Full-Time Montessori Classroom Assistant

Community Montessori Columbus (CMC) has two current openings for Children's House Assistants (CHAs) to anchor our classroom routines in a mixed-age preschool and kindergarten community (ages 2.5 to 6).

This is a hands-on, active role — you will be the consistent leader children count on from drop-off through the middle of the day, or from the middle of the day through pick-up.

Our Children's House Assistants work in partnership with our trained Montessori Guides and highly experienced team to create learning environments supportive of children's growth and development.

Our whole full-time team works consistent weekly hours. When you're hired, we'll set a specific daily schedule with you within one of the two ranges below. Once set, our expectation is that your schedule will be followed 95% of the time or better. Outside genuine emergencies, we can offer only rare, planned adjustments to a team member's schedule. Please do not apply if you're looking for a schedule that can vary day-to-day or week-to-week; our work with young children follows a predictable flow for everyone's benefit. We do not provide on-call child care or adjust staffing accordingly as most corporate child care centers do; we are a nonprofit Montessori preschool and kindergarten.

• This summer, we're prioritizing candidates who can consistently open the building with arrival times at or before 8:00 AM (and departure times each day between 4:00 and 4:30).
• We are also considering candidates who can consistently start by 11:00 AM, at the latest, and stay each evening to close the building between 5:15 and 5:45 PM.

What the day looks like for an opening CHA:

• Open the school and greet children and families as they arrive.
• Prepare, restock, and care for Montessori materials so the room is ready for independent work.
• Support children through snack, morning work, outdoor time, lunch, afternoon work, and especially the transitions between each of these.
• Work closely alongside children who need more individualized attention in their activity without enabling challenging behaviors by placating or providing "needless help."
• Help maintain the peaceful and productive environments our fully-implemented Montessori depends on.

What the day looks like for a closing CHA:

• Prepare, restock, and care for gross motor materials, inside and out.
• Support indoor gross motor time and/or outdoor play, afternoon nap and rest, after care (indoors or out), and especially the transitions between each of these.
• Work closely alongside children who need more individualized attention in their activity without enabling challenging behaviors by placating or providing "needless help."
• Carefully close down and lock building after the last child has been picked up. (Children are typically picked up by 5:30; we have a $1/minute late pickup fee starting at 5:31!)

Who does well at CMC:

• Folks with at least one year of experience leading groups of young children (paid or unpaid).
• Those with comfort and confidence in holding consistent, respectful boundaries with young children.
• Those with comfort and confidence in accepting and acting on feedback from more experienced and knowledgeable staff. (Experience in fast-paced food service, especially fine dining, is a green flag for us. Please be sure to include any fast-paced service work in your application to us!)
• Those physically capable of lifting and carrying up to 40 lbs, staying on their feet through most of the day, and being outside in most weather conditions.
• No Montessori background or knowledge is required to work at CMC; we are happy to train individuals committed to the growth and development of themselves and young children!

Pay and Benefits: $16–$20/hour, based on experience and capacity to lead young children. Health, dental, vision, and life insurance options. Paid time off. 100% tuition waiver for your own children if eligible to enroll at CMC. Support for professional development, including potential sponsorship toward AMI Montessori training for the strongest team members.

About CMC: We're a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the Forest Park neighborhood of Northland offering fully-implemented Montessori education and child care to an intentionally diverse group of families. We offer sliding-scale fees and participate in all state programs offering public funding for child care.

To apply: Visit communitymontessoricolumbus.org/join, complete the Children's House Assistant application, and submit it! We only review applications through this process (rather than Indeed Apply), so please be sure to apply directly with us!

We offer: health, dental, vision, and life insurance options; paid time off; 100% tuition waiver for your own children if eligible to enroll at CMC; and support for professional development, including potential sponsorship toward AMI Montessori training for the strongest team members.

Strong conversational English and the ability to navigate or translate written English quickly are non-negotiable for this role.