Help pre-k teacher Emerenciana get her life back

“… Whether as an assistant or as the lead in the Toddler Community, Emerenciana always exuded a deep sense of calm, caring and connection, particularly with the toddlers and their families but also with her colleagues. Her commitment to excellence in the Montessori craft was evident in her interactions and in her preparation. If my grandchildren had grown up in Ottawa, I would have felt very fortunate to have been able to give them the experience of Emerenciana’s Toddler Community.”

- Pat Gere, Head, OMS Montessori, 2000 to 2016

“I have known Emerenciana as a friend, a colleague and in my capacity as the Director of the English Program at OMS Montessori for five years. During that time I sat and observed in Emerenciana's beautiful, well maintained and well appointed Montessori environment at least once a month for most of those years. The atmosphere in this classroom was extraordinary. It was a hive of independent activity but was calm and peaceful as well. Emerenciana was kind, loving and caring with the children in her care. Working with Toddlers requires an enormous amount of energy. In spite of that the staff was relaxed and exhibited signs of incredible patience with each and every child particularly with the challenging ones. Her concern for the safety and psychological development of each child was obvious at all times. Emerenciana's dedication and skill as a Montessori teacher never wavered in all of the years I knew her. It was a privilege to see her at work.”

- Pat Garneau, Director of the English Program, 2011 to 2016; Casa Extended Day Directress, 1992 to 2011; Teacher, 1987 to 2016, OMS Montessori

“… the truest testament to Emerenciana’s gift for creating an environment which fosters self-worth, deep respect and a true appreciation of the uniqueness of every child.”

- Monica Pecek, Teacher, OMS Montessori, 1984 to 2021

EMERENCIANA’S STORY

Emerenciana Mendonça’s career and mission in life has been taken from her.

All her life, Emerenciana has adored and cared for children. Speaking French, English and Portuguese, she was the eldest of a large family of modest means on Portugal’s Azores islands. Almost 40 years ago, while in her early twenties, she immigrated to Ottawa, Canada. Emerenciana played a big role bringing her parents and several siblings to Canada, and in caring for these and other relatives. She remains to this day a pillar of her family.

For the last 29 years she has been a beloved employee at the OMS Montessori school in Ottawa, the most recent 23 of those years as a Toddler-level teacher. But in September 2023, at the height of her capacity to love, encourage and educate little ones, Emerenciana’s world was turned upside down. One of our community’s most amazing immigrant success stories turned tragic.

EMERENCIANA: AN IMMIGRANT’S SUCCESS IN CANADA

At 25, Emerenciana became a full-time nanny to two very young Ottawa boys. Now in their mid-thirties, these “boys” think of her as their second mother, someone who has invested endless kindness and love in the hundreds of children she has been responsible for. I know; I am the mother of these two men, and our family is blessed to have Emerenciana, who is unrelated to us, as a beloved member of our family.

While working with our children, Emerenciana took childcare night courses at Ottawa’s Algonquin College. She was dedicated and determined to learn as much as she could about caring for children and making children her cause.

In the early 1990s, we chose to send our boys to OMS Montessori School. At about that time, Emerenciana joined our youngest son’s Casa class as a teacher’s assistant. A few years later she became an assistant in the Toddler class. The Toddler teacher quickly saw her enthusiasm and commitment to the children. Emerenciana showed great promise as an affectionate caregiver and instructor mature beyond her years. The Toddlers’ teacher strongly urged Emerenciana to train to become a Montessori teacher. Through further study and dedication, while working at OMS Montessori, she achieved her dream of becoming a fully certified Montessori teacher. Emerenciana was quickly hired by OMS Montessori as a Toddler-class teacher, a position of real responsibility given the importance of carefully guiding her very young and impressionable students.

So began a celebrated career of 29 years at the Ottawa Montessori School. The parental and student affection she has earned, and praise she has received, are second to none. We have heard that many children currently attending OMS Montessori are there chiefly because of Emerenciana’s presence at the school.

But, suddenly, on September 18, 2023, Emerenciana’s career and future were ruined.

THE DISMISSAL

On that date, it seems that a senior OMS Montessori official arrived unexpectedly at Emerenciana’s class during her teaching day. The official reportedly instructed Emerenciana, who had no idea what was coming, to leave her class immediately and accompany her to the school’s office for a meeting. A disorienting session followed. Our information is that the senior official was assisted at the meeting by an OMS administrator, while Emerenciana apparently had no opportunity to have a lawyer or witness present. Emerenciana, who was known to have been recovering from a period of illness, was shocked, horrified and traumatized to be informed that she was fired. The reasons apparently given by the official made little sense to Emerenciana, or to those of us who have reviewed relevant files, including lawyers.

Despite her amazing record of almost three decades at the school, Emerenciana’s OMS Montessori career ended. This tragedy has caused catastrophic reputational, health and financial damage. At the age of 61 she finds herself essentially jobless, without prospects commensurate with her achievements, and with no severance pay from the institution to which she had given a lifetime’s loyal, loving, enthusiastic service. Emerenciana’s benefits have been cut off, too.

Today, Emerenciana is reduced to working piecemeal, periodically taking on housekeeping work, and hoping to get occasional babysitting jobs. Her financial situation is serious. The absence of severance and benefits has complicated her ability to afford necessary medication at a time when the shock and trauma of her release, have aggravated her health conditions. She fears she will have to sell her condominium home of many years.

Even worse, we have been told that the same OMS Montessori official mentioned above advised unemployment officials that Emerenciana was released “for cause” – been fired – and is said to have attempted to justify this claim in what may have been severely damaging terms, terms for which justification seems to us unlikely. As a direct result of all this, on 27 October 2023 the Canada Employment Insurance Commission sent Emerenciana the crushing news that it would not grant Employment Insurance benefits to her.

