by Renee Owen | Mar 18, 2016 | Blogs, CEO's Kaleidoscope, Director's Blog, Publications
Kaleidoscope: The many colorful things happening at Rainbow, from the Executive Director
Hello beautiful Rainbow Community. I am so happy spring is here! It was a mild winter in terms of weather, but emotionally speaking, I found it hard to keep the ol’ disposition sunny during the dark days of winter. How about you? Was it a little harder to be patient with your family or community? At school, the kids seem fine with the darker days. In fact, in our fast-paced, extroverted world, the slower, inward days of winter are a time for the children to focus on academics. At your child’s conference, you will find they have accomplished a lot over the winter months.
No matter what one’s age, the gloriousness of spring lifts the spirits, and it is good to see everyone outside more often. Every grade, K-8 is busy with their citizen science outdoor projects.
What is citizen science? It’s the collection and analysis of data that is contributed to national scientific projects. So essentially, our students are participating in collaborative projects with professional scientists throughout the year to help identify trends or changes locally, regionally and nationally! Here are the projects our students are participating in:
- Kindergarten and 2nd grade – Nature’s Notebook – recording observations of local plants and animals.
- First grade – Project Squirrel – tracking our squirrel population.
- Third, fourth and fifth grade – Project eBird – tracking bird populations on our campus and other local areas.
- Omega – Project Budburst – tracking plant phenophases throughout the year.
Speaking of science, did you see the cool one minute video that Michael and Ange made from the Design Fair and Science Fair? If not, CLICK HERE, and be sure to share it on social media!
Keeping Tuition Affordable: Help Crack the Nut! It sounds like there is going to be good attendance at this Community Circle meeting coming up on Tuesday, March 22nd, 4 – 6pm in the 4th Grade Classroom. Child care is free during the meeting. Please be a part of this important discussion. (More information is at the bottom of this Kaleidoscope.)
YOU make all the difference in the world
One of the strategies for “cracking the nut” is to raise grant funds, but this requires proof that our program works. That requires lots of data, and YOUR data counts, literally! PLEASE CLICK HERE NOW, and complete the research survey that PhD candidate, Alan Bush, has created. Alan is tabulating all the answers and providing us with a report. What an awesome opportunity – don’t miss it!
YOUR CHILDREN make all the difference in the world
Our Rainbow kids never cease to amaze me. I recently received this message from the highly esteemed Dr. Theo Dawson:
Hi Renee,
I’ve been checking out your students’ Reflective Judgment scores today and I think they may well be the most impressive results we’ve ever seen. It’s making my heart sing!
Warmly,
—Theo
Dr. Dawson, and her team at Lectica, has spent almost three decades creating tests that can assess student’s complexity of thinking and ability to reason ethically. This work is based out of research from the Mind, Brain, and Education program at Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the work of Kurt Fischer. Rainbow’s fourth through eighth graders took the Reflective Judgment test, which reveals how they think about inquiry, evidence, learning & the mind, truth & certainty, conflict resolution, persuasion, and deliberation.
As you can imagine, I was pretty thrilled to get a personal email from the head of the Lectica saying our students’ scores may be the best they have ever seen!! Soon, we will be receiving the formal score reports and sharing them with your children and with the world. It is so exciting to finally have real scientific evidence proving what we already knew – Rainbow’s holistic program creates kids who are highly ethical, empathetic, and cognitively developed to a level of sophistication that is beyond their years. (Of course, Rainbow students score very well on traditional standardized tests too, but those tests only show a small sliver of rote skill attainment, without showing complexity of thinking or soft skill development.)
Rainbow students’ high level of social/emotional skills will serve them very well when applying to colleges. The most prestigious universities are now changing their application processes to make the SAT optional, and to stress empathy as the most important quality– and this trend is going to become much stronger by the time your kids are applying for college. I recommend clicking the link for the following Washington Post article: To get into college, Harvard report advocates for kindness instead of overachieving.
Everyone a Changemaker!
Rainbow’s new Director of Equity, Kyja Wilburn, and I attended an Ashoka Changemaker Summit in February. CLICK HERE to view Kyja’s presentation on our experience at the summit, information about the Changemaker network, and some of her thoughts about building equity in schools. If you haven’t met Kyja yet, this is a great introduction. Incidentally, Kyja and first grade assistant, Clarissa, also coached Odyssey of the Mind this year, and our team is going to state!
