This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
03/02/2022 07:30 AMNorth Haven’s Julie Mountcastle is now 20 years into the second career in her life. Julie taught at Ridge Road Elementary School for more than a decade and is now the head of school and a teacher at Slate School.
Julie’s teaching career follows two decades of being a singer and actress. Growing up in Illinois, Julie began singing and acting at a young age and made her way to New York City where she met her husband James. The couple worked together on several productions, both on Broadway and on world tours.
“Once I was a mom, being in a Broadway dressing room just wasn’t what I should be doing when I could be putting my kids to bed,” says Julie. “I was talking to my husband and said some of the most fun I ever had was going into schools and teaching through theater and about theater and he said, ‘Maybe you could try that.’”
At the time, the couple was living in New Jersey. There, Julie earned her teaching certificate. She worked in a local school and when her husband took a job with the Yale School of Drama, they began to explore options for a new hometown.
Julie and James moved to North Haven where they raised their daughters Ellie, who recently graduated with a theology degree, and Katie, who is a junior in college studying history. When they first moved to town, Julie stayed home with her children, though she did work as a substitute at Ridge Road Elementary School.
The summer before Katie entered 1st grade, Julie got a phone call that she was hired as a 1st-grade teacher and she remembers Katie’s excitement at the news. Julie went on to teach 1st grade as well as combined classes of kindergarten/ 1st grade and 4th/5th grade.
“I really enjoyed my time there,” says Julie. “My children went through entire North Haven school system and had a really wonderful experience.”
Julie enjoyed her career so much that she had no plans of leaving Ridge Road. Several years ago she saw a Facebook post about a new school that was proposed in North Haven. As a “lifelong learner,” Julie was curious and decided to attend the information session.
The meeting turned out to be a one-on-one conversation with Slate School founder Jennifer Clark. Julie and Clark found common ground in their passion for education and collaboration and Clark invited Julie to an educators’ luncheon. Julie then hosted an event for Slate School at her house.
As the months went by, Julie stayed in touch with Clark, helping to get Slate School off the ground. Julie met with the architect for the school to give a perspective on what are important features in a classroom.
“After one of those meetings, the architect said, ‘You must be so excited to teach here,’ and I said, ‘I’m not going to be teaching there, but I am so excited,’ and she said, ‘Would you want to teach there?’ and I thought about it,” says Julie. “Jennifer Clark heard I’d be interested and called me to ask if I’d teach there and I said ‘Yes’ immediately. If I’d known I was on four-month job interview, I probably would’ve messed it up, but by following what I love, it worked out in a magical way.”
Julie has now been with Slate School for 4 ½ years, serving as both head of school and a classroom teacher. She has been in the classroom since the very first class began and seen the school grow to now include 4th grade and is looking forward to adding 5th grade this fall.
With her first career being in acting, Julie also loves that the arts are integrated into everything the school does. The school is set on 25 acres of land at 124 Mansfield Road and includes a pond, stream bed, and The Piney Woods.
“It’s an incredible place to be in nature and during the pandemic, we were outside all day—it’s a wonderful place to remind ourselves that we’re stewards of the land and we have to take care of this beautiful planet,” says Julie. “Slate School is about child-led learning and most everything taught is through projects. It’s an incredibly respectful way to share learning with children.”
As head of school, part of Julie’s job is sharing the mission of Slate School so that families and other educators know that “this kind of education is available.” During the pandemic, Julie started the Education Idea Lab, which explores different topics in education with experts from throughout the field. The videos are streamed live on Facebook and then archived.
Julie enjoys meeting with prospective students and their families. Her favorite part of her job, though, is the collaboration involved, with both her colleagues and the students. She loves the balance she finds between her roles as head of school and a classroom teacher.
“It’s so important to be in the classroom because as head of school, it can be easy to lose touch with that really important student-teacher relationship, though in our school, it’s more a learner-learner relationship,” says Julie, who enjoys trips to the theater and is a cantor at St. Rita’s Church. “My two careers have more in common than you think as collaboration fuels both of those professions. Whether it’s with cast members, musicians, choreographers, directors, and the audience or learners, teachers, families, and colleagues, collaboration really fuels me. Whatever success I have at Slate School is about the whole team.”
Julie has also enjoyed being part of the process of helping to build a school from the ground up. In the early stages, she helped research schools from across the country and across the world to find “whatever was working, wherever it was working.” They also examined the Common Core, making sure what the school offered to meet the requirements was age-appropriate.
“We have a really robust document that we look at every year and ask if these still remain the most important things and if it’s what children are eager for,” says Julie. “It’s a living document that has been serving us quite well.”
While Slate School has an admission process, Julie says that it is the only independent elementary school in the country that is 100 percent need-blind. Slate School processes all applications without considering the financial needs of applicants.
Julie is grateful for the successes she has experienced in both her acting and singing career, as well as her career in education. She is also thankful for the support of her husband and daughters as they encouraged her shift to Slate School.
“I like that I’ve done different things because nobody is just one thing and that’s an important thing I remember when I meet someone or a student,” says Julie. “I feel really honored to work at Slate School because I’ve never seen a community so committed to caring for nature and helping children to recognize how important it is to be good stewards of the land and live a life expecting the best from everyone.
“I came on before the school opened so I was here on the very first day with very first class and every year has been an incredible experience,” adds Julie. “When this opportunity came up, my family was so excited for me. If there were any moments I was nervous about doing something new, they were right there to say this is exactly what you’ve always wanted.”
For more information, visit slateschool.org.