Our History
Community Montessori School (CMS) began in 1997 in the basement of a Fishers home with just 5 primary children. One of our past guide’s,
Kate Bender, was the
founding directress of the school. The school was named after Kate’s childhood school in Lexington, Kentucky.
Celebrating More Than 20 Years
In the early years we relied heavily on mentoring from Community Montessori School in Lexington, Kentucky; generously giving advice and refurbished materials (they even shared their school song, which the children love to sing for parents at social events!)
CMS soon grew to need more space and moved to St. Louis De Montfort Church. The Knights of Columbus graciously allowed us to rent their hall where we put out shelves on castors each Sunday night; then wheeled them and stacked them into a closet every Friday night. It was a true labor of love, but we were growing!
Continued Growth
CMS continued to grow and soon needed to add additional classrooms. We moved to portable classrooms near the Fortville area. Once in Fortville we realized our population was more centrally located and moved to the Castleton area.
In the fall of 2004 the elementary program began under Carrie Wisser. In 2007 we moved into our current, custom built location, returning to Fishers where it all started! In 2010 we began our toddler program, and the growth continued. When you combine a (still!) revolutionary form of education with the dedicated and talented staff that we have, growth is inevitable!