Smart People Strategizing
On Wednesday, March 16, one of my professors from Columbia University Teacher’s College, Lyle Yorks, and his colleague, Harold Penton, are consulting with the Rainbow board on something called Blue Ocean Strategizing, and they will be interviewing various people on campus for research they are conducting. (Another great opportunity for Rainbow!) I hope you get to meet them.
I can’t wait for Domain Day!
Domain Day is Friday, March 18, and the whole school is celebrating. Children will spend almost the whole day “specializing” in one of their favorite domains in multi-age groups. I am one of the leaders for the spiritual domain. Chris Weaver and I will be taking eight young children on a magical hero’s journey for the day. I LOVE my job!
Rainbow-ize everything!
It will take many years before the new section of campus is “Rainbow-ized” like our old campus, but we make creative progress little by little. This weekend, community muralist, Ian Wilkinson is painting a rainbow and a sun on the front of the Rainbow Community Center (auditorium) building. Ian has created more than 40 murals in Asheville. His most famous is the chess player painted on Lexington Ave underneath Highway 240.
As promised above, more information on the upcoming Community Circle:
On Tuesday, March 22nd from 4-6pm, in the Fourth Grade Classroom, RCS will hold a Community Circle meeting. No fee for childcare during the meeting. As a community we have such amazing ideas and we each have incredible contributions to make to our school. We work together to solve so many challenges. At this meeting, we need the collective wisdom of our community members to “help crack the nut!”
Rainbow Community School needs to solve the largest puzzle that we have. The board calls it “the nut we have to crack.” Essentially, the “nut” is that we charge tuition and that makes it hard to serve a wide array of families. The “nut” is trying to figure out how to keep tuition as low as possible, so that Rainbow education isn’t just for those in the highest social-economic demographic. At the same time, we need to have enough revenue coming in to pay our staff, maintain/improve facilities, and to keep a low teacher/student ratio and all the quality programming that we have. Currently, we do it by paying our staff very low salaries. Rainbow lead teachers make, on average, about $7,000 less a year than Buncombe County teachers and North Carolina ranks 46th in teacher pay in the US.
The board has decided that we have two major equity issues to tackle – racial equity and teacher pay equity. There are only two ways to solve the teacher pay equity issue – either save money by staffing more kids per teacher or increase revenues. Doing the former would compromise our quality, so that means focusing on the latter.
So, how can we increase revenues? Tuition is our only consistent source of funding, and it makes up 95% of our revenues. Currently, tuition goes up quite a bit every year, just to keep up with the 3%-6% salary raise teachers receive annually. If we started providing larger staff raises, tuition would have to increase immensely.
How else can we raise more revenue — A LOT of revenue, like $200,000/year more– without making Rainbow totally unaffordable? We could have a much larger annual campaign, but the $80,000 we currently have is not easy. We could raise tuition steeply, but on a sliding fee scale. This has its obvious drawbacks. People have also suggested we have an additional fee each year and families below a certain income wouldn’t have to pay it. Again, this has some major drawbacks. While we may have to consider some of these options, the ultimate goal is to get creative and find funding – consistent annual funding — from outside the parent body.
COME TO THE COMMUNITY CIRCLE MEETING ON MARCH 22nd TO HELP US FIGURE THIS OUT AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
We need the collective wisdom of our community members to crack this nut!
We hope to see you there.
by Webmaster | May 16, 2014 | Director's Blog, News
Kaleidoscope, May 2014: All the colorful things happening at Rainbow Community School, from the Executive Director
What a marvelous time to be alive. Life is bursting forth! It’s an exciting time to be a part of the Rainbow Community, as one great thing after another comes alive.
Is Your Child a Future Changemaker?
We received word that after months of interviews and research, that Rainbow is being inducted as an Ashoka Changemaker School. This is a huge honor and responsibility. We join 34 other Changemaker Schools nationally who represent the cutting edge future of education – schools with a mission to educate children to be “changemakers.” Changemakers are social entrepreneurs who improve lives and make a difference in the world with high ethical character, problem solving skills, creativity, and an innovative approach to solving social and environmental issues. The changemaker committee was particularly intrigued with our mindfulness/spiritual approach to education and community.
Did You Hear?
