Staff
Fernwood Montessori faculty and staff work in a collaborative manner to provide children with a fully rounded and unparalleled education. All staff members are dedicated to the welfare of all children and passionately contribute to their growth and development. Our diverse staff provide additional culture to our already rich community.
Elizabeth Zifcak
Head of School
director@fernwoodmontessori.com
Diploma, AMI Elementary, Washington Montessori Institute
M.Ed. Montessori Education, Loyola University, Maryland
Elizabeth has over 20 years of experience in Montessori education, having served as a lead Montessori Elementary teacher, an administrator and Head of School. She holds a Master's degree in Education from Loyola University and an AMI Elementary Diploma from Washington Montessori Institute. Elizabeth has lived and worked overseas and has traveled extensively. She enjoys sharing her experiences of other languages and cultures with the children. Outside of school, Elizabeth enjoys spending time with her 5 children and training for marathons and ultra-marathons.
Avril Jarecki
Director of Montessori Education
admissions@fernwoodmontessori.com
Rayya Haddad
Lead Primary Guide
Primary1@fernwoodmontessori.com
Rayya received her AMI Primary training in Prague and brings with her a global perspective of the Montessori pedagogy. Rayya's early education left an impact on her, having attended seven schools in numerous countries around the world. Her diverse educational upbringing made her sensitive to different educational practices and alternative ways of working with children.
She studied Sociology and ultimately graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For over ten years, she has taught adolescents and pre-adolescents, as well as less privileged children, ways of seeing and how to use a camera, which ultimately led her to Montessori. She found her enthusiastic hands-on approach to teaching photography very much in line with the Montessori method of exploration through independent work.
Rayya is certified as an AMI Primary Montessori Guide and has worked in classrooms in the US, Europe, and North Africa. In her spare time, she likes to listen to music, spend time in nature, bake or go from one place to another on her bicycle. Rayya joined us at Fernwood Montessori last year and has developed a solid relationship with both students and parents.
Lisa Ruas
Lead Primary Guide
Coming to us from the San Francisco Bay Area, Lisa is an experienced early childhood and elementary Montessori teacher, having recently completed her masters degree in Montessori education at St. Mary’s College in California. While originally born at Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, Lisa grew up in Tampa, Florida, where she also attended Montessori schools as a child, from preschool through sixth grade. Lisa is passionate about Montessori as not just an effective learning method for the classroom, but also a philosophy and way of life.
While Lisa has always been interested in teaching, she initially taught English as a Second Language to high schoolers in Japan and international adults in Berkeley, California before rediscovering Montessori and beginning her training. Lisa is an unabashedly introverted plant mama, and lover of meandering days and sun puddles with her beloved cat, Coconut. Outside of school, you can often find Lisa enjoying a long hike, gardening, or writing while relishing a nice mug of hot tea.
Alison Kingsley
Elementary Lead Guide
Diploma, AMI Elementary, Washington Montessori Institute
Diploma, AMI Primary Diploma, Washington Montessori Institute
M.Ed. Montessori Education, Loyola University, Maryland
B.A. Art Education, University of Washington, Seattle
Alison has been involved with the education of children for over 30 years. She has taught at traditional public schools as well as both primary and elementary Montessori programs. Alison joined the staff at Fernwood in 2016 where she is the lead guide for the Elementary Program. Prior to joining Fernwood, Alison worked at Aidan Montessori School in Washington DC and Mater Amoris Montessori in Ashton, Maryland. She is a member of the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) as well as the Elementary Alumni Association (EAA). These professional organizations offer conferences all over the world, allowing their membership to share ideas and connect with the greater Montessori world.
Alison is a native of Seattle, Washington, where she grew up loving the outdoors. For the past twenty years, she and her husband have lived in Washington DC where they raised two children who attended Montessori schools through age 12. Alison enjoys hiking, traveling and visiting museums.