Now, after 29 years at OMS Montessori she is left with no severance, no benefits, and no unemployment assistance. Emerenciana is now on the road to elder poverty.

Apart from the damage done to Emerenciana, there is the question of educational institutions’ obligation to act in the best interests of the children. Emerenciana’s OMS Toddler students are at a very sensitive developmental stage in life. They and their parents had every expectation of Emerenciana’s continuing to serve as these children’s dedicated, nurturing Toddler teacher. The children’s developmental experience, and their parents’ lives, must have been disrupted badly by this outcome.

ACTION REQUIRED

Many of us, including current and former OMS Montessori parents, students and faculty are horrified by this situation. We've mobilized in order to understand what has happened, and to ensure that Emerenciana benefits from the fairness and justice that is her due as an accomplished Montessorian, employee and community member. To this end, Emerenciana’s supporters have helped her connect with lawyers. As well, a team of us has been asking questions and fact finding, and accomplished a great deal. Among issues the team has raised, is whether “silencing” clauses used in the school’s release of various faculty and staff in the past, may have prevented OMS Montessori stakeholders from being aware of problems at the school, including in ensuring the fair and just treatment of school personnel.

We are all determined to identify how one of the school’s most senior, cherished teachers – an elderly woman who lives alone and lost her only child in infancy – could possibly have been dismissed in such a way, her professional and personal life in ruins.

DONATIONS

Donations to this Go Fund Me campaign will be used to fund Emerenciana’s legal fees, disbursements, costs, taxes and associated expenses. They will also be used to assist her with the financial burdens imposed through the sudden, unexpected loss of career and vocation. GoFundMe rules permit anonymous donations. Excess funds will be contributed to causes and/or charities dedicated to the wellbeing of children.

The GoFundMe campaign is organized by me, Geneviève O’Sullivan. The use and disbursement of funds will be strictly monitored by individuals who have been intimately connected with OMS Montessori, and me. I am a retired career-Government of Canada senior executive, and a current private-sector consultant. I will promptly notify donors of the progress of Emerenciana’s situation and of the status of GoFundMe funding and of payments made from such funds.

I am exclusively responsible for this statement. Neither Emerenciana nor any other person or entity is responsible for its content.

Thank-you to our donors and other supporters for assisting Emerenciana, and for advancing – consistent with the teachings of Dr Maria Montessori – the interests of fairness, justice and transparency.

FULL TEXT OF STATEMENTS SUBMITTED IN SUPPORT OF EMERENCIANA’S GO FUND ME CAMPAIGN

“I knew Emerenciana Mendonca as a colleague during my years as head of OMS Montessori from 2000 to 2016. As head, I had the practice of walking about the school and entering each classroom almost every day; so my reflections are based on those experiences as well as the more mundane behind the scenes working of a school - staff meetings, work weeks, etc. Whether as an assistant or as the lead in the Toddler Community, Emerenciana always exuded a deep sense of calm, caring and connection, particularly with the toddlers and their families but also with her colleagues. Her commitment to excellence in the Montessori craft was evident in her interactions and in her preparation. If my grandchildren had grown up in Ottawa, I would have felt very fortunate to have been able to give them the experience of Emerenciana’s Toddler Community.”

- Pat Gere, Head, OMS Montessori, 2000 to 2016

“I have known Emerenciana as a friend, a colleague and in my capacity as the Director of the English Program at OMS Montessori for five years. During that time I sat and observed in Emerenciana's beautiful, well maintained and well appointed Montessori environment at least once a month for most of those years. The atmosphere in this classroom was extraordinary. It was a hive of independent activity but was calm and peaceful as well. Emerenciana was kind, loving and caring with the children in her care. Working with Toddlers requires an enormous amount of energy. In spite of that the staff was relaxed and exhibited signs of incredible patience with each and every child particularly with the challenging ones. Her concern for the safety and psychological development of each child was obvious at all times. Emerenciana's dedication and skill as a Montessori teacher never wavered in all of the years I knew her. It was a privilege to see her at work.”

- Pat Garneau, Director of the English Program, 2011 to 2016; Casa Extended Day Directress, 1992 to 2011; Teacher, 1987 to 2016, OMS Montessori

“Emerenciana and I were colleagues and teachers at OMS Montessori for 27 years, until my retirement in 2021. Whether at staff meetings, conferences, parent presentations, school social events, or simply chatting in the staffroom, it was always clear that she was an authentic Montessorian and an invaluable and vital member of the Montessori community. During the last 14 years of my career, my Upper Elementary students volunteered in her class on a weekly basis, helping the toddlers dress for winter before recess. Their sheer eagerness to repeatedly volunteer in Emerenciana’s class over the course of their 3 years in my class is the truest testament to Emerenciana’s gift for creating an environment which fosters self-worth, deep respect and a true appreciation of the uniqueness of every child.”

- Monica Pecek, Teacher, OMS Montessori, 1984 to 2021

LEGAL

At the time of writing, neither the author of the present statement nor anyone in any way associated with the sponsoring or managing of this GoFundMe campaign are to be understood to assert that OMS Montessori or any person currently or formerly employed by or connected with OMS Montessori have engaged in unlawful or unethical conduct, including breaches of employment or human-rights’ law.

This GoFundMe statement is an expression of opinion made in good faith in the public interest about issues involving the rights of a selfless, non-unionized, aged teacher and similarly placed others; and the care and education of the most vulnerable among us: our young children.