10/14/16 • Denver, Colorado • 25 years ago, Dr. Martha Urioste, rightly considered the founding mother of public Montessori in Denver, Colorado, and already the principal of Mitchell Montessori (today, Denison Montessori), launched Family Star Montessori Montessori School in a vacant drug house across the street from Mitchell in Denver’s blighted Northeast, to serve neighborhood children from birth to three years old. Today Family Star serves more than 300 Denver children from birth to six in center and home-based programs.
Two years ago, Great Work Montessori, a Denver network of non-profits dedicated to transforming education by promoting Montessori through training and expanding access, began working with Dr. Urioste and Family Star to document the history, growth, and success of the program.
This month, the resulting book, The Family Star Story, by Dr. Martha Urisote and Great Work co-writer Amy Clark Moore, will be released at an event on October 26th at the Family Star main office in northwest Denver. The book can be purchased at the Family Star website and is also available on Amazon. All book proceeds benefit the Dr. Martha Urioste Scholarship at Family Star Montessori.
(Dr. Urioste and Family Star had a brief mention on MontessoriPublic earlier this year: Diversity in Public Montessori: It’s Complicated.)
David worked in private Montessori for more than twenty years as a parent, three-to-six year-old and adolescent teacher, administrator, writer, speaker, and advocate. In 2016 he began working with the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector. David lives in Portland, Oregon.
