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  • Open Door Nursery School, Northfield, MN, admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

Our Staff

Our teachers have many years of experience in working with children and are certified by the Minnesota Department of Education

Our director, Barb Howe, graduated from the University of Wisconsin - River Falls with a degree in Elementary Education.  She has taught for seven years in primary grades and, in addition, worked for one year in British primary schools in a variety of teaching experiences.  Barb has graduate credits in early childhood, aesthtic education and reading from UWRF.  She is certified in pre-kindergarten and early childhood education and belongs to MNAEYC.  She began teaching at ODNS in 1986 and was hired as the director in 1988.  Barb is one of thirty individuals who completed the pilot program of the newly developed “MN Early Childhood Director Credential”.

Our two-day lead teacher, Sue Anderson, graduated from St. Olaf College with an education degree focusing on family life science. She worked as an assistant teacher in the Northfield school system for children grades kindergarten through third for five years.  She is a member of NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children).  She began teaching at ODNS in 1996.

Our three-day assistant teacher, Grace Buck, graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in speech pathology.  For seven years she worked as a speech correctionist in the Minneapolis Public Schools, serving grades K-12.  For four years, she assisted in the Northfield school system’s trainable mentally handicapped and early childhood programs.  She is also a certified teacher and has been with ODNS since 1980.

Our two-day assistant teacher, Bonnie Stowe, is a graduate of Northfield High School, and continues to be active within the community.  She has served on many committees and boards including the ODNS Board.  Bonnie started at ODNS in 2000 and returned in 2008.  We are thrilled to have her back.

ODNS is very please to introduce our new 2-day afternoon assistant teacher, Maggie Hogan.  Maggie is a graduate of the College of St. Benedict with a Peace Studies major.  Maggie is from Northfield, and in fact is an Open Door Nursery School alum!  We are thrilled to have her back at ODNS.