Photo by Erin Nelson.
Dave DeHarde, the new head of Hilltop Montessori School in Mt Laurel.
Dave DeHarde was hired as the new head of School at Hilltop Montessori School in March, bringing almost 20 years of experience working in Montessori schools in Virginia, North Carolina and now Alabama.
DeHarde’s journey began while working at a summer camp in the 1990s.
“I just really got into being with kids and being around kids,” DeHarde said.
After being miserable waiting tables and selling cars, he decided to pick up his phone to start calling daycares.
The first daycare hung up in his face. The second told him they didn’t hire men. However, the third time was the charm, as he was hired on the spot at a school in Jamestown, North Carolina, but the job wasn’t what he expected.
“The first day I went in, [it] was some of the worst things I’ve ever seen in my life,” DeHarde said. “It was rough. We saw everything you could possibly think of.” He only made $19,000 his first year working at the school with overtime.
He also spent time as a theater student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
“UNCG is a really big theater school,” DeHarde said. “Of course I went to LA and was there for a year, and I was like, ‘I gave it a year, I’m going home.’”
DeHarde then began playing for a band in Greensboro. He went on tours, but decided it was time for another career change. “I just played around with some guys and then started getting a little age on me,” DeHarde said.
“Once I got to about 25, I realized that if this was going to happen, it probably would have happened,” he said.
Not knowing what to do next, his roommate’s mom made a suggestion. She mentioned Montessori schools and his interest piqued. After an interview, he was offered a part-time position, but that wouldn’t work for him.
Then came an unexpected surprise. “A week before school started, they called me up and said, ‘Somebody quit’ and asked me if I wanted the job, and I said ‘Sure,’” DeHarde said. “It changed my life.”
He was able to play music in the evenings and on the weekends and had summers off. After seven years of working at the school, DeHarde decided to act on his desire to go into school administration. He went back to UNCG to obtain his master’s degree while working at the Montessori school. Then in 2009, the recession hit.
“I remember my co-teacher and I sat in the room with parents with a box of Kleenex as we had parent-teacher conferences and they were like, ‘We got to pull our kids out, we don’t have money to send our kids to school here anymore,’” DeHarde said. “I remember turning to her and saying, ‘One of us is losing our job.’”
That’s exactly what happened. On the last day of school, the head of the school called DeHarde into his office and told him that he had to be let go, but also offered some words of encouragement.
“He said, ‘Everybody else here is here for the rest of their lives,’” DeHarde said. “‘You’re in grad school, you’re going to land on your feet, and you’re going to be gone in a year or two anyway.’”
After completing grad school and interning at Guilford County Schools in Greensboro, he started his career in school administration. He worked at several Montessori schools, eventually becoming assistant head-of-school in Durham, North Carolina.
“My plan was to become head-of-school there, but after nine years, I was like ‘Well, I probably need to look at some other places,’” DeHarde said. He told one of his old bosses that there was a potential job opportunity in Birmingham. “He goes, ‘Which school?’ and I said ‘Hilltop,’ and he goes ‘I know that school! I love that school,’” DeHarde said.
His former boss knew Michele Wilensky, former head of school at Hilltop, and a connection was made. Wilensky was about to retire after 24 years and decided DeHarde would be a perfect fit for the school.
“The plan was for us to do things together for the rest of the year, and I think I was here for about a week and she goes ‘I think you got it,’” DeHarde said.
DeHarde is excited for his students to start the new school year. He says the school is still figuring out how they will handle school with the rise in COVID-19 cases, but he’s confident for his kids to make new friends and enjoy the school.
