For 40 Years, Students Have Been Her World
Posted on: Saturday, 17 May 2008, 03:00 CDT
By Dani McClain, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
May 17--On Friday morning, Margreet Fleege passed a former student in the hallway of Milwaukee Montessori School. The boy, just a few years out of her kindergarten classroom, assured her he'd see her later at her picnic.
Fleege, 63, had no picnic in the works and figured the imagination she'd helped cultivate was in overdrive.
But sure enough, Friday afternoon about 100 people -- students, parents and colleagues -- gathered at a covered play area behind the school to celebrate Fleege's 40 years of teaching there.
"I don't know any different," Fleege said of her career, and added that she doesn't plan to retire anytime soon. "It's become a family affair."
Her son, Chris Fleege, was part of the school's first graduating class of eighth-graders in 1983. And today, his children attend the school at 345 N. 95th St.
Margreet Fleege came to the United States from Holland in 1965 after completing two years of Montessori teachers training. Before that, she attended Montessori schools in the Netherlands from age 2 through high school, and her father was principal of the secondary school she attended.
This lifelong experience in the Montessori tradition -- which places students in multi-age classrooms and requires them to be self-directed learners -- has made Margreet Fleege's work legendary.
Her ability to balance genuine compassion with a no-nonsense approach to discipline has changed students' lives, many parents and staffers said Friday.
Since coming to the school in 1968, Fleege has taught 3- to 6-year-olds. The school has about 420 students, ranging from 18-month-old toddlers to eighth-graders.
Lula Miller-Mays' daughter Brittany is now a junior at Divine Savior Holy Angels High School. But when the girl was in preschool, Margreet Fleege was like a surrogate grandmother.
"This has been my rock," Miller-Mays said of the school. "As a mother going back to work, I was just fearful about where to send my child."
Will Loder, a junior at Marquette University High School, was in Margreet Fleege's class years ago and still regularly works with her during Milwaukee Montessori School's summer session. Her mentorship has been instrumental as he considers whether he'd like to be a teacher someday, he said.
"Occasionally there are children who might not be having a good day," he said. "But as long as you are compassionate, it all works out."
Chris Fleege said his mother was surprised by Friday's event, though privately she had been reflecting on her four decades with the school.
"You hope that people recognize you," he said. "But at the same time she's a very unselfish person. The kids are her world."
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Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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