Wildflower Schools Founding Teacher Leader, Minnesota (Primary-6th Grade)

About Wildflower Schools

The mission of Wildflower Schools is to provide families with child-centered, authentic Montessori education that bridges academic outcomes and social-emotional development through intimate learning communities deeply rooted in place, access, and belonging. Founded in 2014, Wildflower Schools has launched over 80 Montessori schools in the US and Puerto Rico. Wildflower offers startup support, proven strategies, and a community of like-minded peers to educators that are passionate about bringing the Montessori model to more families.

For more information about our organization and ways of working, please visit wildflowerschools.org.

About The Role

As a Founding Teacher Leader, you will design, lead, and teach at a new primary/lower elementary charter or independent school site in Minnesota, in partnership with other Teacher Leaders and in collaboration with Wildflower partners. Each site will launch with two co-teachers that collectively design and oversee their Montessori school with support from the broader Wildflower Schools network.

Over the course of the Wildflower School Startup Journey, candidates will engage in four phases: Discovery, Visioning, Planning, and Startup, that will ultimately prepare them to design, launch, and teach at a new Montessori microschool. The timeline and responsibilities will include:

(1-2 months) Discovery:

• Get to know Wildflower through conversation with Wildflower Partners, existing Teacher Leaders, and community members.
• Complete self-reflection activity in order to explore interest and alignment with Wildflower.

(1-3 months) Visioning:

• Develop authentic, enduring relationships with community members to inform ongoing site design and evolution, and to deepen your conviction to serve.
• Complete a Visioning Album to begin the design of a school with input from the community.
• Identify a Teacher Leader partner to co-found, co-lead, and co-teach alongside (with the support of the Wildflower network).

(4-9 months) Planning:

• Co-create the school design with and for families and children and cultivate a committed community of students, families, and stakeholders rooted in partnership.
• Collaborate to design a physical space for a new Wildflower microsite - including leasing and renovating a community embedded site.
• Build a balanced site budget and implement sound financial practices to ensure accountability and fiscal health.
• Build a board (if an independent school).
• Affiliate your microsite with the Wildflower Network and become an employee of the independent or charter entity.

(1-2 months) Startup:

• Prepare a Montessori learning environment in alignment with your vision and the community’s needs.
• Ensure compliance with either the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (if independent) or the Wildflower charter contract and the regulations set forth by the charter authorizer and the state department of education (if charter).

• Align operational practices with the Wildflower network’s policies, plans, and school site-based practices that center the child and their sense of belonging.
• Enroll students and families in the school program.
• Co-host community engagement activities.
• Hire site-based staff such as assistants and paraprofessionals.
• Launch and co-lead a Wildflower microsite that:
  • Supports all learners, especially students with special needs by employing inclusive teaching practices, including healing-centered instruction, that meet the needs of every child.
  • Maintains compliance with the school’s charter, if relevant, and statewide accountability expectations.
  • Supports caregivers of students to adopt aligned practices at home as desired to create a seamless learning environment.
  • Operates with sound human resource and legal practices.
  • Meets all licensing and paperwork requirements depending on the school’s grade bands.

Launching and Co-Leading Your Site:

• Co-lead and co-teach a mixed age group Montessori classroom.
• Attend relevant professional learning events.
• If launching a charter site, attend authorizer and state compliance trainings to ensure the school stays in charter compliance.
• Collaborate with Wildflower staff, partners, and contracted service providers to best anticipate and serve all students’ needs.
• Ensure accurate and complete records that stay in compliance with regulations.
• Maintain a healthy, well-functioning facility that meets the needs of students and licensing requirements.

Throughout the entire journey candidates will:

• Lead with cultural humility and actively work to disrupt oppressive systems and practices.
• Utilize leadership and administrative skills to operate and communicate with transparency to all stakeholders, including the school’s Board of Directors.
• Operate with sound decision-making principles, taking ownership over all site-based decisions made to service the site.
• Embody the vision that you’ve co-created by collaborating with your co-Teacher Leader to facilitate a safe and inclusive learning environment grounded in your community.

Minimum Qualifications

• Completion of an AMI, AMS or other MACTE accredited primary or elementary Montessori training program
  • Training scholarships are available for emerging Teacher Leaders who are not already Montessori trained.
• Bachelor's degree required (charter pathway only)
• Minnesota licensure encouraged but not required

Preferred Attitudes, Knowledge, and Skills

• Deep commitment to authentic Montessori - You are an experienced educator who loves the classroom and brings a teaching philosophy deeply rooted in child-led approaches, social emotional learning, fostering independence, and intentionally teaching kindness and courtesy
• Strong equity lens - You bring a deep understanding of equity issues in education and are eager to increase access to Montessori to racially and socioeconomically diverse communities. You understand the role race, along with ethnicity, gender/gender identity and sexual orientation, play in contributing to persistent inequity. You have engaged in culturally responsive and anti-racist practices with the students and families you serve and reflect on how your own identities and life experiences impact your practice as an educator.
• Entrepreneurial leadership - You are flexible, open-minded, see opportunity in obstacles, and are energized by using creativity and resourcefulness to anticipate challenges and create solutions to problems.
• Growth mindset and a love of learning - You are comfortable with a culture of direct feedback and eager to develop new skills and expertise. You enjoy challenging yourself and exploring your purpose and potential more deeply.
• Generosity of spirit - You build authentic relationships in diverse settings, practice gratitude, and lead with love. You seek advice openly and are comfortable working in a non-hierarchical organization.
• Strong sense of accountability - You thrive in high-autonomy, high-accountability contexts and feel a deep sense of responsibility to the kids, families, colleagues and broader community of your school. You are comfortable being in a decision-making leadership role and accepting ownership of the tradeoffs, implications, and results of your actions.
• Willingness to work hard - You have the aptitude, stamina, time, and appetite to raise yourself to the challenge of starting and leading your own school. You will not be alone, but you will be busy.

Compensation and Benefits

Partial compensation will begin during the startup phase (about three months prior to school launch). Co-founders determine a budget, salaries and benefits for the first year, with starting salaries typically in the $60,000- $70,000 range. In subsequent years, salaries grow with enrollment growth.

To Learn More

Please fill out this brief Get Involved form (hyperlink: shorturl.at/2n9JK) to learn more about us and explore a fit. If you meet our minimum qualifications, Daniela Vasan, Wildflower’s regional lead in Minnesota, will reach out to you to connect and discuss next steps along your path to bringing a Montessori microschool to your community. We look forward to hearing from you!

Wildflower Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, creed, religion, sex or gender, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, status with regard to public assistance, or in any other way based on personal identity markers that do not relate to the capacity of an individual person to carry out the responsibilities of a role.