Date: 4.25.2025 | Time: 12:30 PM

It is with great excitement that we announce Mrs. Markisha (Kisha) Young as City Garden Montessori School’s next Elementary and Adolescent Education Center (EAEC) principal, beginning July 1, 2024! The EAEC houses City Garden’s Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary and Junior High programs and will serve 415 1st through 8th grade students in the 2024-25 school year.

We had a competitive pool of candidates and conducted a rigorous hiring process that included students, guides, staff, parents and caregivers. We are grateful to each candidate who invested themselves in this process and expressed interest in serving City Garden–it was inspiring to meet such talented and passionate educators.

About Kisha Young

Kisha is a Montessorian through and through. As a young child, Kisha started out as a Montessori Primary student, and she found her way back to Montessori as a parent. Kisha has spent the last nine years as a Montessori school leader in two different Montessori charter schools, so she is familiar with the unique challenges and opportunities faced by public Montessori schools.

Kisha is passionate about racial equity, and her alignment with and passion for City Garden’s anti-bias, antiracism mission is evident in her personal and professional experiences. She worked in a school with a 30% suspension rate and over 75% children reading below grade level; in just one year, Kisha was part of a team that lowered the suspension rate to under 1% and dramatically improved the school’s academic performance. Achieving educational equity while also fully implementing Montessori are of critical importance to Kisha.

Kisha comes to City Garden from a Montessori charter school in Southern Pines, North Carolina—but as a native Missourian, her move to St. Louis will be a homecoming. We are thrilled to welcome Kisha and her family to City Garden!

Please read an introduction from Kisha below, and help welcome Kisha to the City Garden Montessori community. If you have any questions or if you would like to know get to know her better, you can reach Kisha at markisha.young@citygardenschool.org.

A Letter from Kisha Young

My name is Markisha Young, but I go by Kisha. I am the wife to a supportive husband, Anthony. We are the parents of two amazing girls, Malia (13) and Anaiya (2 1/2). I grew up in Columbia, Missouri and literally the day after graduation I picked up and moved to Jackson, MS (JSU) for college and began my career in 2009 in Memphis, TN working at a residential treatment facility for children with various challenges such as problem sexual behavior, self-harm, runaway, trauma, and emotional disturbances.

Although I loved that work deeply, it took such an emotional toll on me. In 2015, I transitioned back into education. I started with a no excuses school and at the time my daughter was a founding student at Libertas School of Memphis, a public Montessori Charter–and the two worlds couldn't have been more different.

At the end of the school year, I was recruited by Libertas to go to training and become a Montessori Lead Guide, but my leadership skill set was quickly noticed and the Head of School decided to put me in the role of Assistant Dean. In my second year, I was promoted to the Dean of Students and supported the school in behavior support, attendance improvement, family engagement, Child Study/MTSS, and was the Director of the LEAPS after school program.

In 2019, I was recruited by Moore Montessori Community School in Southern Pines, NC as the Director of Student support to lead the school in following through with its mission, to commit to supporting racial equity in the school and the community, and to pilot the Nautilus Approach. I am currently serving as the Assistant Head of School, Nautilus Lead, MTSS lead, and Athletic Director for Moore Montessori Community School, where both of my daughters attend.

Additionally, I do consulting work for Public Montessori in Action International where I work with a team to facilitate the creation of schools that incorporate school discipline reform. Evenings and weekends are reserved for supporting my husband’s hard work as a start-up business owner for Smokehouse 901 Catering, LLC.

I am so excited to be joining the City Garden community. I deeply believe in the mission and values and am looking forward to being a part of a community that is constantly striving to be the best for the children and families!