Primary 2 Classroom - Mrs. Shireen and Mrs. Amy

Shireen McNabb (also Head of School)

Mrs. Shireen's drive and passion for early childhood education has enabled her to serve not only as a teacher but also as the Head of School since the school's inception. Her soft-spoken manner, gentle but firm style, and excellent rapport with children are evident at once. With time, parents discover how her wisdom, natural talent and experience fuel her students desire to learn, to work and play in harmony with the world around them, and to be proud of who they are. 

Shireen discovered her true passion early in her career while being trained and mentored by one of Dr. Maria Montessori's original protégés, Ms. Joyce Gunasekera. After obtaining her certification to teach 3-6 year old children from the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), she spent several years as a head teacher in one of Ms. Gunasekera's primary classrooms. She then continued her studies in Child Care at Ware College in Hertsfordshire, England.

Mrs. Shireen moved to Massachusetts in 1990 and continued to broaden her perspective by earning two additional AMI certifications to teach children ages 6-9 and 9-12 while serving as a lead teacher for 3-6, 6-9 and 9-12 year-old Montessori programs. During her "vacation time", she chose to work with infants and toddlers in order to gain a rounded perspective of the whole child that few school leaders truly have. 

Shireen founded the Green Mountain Montessori School in 2001 and has continued to pursue her passion for working with children by serving as a teacher ever since. Shireen lives in Huntington with her husband (Brian), her son (Nate) and her two loveable Labs, Baxter & Turbo. When not involved with the GMMS community, she enjoys hiking & snowshoeing with her family, having tea with friends and reading.

Amy O'Connor Rissman

Mrs. Amy O’Connor Rissman has been intimately involved with Montessori since a very young age. In addition to attending a Montessori school as a preschooler, she was surrounded by Montessori at home - her parents founded a Montessori School in Key West, Florida in the 1970’s. She later worked at the Montessori School of Key West prior to moving to Vermont.

Amy has seemingly boundless energy both in and out of the classroom and the two frequently intersect. She first joined our community as a parent and found herself at the school often because she truly enjoyed working with the children and staff in the Montessori environment.  She began pursuing her own formal Montessori training and joined our staff (officially) in 2006.

In addition to being a mother of six who now lives in Westford, she also raises pigs and chickens in her spare time - a boon for our students, who have been able to watch her baby chicks hatch and her baby piglets take in the first few days of their lives. We wonder if the animals have acquired the Montessori gene that seems to run in the family!