Oak Meadow Montessori School Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042629516
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Littleton, MA, USA
- Phone
- 9784869874
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $4,219,799
- Expenses
- $4,456,212
- Assets
- $5,346,003
- Liabilities
- $2,870,035
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- JAMES STECKART (HEAD OF SCHOOL (UNTIL 6/30/2025)): $214,556 total reported compensation
- JASON SCHEURLE (FORMER HEAD OF SCHOOL): $192,884 total reported compensation
- NICOLE DEROSA (DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS (UNTIL 3/2025)): $125,356 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Oak meadow montessori school is rooted in the child-centered montessori philosophy, which fosters academic excellence, personal growth, and cultural awareness while nurturing children's spirits. A diverse community of life-long learners, we cultivate confident, independent, and compassionate human beings by providing the tools and experiences needed to embark on rich, meaningful journeys as responsible citizens of the world.the montessori approach provides the best possible foundation for teaching and learning. Because we believe it is our job to meet each student's individual needs, we also incorporate the best and most current available educational research and thinking into our teaching. We teach our students to experiment, test, analyze, observe, and practice in their own educations; we, too, approach our school as a laboratory for ongoing learning.
What it reported doing in 2024
The school provides educational opportunities for students from fifteen months of age through grade eight. In fy25, there were 150 students enrolled during the school year.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 98% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 86% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 64
- Transparency & Controls: 87
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 26
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 73.2%; rating input score 73
- Program expense ratio: 69.3%; rating input score 69
- Fundraising efficiency: $0.78 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5.6%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.2; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.54; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 14.5%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -2.5% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 73.2% of revenue deployed · 69.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $3.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $215K · 17 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 2/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 19/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.