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.
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.
I-Ling Mayo is an AMS certified Montessori Teacher. Mrs. Mayo has worked in Appleseed Montessori School for over thirteen years as both Montessori Classroom Head Teacher and as a Chinese Bilingual Classroom Teacher. Mr. Mayo is committed to fine education and developmental growth of each child. She is very excited to be part of the teaching team at Villa.
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.
Shiroma DeSilva is an AMI certified Montessori Teacher. She has over 19 years of teaching experience in Montessori Schools across the Bay Area. She has worked at Appleseed Montessori for over ten years. She has earned site supervisor permit and is very excited to join Villa. She wants to help children grow academically, socially, and emotionally in every way possible.
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 is an experienced Montessori Teacher. Mrs. Wu is our very loving guest teacher who fills in for our regular teachers' absences at Villa. She has great regard for Villa and core Montessori philosophy. She takes great pride in supporting our primary teaching team. We are thankful for her support!