CMA is a non-profit corporation funded by parents in 1979 as The Children’s Way, a Christian Montessori preschool.

Originally located in area churches, The Children’s Way moved to the Brent School building in Finneytown, which then housed the Springfield Township Citizen and Senior Center . It became a popular preschool and Kindergarten with a long waiting list.

In 1992 the school moved to a house at 8779 Winton Road , leased from the Finneytown school district for $1 a year, and added a classroom for grades 1 to 3. Parents worked hard to transform the residence into a Montessori-style “children’s house.”

In 1997 the school leased two more classrooms at the Finneytown Greek Orthodox church. The school opened a classroom for grades 4 to 6, and began a full-day preschool program.

In the fall of 1997, the Parent Association voted to adopt a new name, Central Montessori Academy .

In 1998 the elementary classrooms moved to a synagogue in Finneytown. It became clear that the school needed a permanent home, so a group of dedicated parent volunteers found land in Springfield Township , began a capital campaign, and designed and built a permanent home that includes one lower elementary, upper elementary, and pre-primary classroom, as well as other resource rooms and large grounds. The school building opened in fall, 1999.

In the summer of 2003, CMA closed it's Winton Road School and relocated students and teachers from that school into a new classroom at the Springdale Road Campus.