A life spent on what’s worth it.

The rainbow school

When Tamara was eight, her parents packed the family into their Volvo and drove from Colorado to Guatemala to take Spanish language lessons. Her childhood became a series of new adventures, taking her family through Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Maryland, Haiti, Costa Rica, and Mexico. She was so often the new kid, learning firsthand what it felt like to be left out—and how much it mattered when someone made room for her.

Around age eleven, she decided that one day she would have a “rainbow school,” a place where every child felt included, respected, and valued. Her experiences, especially in Puerto Rico, had shown her how much children need adults who notice when something is wrong and know how to help. Long before she had language for the work she would eventually do, she had a vision of what she wanted to create.

There had to be a better way

After studying English and Women’s Studies at Principia College, Tamara joined Teach For America’s charter corps in Phoenix and began teaching in a bilingual elementary school classroom. She arrived with conviction and enthusiasm, but her preparation offered only a beginning. Once in the classroom, she was rarely observed and often felt overwhelmed and underprepared, sometimes falling asleep on the classroom floor after the last student left for the day. She nearly left the profession.

Over four years in public school classrooms in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Houston, she kept returning to the distance between what she wanted for children and what she knew how to create. She was searching for an education that honored the child’s spirit, and for the guidance and support that would help teachers make that possible in everyday classroom life. That search led her to try building something herself.

A school in a barn

In a backyard barn in Texas, Tamara and Nicole MacKenzie, a trainer with MacKenzie Productions, started a small school called The Nue Nue School. It was an opportunity to explore what education could look like when they began with honoring the spirit of the children in front of them.

That school year, Tamara observed in a Montessori school. Here, independence, responsibility, community, and grace and courtesy were deliberately taught and practiced. She was awestruck as she found an approach that gave form to much of what she had been seeking.

As she continued teaching and moved into leadership, another question grew: What would it take to bring that same intention to the experience of adults—the teachers, staff, and leaders whose daily lives shaped the school? That question would become central to her life’s work.

Beyond Greenspring’s walls

The questions Tamara and her colleagues had been working through at Greenspring resonated with educators elsewhere. Teachers and school leaders were looking for meaningful professional learning, connection with colleagues, and support for the human demands of their work.

In 2022, Tamara led the founding of the Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning. Through Mentoring Communities, professional learning, and the Voices in Montessori podcast, that work began reaching educators far beyond Greenspring.

Worthy Communities

In summer 2027, Tamara will close a chapter of more than twenty years in school leadership. Her next chapter brings that experience into Worthy Communities: the book she is writing, The WORTHY Practice, and her work alongside educators and leaders cultivating organizations worthy of the human spirit.