The Mountain Xpress ran an article last week about Rainbow becoming the first NC Green School of Excellence. There are three tiers of achievement for NC Green Schools, and we are the only school to achieve the level of excellence. We scored 99 out of 100 points! On Monday, May 19 at 10am there will be ceremony at school with the Green Schools committee, and WLOS will be filming.
Is it possible for the amazing faculty to get any better?
To prepare for next year’s growing population and to replace the few faculty members who are leaving, we are busy hiring new talent. Every class will have a full time assistant teacher, plus some help from support services. I look forward to sharing the exciting biographies of these new hires this summer. Just to tantalize you, here are a few snippets: a PE teacher with an MA in physical education who spent two years volunteering around the world; a naturalist who was Barbara Kingsolver’s gardener, a British assistant teacher with an MA in education who was the outreach and development director of the Maui Earth Day Festival, a locally loved preschool teacher who is Montessori certified and a mindfulness expert, a Sacred Geometry expert and Science teacher who was hired to teach a Buckminster Fuller-inspired program he designed to all the students at the famous Sidwell Friends School, where the Obama children attend…and more.
On the Run
This Saturday, May 17, Girls on the Run start their 5k at UNCA at 2pm. I will be running it with them this year! I am so proud of these girls. A big thanks to coaches: Pamela Goodrum, Mehera Kleiner, Cheryl Dalton, and Sandra McCassim.
More Recognition
It turns out I have been nominated as Small Business Leader of year through Asheville’s Chamber of Commerce. It’s hard to imagine I will be chosen for the award, given all the dynamic business leaders in our community, but just being nominated is an honor, and it has helped me recognize even more how outstanding our local Chamber is. I hope to partner with them to mentor our young Rainbow entrepreneurs next year (see next article).
Young Entrepreneurs
This year 6th grade piloted a new youth business incubator program, where students developed socially beneficial business plans, including a marketing plan, profit and loss projections, and so on. They presented their plans to a team of investors last month, who provided loans of up to $20 per business start-up. This has been one of the most remarkable pilots ever – I am blown away by the initiative and vigor of these young entrepreneurs, many of whom are continuing their thriving new businesses long past the end of the unit, including feng shui house cleaning, natural egg production, tie-died hand sewn hats, natural candles, pet photographs, and more.
Celebrating the New Expanded Campus and Planning for the Future of Facilities
The annual May Day celebration seemed especially colorful this year, and thank you to the board and everyone who helped coordinate the ceremony to unite the new property with the old property. Wind, our faithful custodian, was the pied piper who played his flute and led us all from the May Day celebration over to the new property, where Stewart Stokes led a simple ceremony, ending with a dance of universal peace with the words “Spirit is around us like a Rainbow ‘round the sun.”
It was good timing to christen the new property, as I am happy to announce that we just broke ground to begin construction to attain our certificate of occupancy (C.O.). Our fabulous architect (and parent), Jeff Dalton of Rowhouse Architects, has taken us through the complex process of analyzing the most cost-effective way to get that C.O. Then, our incredible contractor (and parent), Chris Fox of Christopher Fox Builders, filed the permits and helped us find the best subs for some of the requirements such as new plumbing, fire alarm system installation, electrical exit lights, and panic hardware for the doors.
Immediate Goal: To obtain the C.O for the new Omega classroom (old fellowship hall) and the performance hall in the main building for use for upcoming school year.
Impact: Financial security from expanded enrollment, great programming, awesome community-building performances
Timeline: Complete and moved in by August, 2014
Cost: $97,000.
Funds available: $75,000
Funds needed: $22,000
Details about Funds Available:
Of course, the $200,000 we raised in the fall was the first of the $600,000 capital campaign, and it was to purchase the property. So now we are using the next round of funding for this first phase of construction. The $75,000 already pledged for this phase is:
- $50,000 from the McMichael Foundation
- $25,000 in 2nd year pledges from the Rainbow Rising Capital Campaign.
Details about Funds Needed:
We submitted a grant to the Glass Foundation for $17,000. If it is funded in full, we are only $5,000 short of the $97,000 needed to get our C.O!
Plans to Attain Remaining Funds Needed:
After we hear from the Glass Foundation, we will be asking people who made first year pledges, if they are ready to make a Year 2 pledge, as well as requesting funds from other foundations. If you know of a family foundation that is a fit, or you are ready to help make this project happen with your Year 2 pledge, contact Sandra McCassim at 828-258-9264, ext 120 or Sandra.mccassim@rainbowlearning.org or Micah Pulleyn at micah.pulleyn@rainbowlearning.org.
