Homer and Annette Thompson

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized

Cypress Junction Montessori (CJM), a public charter school in Winter Haven, is pleased to announce the launch of a school-wide music program plus enhancements to our arts and science education thanks to the legacy of Homer and Annette Thompson. We’re excited to share how music, arts, and science will be expanded in each of our classrooms and show our appreciation to the Thompsons. Meet the Thompsons Homer and Annette Thompson were both born in east Polk County and graduated from Haines City High School. Homer also graduated from the University of Florida. They married in 1939. Homer went on to have a long and distinguishedRead More →

By:
On:
In: Partnerships, Press Releases, Staff

Cypress Junction Montessori’s board of directors is excited to announce the school’s administrative team. Karen Winningham will be leading the school as the Executive Director. Karen was born and raised in the Bronx, NY. She has spent the last 13 years with the United States Postal Service, most recently serving as an Operation Industrial Engineer implementing process improvement methods and coaching a national network of Industrial Engineers. Karen moved to Winter Haven in 2012 with her family and quickly realized this is where she is meant to be. In 2014, Karen helped create the founding group that worked to open a Montessori charter school inRead More →

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized

Montessori classrooms are filled with diverse groups of engaged students working and learning according to their individual interests and abilities. Soon, you’ll be able to see these multi-age classrooms in action in downtown Winter Haven. Cypress Junction Montessori, a new public charter school, will open in August for the 2016-2017 school year with students ages three through sixth grade. The school will add seventh grade in 2017 and eighth grade in 2018. The open enrollment period for Cypress Junction Montessori began on February 19 and will remain open through March 18. The application is simple, takes less than 10 minutes and can be found atRead More →

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized

With the excitement around Tuesday’s school board approval and today’s Ledger article, we want to clarify a few a few points for our supporters. Melissa Davis is the director of the Winter Haven Montessori preschool, and she is an advocate for and contributor to our efforts. Her school will continue to operate as a private preschool. Montessori of Winter Haven, a public charter school, is a new and separate non-profit organization. While both schools share the same mission of providing a genuine Montessori educational option to the Winter Haven community, they are independent entities. The charter school will provide education and care to children agedRead More →

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized

It all started in early 2014 with a group of parents in Winter Haven who saw a need for more public educational choices in their community. This group began working on a plan to provide a unique, quality tuition-free option to K-8 students in the Winter Haven community. On October 6th, the Montessori of Winter Haven Charter School team moved one step closer toward achieving that goal after a unanimous vote of the Polk County School Board to approve their application to open a new K-8 Montessori charter school in 2016. “We are excited to begin moving forward with this plan we’ve worked so hardRead More →

By:
On:
In: Fundraising

Why Do We Need to Raise Funds? Montessori of Winter Haven founding board members are working with the Polk County School Board to open a Montessori charter school, but we need your donations to get us started.  Charter funding does not kick-in until the school is ready to open it’s doors to students, meaning all start-up costs must be covered by donations. There are several ways to help: Pledge to Donate Specific Items – From $10 – $10,000 and everything in between, view an itemized list of everything we need to open our doors on this page! Pledge what you would like to donate, and,Read More →

By:
On:
In: Uncategorized

Please take just a couple minutes to fill out this simple survey.  The response from the survey will be used in the charter application to demonstrate the Winter Haven community’s interest in this project.  This documentation is critical to our efforts as we are in the final stretch of preparing our charter school application to establish a Montessori school right here in Winter Haven! Simply click the link below & answer our 5 questions! (We’d love it if you could share this with your friends, too!) Take the Survey!  Read More →

By:
On:
In: Charter Application, Uncategorized

One critical aspect of the charter school application process is letters of support from the Winter Haven community.  Showing a diverse interest in the school’s approval from a variety of stakeholders will strengthen our application’s message of fulfilling an existing need in our community.  So we ask you to please consider supporting our efforts by writing a letter to the Polk County School Board in support of approving the Montessori of Winter Haven charter application. In order to get the application to print timely we would need any letters of support by the end of June.  Please email letters to info@montessoriofwinterhaven.com or mail them to PO Box 102,Read More →

By:
On:
In: Charter Application

Our team has been working hard towards opening a K-8 Montessori Charter School right here in Winter Haven. We would love to have anyone interested in learning more about Montessori, the application process,  and other details to join us as we present this information to the Winter Haven City Commission on May 11th at 6:30pm. Even if you already are aware of many of these details, we’d still love for you to come! Any and all support we can have that night will be greatly appreciated. We’d love to demonstrate to the commission the amazing support we’ve felt so far throughout this process. Thank you! Karen,Read More →

By:
On:
In: Fundraising

A Large Garage Sale to benefit Montessori of Winter Haven charter school efforts! Are you cleaning out closets, toy boxes or your garage to make room for all those Christmas presents? We are having a large garage sale in January to benefit the charter school. If you’d like to donate items to be sold, let us know and we’ll let you know where they can be dropped off.   So far we have gently used (some new!) clothing, a gas range/oven in excellent condition, a treadmill (for that New Year’s resolution!), furniture and lots of miscellaneous household items. Your donations are tax deductible! Donating or notRead More →