Our Family Story

Voted “Best Montessori School in Cedar Park, Texas!”

By: Austin Monthly Magazine, April 2012 Issue

Austin Children’s Academy (ACA) has redefined the child care industry as they are a family owned and operated organization and truly cater towards the “working parents” by providing an intimate, personal experience for all of the children and families that they serve. When Mrs. Krishna Gupta and her husband Mr. Sri Gupta immigrated to the United States from Kolkata, India back in October of 1970, they were inspired to provide an opportunity for their family in hopes of one day fulfilling their destiny to “make a difference” for all children.

After settling in Baltimore, MD, Mr. Gupta earned his master’s degree from John Hopkins in structural and civil engineering. Over the course of 40+ years, he worked as a senior designer and project consultant with firms located in Baltimore, Washington D.C., New York, Miami, Austin and Houston. Mrs. Gupta graduated with dual degrees in Child Psychology and Child Development. She is a mother of two sons, Raj and Sam. As she was raising her family she continued her passion for learning and teaching in the education industry. She worked in a variety of public and private institutions and fell in love with Dr. Maria Montessori and the Montessori philosophy. She became especially fascinated by Montessori’s story and the connection to her visit to India.  After studying the Montessori methodology along with her apprenticeships and education career, Mrs. Gupta was well versed specifically in the early childhood education industry. Throughout her career, she was always looking for opportunities to give back to the community and so she would volunteer her time to help facilitate and improving programs at local schools in the city in which she lived. With her passion working with children, she knew she had a calling to provide a better learning environment for the children and families within her community.

After living in Baltimore for 25 years and in South Florida for 8 years, Mr. and Mrs. Gupta both moved to Austin, Texas in 2003, to be closer to their children as their eldest son, Raj lived in Dallas as an executive Global Marketing Manager for Texas Instruments and their youngest son, Sam lived in Austin after finishing school at the University of Texas with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Economics. Then in 2004, Raj Gupta was unexpectadly diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s T-cell Lymphoma and after a short 4 months of aggressive treatment, he passed away 1-day before Mrs. Gupta’s birthday on November 18, 2004. Raj has always expressed that his goal was to one day build his mother her own Montessori school. In honor of Raj, in January 2007, Sam Gupta (Founder and CEO), his younger brother put in his resignation with the company he was employed by and left the financial industry to answer Raj’s request of fulfilling the dream to build Mr. and Mrs. Gupta their own school which Sam named Austin Children’s Academy. Sam had envisioned a school that would provide children with limitless opportunity for their academic career and overall success in life. After developing everything from the name and logo to the daily curricula, operational protocols, policies and guidelines, ACA was born.

After 14 months of planning, on Monday, May 12, 2008 the Gupta Family was ready to open the doors to ACA for the first time. Although, over 70+ families pre-registered their children to attend their first day of school, only 3 students showed up on that day. Due to the 2008 financial crisis, the enrollment was directly affected and as a result the Gupta Family had to work even harder to keep the doors open. Despite being open Monday-Friday, together the Gupta Family worked day and night, 7 days a week to maintain the campus and to become a premier Montessori school for the NW Austin/ Cedar Park community.

Now after 11 years in operation, ACA has over 170+ students, programs for infants to school age children, 25+ teachers and staff and have been recognized as an elite Montessori school by the City of Cedar Park, Austin Monthly Magazine, Austin Family Magazine and the American Montessori Society. To this day, Sam, Mr. and Mrs. Gupta continue to be involved in the day-to-day operations of ACA. They have committed to dedicate and invest all of their time and efforts towards the success of ACA and for the families and employees in which they serve. They strive everyday to “raise the bar in early childhood education.” Whether it be the role of recruiting the best teachers and staff, meeting with parents and families, facilitating administrative responsibilities such as accounting, marketing and sales, the Gupta Family has an active role on all facets of the organization.

Schedule a Virtual Tour today and visit to see why ACA is the best choice for your family!