Board of Directors

Doris Cox was introduced to Montessori – not in her university education classes – but as she visited a neighborhood Children’s House when her first child was two years old. Her observations and research led her to embrace the goals and methods of Montessori for her own child and for all children. She came to regard the idea of children going through the process of constructing themselves as future self-actualized adults and citizens of the world as a much more profound and crucial purpose than scholastic success in the traditional terms of achieving good grades.

Upon graduation from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Doris earned her K through 12 certification. She taught in traditional public schools in the south suburbs of Chicago. When she enrolled her two-year-old son at Beverly Montessori Preschool her experience assisting as a parent volunteer at the language table gave her the opportunity to witness firsthand the awesome development of children as they worked to master themselves. This prepared the way for her later involvement in co-founding Council Oak Montessori School (1990), taking elementary training at Midwest Montessori Teacher Training Center, co-teaching upper elementary classes, and eventually launching the adolescent (Middle School) program at Council Oak (1993). She continues to serve as the coordinator and classroom guide of the Middle School program. This is the plane of development that she is most passionate about – providing an environment that empowers these often self-critical individuals striving to discover who they are and their place in the world.

Doris and her husband, Patrick, have enjoyed their involvement with the Council Oak family for 27 years and have appreciated watching their sons, Ryan and Rory, grow into adulthood as the self-fulfilled individuals that their Montessori experience has encouraged.