Head of School Search

List of 11 items.

• Tuna Chatterjee - Co-Chair

  Tuna Chatterjee is Vice President of the Board. She joined the LMS community with her daughter in 2014, and her son Kai is now also a student at the school. Although Tuna’s introduction to Montessori was unusual (she went to high school at Kodaikanal in India, where Maria Montessori was interned during World War II), she fell in love with the Montessori whole child philosophy once she saw it in action within the thoughtful and thought-provoking school community of LMS. In support of this approach, Tuna has served on the LMS Board for several years and is going into her third year co-leading the Parent Engagement Committee. Tuna also serves on several boards for area nonprofit organizations whose missions focus on children and community-building -- a deeply held passion that started while pursuing a BA in History at Haverford College, and continued at Northeastern University, where she received her JD. After enjoying careers as a software developer and as an attorney, Tuna now focuses full-time on her family.  In her free time, Tuna is an avid quilter and photographer, and always ready to join any creative pursuit with others, as long as coffee is involved.

• Corinne Foster - Co-Chair

  Corinne Foster is Board Clerk. She started out in Montessori School at the age of four months. Her mother, Linda, was completing her Elementary Internship, and she was allowed to bring her new baby to school with her. Since then, Corinne has been a Montessori student, a teacher, a teacher educator, and most recently a parent. Two of her three kids joined LMS in 2018, and her youngest one joined Toddlers in the fall of 2020. Since joining LMS she has been a room parent in CH and LE, served on the Parent Engagement Committee and Fundraising Committee, and worked with the development office to help coordinate the Cultural Fair, CH Snowball, and Teacher Appreciation Lunches. Corinne is currently a full time mom who loves giving her extra time to LMS. She has an MA in Minority and Urban Education from the University of Maryland and is Montessori Lower Elementary certified. She lives in Belmont with her husband and children. 

• Ava Archibald

  Ava Archibald has spent nearly 20 years in independent school education. First as an English teacher and then as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practitioner. “What draws me to Montessori education is the way in which its principles naturally fit, hand in glove with DEI."  Ava holds two bachelor degrees from Taylor University in English and Mass Communications and a Masters in English from Harvard University. She joined the community in 2013 and currently has two children at LMS, one in LE and one in UE. Ava also holds a Grand Diploma of Culinary Arts from the International Culinary Institute and spends every chance she gets doing the thing she loves most, cooking. 

• Elisa Cheng

  Elisa Cheng’s first introduction to a Montessori classroom was as a pre-kindergartener, but alas, her parents thought she needed to be “sat on” and subsequently enrolled her in a much more traditional public school system for the next 13 years. When she grew up to have her own two spunky chatterbox daughters, Elisa vowed to find a school that encouraged hands-on exploration, independent thought, and the occasional excited outburst. She and her husband Ben were thrilled to find all this and so much more at LMS in 2016, when Sophie (now a graduate) started as a 4th grader and Lilly was a CH "rester." Elisa loves being part of the vibrant LMS community, serving as a MS room parent and on the Parent Engagement Committee. She graduated from Harvard-Radcliffe in 1999 and Harvard Medical School in 2006, going on to become an adult psychiatrist at Cambridge Health Alliance and in private practice. Because she’s devoted to lifelong learning, she’s also currently training to become a psychoanalyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. She has always loved art (especially print-making), soccer, reading, and eating dessert.

• Deb Helsing

  Deb Helsing is a Co-Director of Minds at Work, where she coaches, consults and provides training on the Immunity to Change approach. She also holds a faculty position at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education (HGSE), teaching courses in Adult Development and Immunity to Change. Deb has also served as a teacher and teacher trainer as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Kingdom of Tonga and has taught secondary English literature writing and adult ESOL classes.  She holds a MAC from the University of Michigan and an Ed.D. from HGSE and has authored/co-authored several articles and books.  She is the mother of LMS alum Josie Lamenza and LMS 7th grader Miranda Lamenza. 

• Stephen Kayiwa

  Stephen Kayiwa joined the Upper Elementary team in 2011. He did his Montessori training for Upper Elementary at CMTE in New York.  Upon graduating from Clark University in Worcester with a B.A. in International Relations, Stephen worked with middle and high school students at Beaver Country Day School.  He was a student advisor, diversity coordinator and admission associate during his seven-year tenure there. Stephen was born in Uganda and raised in Nairobi, where his mother runs a school.

• Xiang Liu

  Xiang Liu, PhD, Director/Analyst, is a member of BlackRock’s Active Equity Group. His son, Henry, is currently in Lower Elementary. Xiang is responsible for coverage of the medical devices and specialty pharmaceuticals sectors. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2008, Xiang was a partner and biotech analyst at Mehta Partners. From 2002 to 2005, he was a Director in the corporate development department at Cubist Pharmaceuticals. Xiang began his professional career in 2000 at the Boston Consulting Group as a health care consultant. Xiang earned a BS degree in Chemistry from the University of Science & Technology, China in 1993, a PhD degree in Chemistry from Yale University in 1997, and a MBA degree in finance, strategy, and accounting from the University of Chicago in 2000.

• Kim McMaken-Marsh

  Kim McMaken-Marsh, Co-Head Teacher in the Middle School, received a B.A. in English from Emory University in Atlanta. She has taught at LMS since 1994, first in Lower Elementary for years and now in the Middle School. Kim received her AMS 6-9 training through CMTE in New York. She served on the LMS Board and has been an active force in our efforts to become a multicultural school. She also has worked with adult students, training Montessori teachers at the Lexington satellite of CMTE. She is mother of two, both of whom attended LMS.

• Michael Scalese

  Michael Scalese joined the LMS faculty in 1999. Before coming to LMS Mike worked extensively with children in a camp setting and supervising staff and planning programs and development efforts for the Jimmy Fund and Fidelity Investments. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Hampshire where he majored in English with a concentration in Education and has completed his 6-9 Montessori credential at CMTE/Lexington. Mike is also Lower Elementary Coordinator and a member of the LMS Board of Directors. Michael’s son attends LMS.

• Tucker Taft

  Tucker Taft is the parent of two LMS alums, Rebecca and Maia, who attended LMS from 1990 to 2002.  He was on the LMS Board in two stints of 9 years and 15 years, respectively, and was President of the Board for the last 5 of those years.  Tucker was a 2002 recipient of the Maria Montessori Award, and on his retirement from the board in 2019, the building at 10 Lawrence Lane was renamed the Tucker Taft Building. In his professional life, Tucker is Vice President and Director of Programming Language Research at AdaCore, an international software company, with dual headquarters in New York City and Paris. He holds a B.A. Summa Cum Laude in Chemistry from Harvard College.

• Dilani Vytheswaran

  Dilani Vytheswaran, Co-Head Teacher in Children’s House Room 4, is an AMI trained 3-6 teacher. When she came to LMS in 1998, Dilani assisted in the full day LMS 3-6 program and also held the position of Community Coordinator in the Development Office. Dilani speaks Sinhalese and Tamil, and she has worked in both merchandising and media management. Her two sons attended LMS.