Villa is well known for our warm and nurturing staff, and we are widely respected in the early childhood field. Our teachers have many years of teaching experience with young children. We are very fortunate to have teachers who speak various languages and come from a variety of cultural backgrounds. The Villa staff work together as a cohesive team. They are responsible for maintaining the classroom environment, planning the curriculum, teaching and assessing children.
Staff Profiles
Geetha Sunder is Villa Montessori School Director. She is an American Montessori Society (AMS) certified Head of School(HoS). Mrs. Sunder is an Early Childhood Educator and an Elementary Teacher teaching since 2002. She earned Masters in Educational Supervision and Administration and holds Teaching Credentials for PreK-K12 CA classrooms. She is committed to bring excellence in Montessori pedagogy, increase staff leadership and development, and nurture strong parent involvement at Villa.
Sandy Lin is an AMI certified Montessori Teacher. She joined the teaching staff in 2005-2006 school year. Prior to joining the Villa staff, Mrs. Lin worked in other Montessori schools in the area for several years. Both of Mrs. Lin’s two children attended Villa. Mrs. Lin comes to us from Beijing, China.
Justine Fan is AMS certified Montessori Teacher. She received her BA degree in Early Childhood Education in Taiwan and came to the United States to earn her Master's degree in Early Childhood Education in 1996. Mrs.Fan has been working in Montessori classrooms since 1998. She has taught at Children's Cottage in Alamo for two years and Apple Seed International School in Sunnyvale for thirteen years. She is very excited to be part of the teaching team at Villa!
Sudha Katta is AMS certified Montessori Teacher. She has a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from Bangalore University, India. She has been working in Montessori schools since 2006. She was a lead teacher in Evergreen Montessori from 2008 to 2018. Prior to joining Villa Montessori, Ms. Katta worked briefly at Apple Seed Montessori and helped establish Montessori system and methodologies there. As part of Montessori curriculum, her passion is to expose children to Peace Education, art, and music, to create inner peace in them.
Mika Hatori is AMS certified Montessori Teacher. Mrs. Hatori was working as a preschool teacher for three years in Japan prior moving to the U.S. as an Au pair in 2013. She volunteered at Villa during 2016 school year and joined Villa's teaching team since 2017. Mrs. Hatori is from Japan.
Aarabi Rajeshwaran is an AMS certified Montessori Teacher. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English and a Master’s degree in yoga from India. She has worked as an assistant teacher in various Montessori schools in the Bay Area learning from experienced teachers. She is dedicated in following the Montessori philosophy to fulfill the inner needs of the child. Mrs. Raj enjoys doing music and having great conversations with the children.
Manjula Parvathaneni is trained in accounting and helps run the front office administration at Villa. She is a Cupertino parent who volunteered at Cupertino Fremont Sunnyvale Council of PTAs as a Treasurer. She volunteers for the Council of PTAs as a Parliamentarian now and as an auditor in the last few years.
Mrs. Gale Wu and Mrs. Kanchana Velusamy are both highly experienced Montessori and Early Childhood Teachers respectively. The two staff members will be our guest teachers who fill in for our regular teachers' absences at Villa as they have great regard for Villa and its philosophy. They both take great pride in supporting our core teaching team as and when needed. We are thankful for their support!