Meet Our Staff

Our Founder

Martha Pollack Lange

Martha realized her long time goal of opening Rock Creek Montessori School in 2002. She began as a parent of a Montessori student in 1978 and the next year took the AMI Elementary Training at the Washington Montessori Institute (WMI). After teaching on that level for 5 years, she then went back to WMI for the Primary Training in order to start a school. Sixteen years later, Martha was finally able to secure a location for the school.

Currently, Martha resides in San Francisco but is committed to keeping Rock Creek Montessori School a place where children happily develop themselves in a well prepared orthodox Montessori environment.

Our Administrator

Michelle Watson is our Administrative Head of School and Director of Admissions. She is our go-to person to handle all inquiries and needs. She and her husband homeschool their daughter in Takoma Park. She received her BS in Psychology from the University of Maryland and has worked in graphic design and marketing for more than 15 years. She enjoys road trips, trying new restaurants and coffee shops, and developing an urban homestead with her family.

Our Teachers

Fumiyo Hashida, Primary Teacher and School Director, has a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Washington Adventist University, an associate’s degree from Japan in physical education and a Primary/Assistance to Infancy AMI Montessori diploma. She came to this country to study dance. For four years, she worked at a DC charter school for the arts as an instructional assistant. She has previous experience working as a Primary assistant and Toddler Teacher at Rock Creek Montessori School.

Debra Mallory, Primary Teacher, is a graduate of the Infant and Toddler Program at the Institute for Advanced Montessori Studies in Silver Spring. As a new mother, Debra decided to make a career change from government administrative work to teaching after learning about Montessori’s philosophy during a visit to a school. Debra grew up in Maryland, received her BA in government and politics from the University of Maryland at College Park. She currently resides in Silver Spring with her husband and son.

Mary Evans is the Toddler Class Teacher. Mary has gone from being an AMI-certified Toddler and Primary Classroom Assistant to heading up the Toddler Class. Mary has over ten years of assistant experience, classroom training in infant, toddler, and primary development, and another three of being the lead for our after-care and summer programs. She is the mother to a first grader and is an avid crafter and used to work in a number of roles for local theatre companies. She grew up in the area.