or learning environment. Every child would benefit greatly from a Greenspring education!”
Donate to The 2025-26 Greenspring Fund
Through our Family of Funds, you can support us in our work this year. Whether it be supporting the beautification of our Greens & Grounds, providing Tuition Assistance to families in need, supporting Educational Initiatives, recognizing our Staff who bring their full intelligence and heart to school every day, or supporting the School with an unrestricted gift, we ask for your financial support.