McKinley Montessori Academy

217 E. McKinley Avenue
Pomona, CA 91767
Phone: (909) 620-8400
Fax: (909) 620-8403

McKinley Montessori Academy opened its doors for operation on July 1, 2012 with one preschool classroom. Since then our program has steadily grown to two preschool classrooms and a program for Infants and Toddlers.

We have a beautiful campus and look forward to the many projects we have yet to undertake and future services we have yet to offer to achieve our vision for the campus and programs.

We take pride in our preschool and Infant/Toddler programs. Our preschool classroom offers one of the widest ranges of learning equipment and materials that can be found anywhere in the industry. In essence, our classroom environments offer an incredibly rich array of work and play materials. We do this by using the Montessori Method as our core teaching philosophy with Montessori trained teachers and we provide authentic Montessori materials. We also incorporate learning centers which follow the principles and practices of Early Childhood Education and Child Development; both of which are popular philosophies of teaching in American culture.

These philosophies combined together produce a rich environment of materials and activities that complement each other and generate a multitude of creative and developmental experiences for the children unlike that found in many other preschool environments.

The teachers monitor the children’s progress by using the DRDP and annually review the quality of the classroom environment by using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS). Additionally, the parent survey is used to determine the effectiveness of the program by examining parent feedback and using this information to implement policy changes and improvements to the program to ensure that quality is maintained.

The Staff

We are proud of our highly educated and experienced group of teachers and staff. Our director is Rachel Cordova. She possesses a M.A. degree in Education and has several teaching credentials for elementary school programs. She has not only taught in grade school programs, but she has a wealth of experience in child development programs.

Our lead teachers possess a B.A. degree in either Early Childhood Education or Child Development or other education-related field, and they possess a minimum Teacher’s Permit issued by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Furthermore, they are trained internally each year as a component of our on-going staff development program.

Meet the Site Director – Lisa Seggelke

Hello! My name is Ms. Lisa Seggelke and I am the Site Supervisor at McKinley Montessori Academy in Pomona. I am ecstatic to be here and to work with all of you.

As a young child, I often played school by myself and my stuffed animals. I would fill in old workbooks just to make my solitary play seem realistic. I had wonderful teachers who made learning fun. Their innovative ideas helped inspire me to teach.

I have many years of teaching experience. I started my directed teaching as a young adult. After a decade in education, I wanted a new challenge. This prompted me to pursue Preschool administration. With my former employer, I was a Preschool Director of small, faith-based center. I was there for about 4 years.

In terms of my education, I possess a Bachelor’s degree in Child Development and I am currently finishing my Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. Both my undergraduate and graduate work were completed at Cal State L.A. In fact, I was a cheerleader there for 4 years. Go Eagles!

With this, I am currently a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society.

Personally, I have resided in La Canada-Flintridge for 8 years and 2 years in Echo Park. I was raised in the West Covina and Diamond Bar area. I have been married for 3.5 years and I have a 16-year-old step-daughter. We hope to add to our family in the near future.

Once again, I am excited to be a part of the Montessori Association of Covina. In conjunction with the staff, we will work assiduously to provide our students with a safe, enriching, and academic learning environment.

Preschool Programs

We offer both full-day and part-day Montessori preschool services for both private fee-based and State Preschool (income-qualifying) families. The latter is funded by the California Department of Education and the half-day program services are FREE for ALL qualifying families. STARTING JULY, 2014 THERE IS NO LONGER A FEE FOR THE HALF-DAY STATE PRECHOOL PROGRAM. We also offer Transitional Kindergarten. Call for details. Please refer to our fee schedule for families that do “not” qualify for our subsidized programs.

The full-day program is from 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. We offer two part-day programs. The A.M. program is from 7:45 A.M. to 11:30 A.M.., and the afternoon program is from 12:15 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. The Montessori Only program is from 7:45 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Please visit the school and pick up a daily schedule of activities and program times from our office.

A healthy breakfast, lunch and snacks are served daily.

Summer Camp

This year’s program dates: July 1 – August 15th

Important News & Events

• Veteran’s Day – Nov 10th, School in Session.
• Thanksgiving Break – Nov 27-28.
• Parent Surveys – Nov 3rd -7th.
• Holiday Variety Program Dec. 17th , 6:30 p.m. All parents/families & public.
• Holiday Party – Dec 23rd.
• Dec 24th – School in session, Half Day only
• Winter Break – Dec 25-26.
• Holiday – Jan 1-2.
• School in Session – Jan 5th
• Martin Luther King Day – Jan 19th, school in session.
• Open House – Jan 24th, Saturday, 09:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. All parents/families & open to public.

Resource & Referral Services

We offer a list of referral services to families who are interested in utilizing the benefits of community services at low cost or no cost. We urge families to make an appointment with the Site Supervisor to get more information as needed.