The Future
Opening up the performance hall and new Omega space is just the beginning. In the fall, we will be posting the architectural plans and gaining community ideas for the next phases of construction and landscaping, including opening up the basement of the main building, constructing a courtyard, expanding the middle school, and eventually building a new building with a large multi-use space and state-of-the-art music, art, and science/tech facilities. Preliminary architectural plans are available in the office, and they are very inspiring!
At the community circle held May 5, the architectural plans were shared as well as fundraising plans to pay for construction costs. Parents brought up the eventual need for a professional development director, and in general, a need to build the administration so that we can maintain or even improve the quality of leadership, communication and attention we provide for staff, students, families, and the wider community. Yes!
Projected Growth
Rainbow has a clear growth plan, designed to provide financial stability and build programming options through a larger population, while maintaining a strong, intimate community.
Enrollment autumn of last school year P-8: 128
Current enrollment P-8: 168
Projected enrollment for 14-15 school year: 186
Approximate enrollment for 15-16 school year: 200.
Sheila Mraz has been doing inspirational work in admissions, so we have many new and interesting families enrolled for next year. The following year, after completing construction on the new property, we can reach our cap enrollment, which will be 42 preschoolers and 16-20 per grade K-6, with the potential to grow the middle school slightly more. Thank you for all the references you have provided. The vast majority of new families are coming through word of mouth. Wonderful!
Sign of the Times
It’s taking a long time to get our new sign! Creative metal-work and sign-maker, David Tomlinson spent months working back and forth with us throughout the fall to design our new Rainbow Community School sign. He went into production in December, but progress has been complicated and slow. Unfortunately, David is now suffering from an injured back. Hopefully, we will have the new sign before next school year.
The old sign has our old name on it, but our official name is still actually Rainbow Mountain Children’s School, but we are filed with the State of North Carolina dba Rainbow Community School. (Therefore use of either name is legally okay.) Steve Schnedler, a skilled trademark attorney with Van Winkle Law firm has been generously working pro-bono to help us gain a national trademark for Rainbow Community School. The process will take another year due to some complicating factors – hopefully the new Rainbow Community School sign will be up long before then!
A Perfect Score
After a very rigorous process, the Rainbow preschool just earned their 5 star rating again – this time earning a perfect score. Kudos to our incredible preschool teachers, who are so conscientious about maintaining the highest quality of programming possible while loving each individual child.
Thursday is the most creative day of the year: Imagine!
Last year’s Imagine was a look inward at who we are. This year’s Imagine has many of the same characters (including the puppets we all created with our artist in residence, Donovan Zimmerman, of Paperhand Puppets), but it is a journey outward. We are ready now to begin reaching out into the community and into the universe to expand our horizons and share vision.
Composers: Richard Gannaway of AO Music, International World Music guru and composer of the Chinese Olympics Theme song. Richard has been composing and recording music with the 2nd grade class.
Billy Goodrum is the other composer for this year’s Imagine. He won’t actually be at Imagine because he has to be at the Cannes Art Festival in France. He created the score for two movies that will be there – one with Sophia Loren, and another that won the 48 Hour Film Festival nationally.
This week Rainbow turns into a giant Imagine production studio. The excitement builds as the children prepare to share their creative depths. It promises to be exquisite and meaningful.
Performances: Thursday 10:30 am and 2:30 at Calvary Baptist Church. Plus, if you can make it, Omega will perform a play at 1pm.
The Big Transition
There are twelve 8th graders who are fully prepared to fulfill their goals in high school. K-8 graduation, June 3, will be on the in front of the Orr Mansion one last time. We are outgrowing the long-standing tradition of holding the ceremony on the front lawn, so unless you get there early, it will be standing room only. Next year, graduation will most likely be moved to the new performance hall, which will be the back-up rain-out location for this year.
Reflecting back to the beginning of this school year, we proclaimed that it was the beginning of a new era for Rainbow. Indeed, it has been a banner year, and there is more to come. As I watch the children on the playground and in their classrooms, I marvel at how much each of them has grown in every domain this year. Each is a wonder to behold. What will their future bring, and what will they bring to the future? We hold this in our hearts, as we plunge toward summer, and many fruitful seasons ahead.
