About Our School

Montessori Children's House is a preschool and kindergarten founded on the principles developed by Dr. Maria Montessori in her lifelong study of how children learn. The school is a nonprofit corporation owned by the children and run by their parents through a Board of Directors elected annually.

Dora and George Fowler founded Montessori Children's House (MCH) in the fall of 1968. The Fowlers had moved to Des Moines from Minnesota. Dora was a native of Bogotá, Columbia and had worked as a translator for the UN. The school opened with two classrooms and approximately 70 children. The school was housed within the same Presbyterian Church location, in two rooms that had been originally rented for Kindergarten by the West Des Moines School district. There was no school office or school secretary until 1978. The children wore uniforms for the first 10 years; gold jumpers and navy t-shirts and tights for the girls, and navy slacks and gold t-shirts for the boys. In 1970, the Fowlers transferred to Chicago. They gave the school to the children as a not-for-profit corporation governed by a parent-run board of directors.

The first Head Directress was Pat Talmage who served until 1978. Jo Landholt began working at MCH in the fall of 1970 and assumed the roll of Head Directress in November of 1978. At that time the enrollment was about 85 children and the tuition was about $40 per month. The school still had two classrooms and now had an office housed in the current Toddler classroom. Around 1976, a plot of ground was purchased by the school at the corner of 50th and Ashworth Road in West Des Moines. Plans were drawn up for a new school and despite the many fundraisers held; it proved too costly for the size of the school at the time. The land was eventually resold. In the 1970s first grade was added and eventually second and third. The elementary children stayed all day at school. There was no hot lunch program until 1979; therefore, these children brought lunch boxes and their own drinks every day. Eventually, there was dissention over space for both preschool and elementary grades, and ultimately, there was a break off of the elementary children and their families into a separate Montessori school.

Steady growth in enrollment has occurred since 1978, and additional classrooms were added. As the church building grew, the school grew. In 1998, after 20 years, Jo Landholt retired as Head Directress and Linda Gobberdiel assumed this position. In March 2005 MCH moved to its current location at 1505 42nd Street. In 2007, Linda Gobberdiel announced her retirement and Shyamli (Rini) Kumar was appointed the Directress.
 
Today, the MCH staff comprises of a team of 32 dedicated members, many of whom have worked here for over 10 years. MCH is also a training center for Montessori Centre International (London, UK). Study circles are held for MCI enrolled students during the school year and the apparatus workshop is offered in the summer."