LePort Montessori

Ms. Laurie Baldwin has lived her whole life in San Diego County and has taught and worked with children for the past 25 years. She received her B.A. in Psychology and studied Early Childhood Education as well. Ms. Baldwin taught in traditional preschools for years until discovering the beauty of the Montessori method. Since then, she has been an assistant in Montessori classrooms for ten years.

Ms. Baldwin has always had a desire to work with children and be a positive influence in their lives. She also has a passion for animals, cooking, reading, and the outdoors.

Ms. Donna has lived in San Diego her whole life. She is a mother of 5 and grandmother of 11. She is currently working on her degree to become a master teacher. She has worked in the field of early childhood education since 2000. Prior to beginning at LePort, Donna worked mainly with toddlers. Donna believes that working with infants is such a wonderful experience as you get to introduce them to new things and help to guide them in the exploration of their surroundings. It is such a joy to see when they experience something for the first time.

In her free time, Donna loves to spend time with her family. A couple of her hobbies include bowling and crafting.

Ms. Horyeh has lived in Southern California for 36 years and moved to San Diego in 2019 to be closer to family. Before joining LePort, Ms. Horyeh owned and ran two businesses in addition to having worked in a preschool setting when her girls were young. She is passionate about working with children and delights in the joy of experiencing the world through their eyes. She believes mindful, compassionate attentiveness is the foundation of all interactions, especially those with children. Outside of work, Horyeh is a devoted practitioner of yoga and meditation and enjoys being in nature and spending time with loved ones. She has three adult daughters and a grandson with whom she loves spending time.

Ms. Jennifer has been a teacher for 24 years, working with all ages. Most of her experience has been with infants and toddlers. She is currently studying at Grossmont College, where her major is Child Development with an emphasis on Infants and toddlers. She aspires to finish her Bachelor’s Degree in Child Development as well as complete her Associates Degree in American Sign Language. Ms. Jennifer likes to incorporate sign language with infants as she believes it helps them to communicate their needs with her before they have the verbal skills to do so. She would love to bring her two passions together and work within the deaf community.

Sarah Lee has served the Montessori community for over 10 years. After receiving her K-12 public school art teaching certificate and practicing art in a Middle School in Illinois, she discovered Montessori education as an Assistant Teacher in a Lower Elementary classroom. Mrs. Sarah absolutely fell in love with the way a teacher guided the children in order to foster their love for learning.

She has embraced the Montessori philosophy to its fullest ever since, especially after she obtained her Master Degree in Montessori Elementary Education with her Association Montessori Internationale Elementary Montessori certificate from Montessori Institute of San Diego and University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Mrs. Sarah believes that Montessori is a way of life and is a huge advocate for Montessori education. She firmly believes that Montessori helps the whole human being, emotionally, socially, and academically and aids the children to become a successful member of our society from an early age. As the Head of School, Mrs. Sarah oversees all operations, and ensures that each student at the school receives the highest quality Montessori education. When not fully immersed in Montessori methods, Sarah enjoys her time outdoors with her daughter, Sadie, husband, Steve, and dog, Puffy.

Originally from the United Kingdom, Mrs. Sandy Marlor obtained a Higher National Diploma in Business Studies before traveling extensively and embracing different cultures of the world. Mrs. Marlor settled in San Diego to be near her family after the birth of her twins. Extensive research brought her to the conclusion that she wanted a Montessori education for her children, and she then found the wonderful Fallbrook Montessori School, where for 10 years she was the administrative assistant.

This role brought great happiness as she deepened her knowledge of Montessori and watched her own children blossom into curious, confident beings. Mrs. Marlor worked at Santa Fe Montessori School as an administrative assistant and is excited to continue her love of the Montessori school environment with LePort. Outside of work, she enjoys art galleries, all outdoor activities, and spending time with her family.

Ms. Lisa Reynolds has worked for LePort since October 2017, when she was hired as an Assistant Teacher and After Care Coordinator. Her strong work ethic, dedication, and commitment to the Montessori philosophy made her the ideal candidate when a Head Teacher position came available the following school year.

Before she found Montessori, Ms. Lisa worked as an ESL instructor in Shenzhen, China for four years, with children ages 3 to 17. Prior to her work in China, she taught ESL for 18 months in Yonago, Japan. She moved back to America in 2016 to train as a Montessori Primary teacher at the Montessori Institute of San Diego. She is excited to share her Montessori training, as well as her experience abroad, with her students. Outside of work, Ms. Lisa enjoys running, reading, drinking coffee, and of course, spending time with loved ones.

Miss Elle was born and raised in Cupertino, California, and moved to San Diego from Silicon Valley where she earned two degrees, an Associate in Arts in Child Development Associate Teacher, and in Liberal Arts Emphasis in Social and Behavioral Sciences. Her passion is working with children and she hopes to continue her education by taking the training to become a Montessori Teacher one day. Miss. Elle is a pianist and taught piano to young children before she pursued her dream in education. Miss Elle is also bilingual in Farsi and English. When she is not working, she loves to garden and collect different plant varieties from her travels, and also has a passion for cooking!