Our Story: 40 Years and Flourishing

A brief history of the flagship of Montessori education in Atlanta

In 1970, ten young women graduated from Montessori teacher training in Atlanta with a passion to share what they had learned. They quickly faced the daunting realization that there were virtually no Montessori schools in the city. And now Atlanta has the largest number of Montessori schools in the United States!

The newly-trained group set forth to find space and interview prospective families. "What would they have thought had they known there was no one else in the class?" founder Betty Litsey says. "Or that we had no furniture and no materials," co-founder Arabelle Luckhardt still wonders. Still, the teachers persevered; that September, after mortgaging their homes, deferring their salaries, and buying materials out of pocket, they opened the doors of Montessori Child Development Centers(MCDC) in four different rented locations throughout the city. Forty-five children, ages 3 and 4 showed up for the first day of school.

One of our original ten founders is still teaching at Arbor. Betty Litsey has taught children of all ages, but for the majority of her career has guided countless 9-12 year olds through their Upper Elementary experience. As the founder of our Outdoor Program, Betty has facilitated more wilderness camping, backpacking, and whitewater canoeing trips than anyone else at Arbor.

Arbor Montessori School (as MCDC was renamed in 1986) is now celebrating its 41st anniversary! In these three decades, Arbor has become known nationwide as a premier Montessori school, one of the largest AMI schools in the southeast, and is regarded and studied by many as a model learning environment.

Explore More

• About Arbor: Why are we here?

• Montessori at its Fullest

• The Arbor Community

• Arbor Grads: Flourishing in the World