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Kaleidoscope August 2021

Kaleidoscope August 2021

by | Aug 24, 2021 | Blogs, Director's Blog

Kaleidoscope Header

The first full week of school is here and I find myself filled with gratitude. Already students and families are finding the rhythms of drop off, pick up and everything in between. There is a happy and hopeful energy all around campus as students co-create their classroom culture, mascots, and learning routines.

Communication is central to the success of our community. In collaboration with weekly publications like Rainbow Reminders and regular classroom newsletters, Kaleidoscope captures the bigger picture of what is happening on campus and exciting news for Rainbow’s future.

The opening weeks of school can feel like information overload. While the return to school is often filled with many highlights, it can also feel like we have shifted into high gear. School preparations, paperwork, Covid protocols, and campus procedures start to blend together, and it can be difficult to keep up. Here are a few ways to help you regroup, and make sure you have all the information you need.

Parent Handbooks

Our preschool, K-8, and Covid Handbook can all be found on our website. These documents have lots of information. We respectfully request that you read the handbook aligned with your child’s grade level and the Covid Mitigation Document. All families should submit an acknowledgement form that these documents have been read.

  • Calendar – Our school calendar is located on our website. Upcoming events are also published regularly in Rainbow Reminders and classroom newsletters.
  • Parent Plus Portal – This is our school database. This will be the tool used to share school wide forms, communication, and alerts. It is also the location of your child’s narrative report (P-8) and grades (6-8 only).
  • We are here to help – Please know it is always ok to reach out to administration, or your child’s teacher, if you are in need of support. These resources are great, and sometimes it can be critical to talk things through or speak to someone directly. During the day you can call the main office line and/or text or call Kate B. or Susie directly.

Listening Conferences

Our narrative and conference reporting flow is designed to build a strong story arch to your child’s learning journey. Next Thursday and Friday, September 2 & 3, will be the first step along that path with Listening Conferences. This is a time for families and teachers to build a shared understanding of how best to support each child’s holistic growth this year. The teacher primarily takes on a listening role. The intent is to learn from the expertise of the family in establishing a safe, aligned, and responsive space for each child to develop. Below is a graphic that shares the primary reporting flow between teachers and families.

progress monitoring and reporting flow

Read more about Teaching the Whole Child here.

Feedback

Feedback is one of the many ways we grow to serve you better. One way we gather feedback is through an anonymous end of year survey that is completed by students, staff, and families. One trend that came out of this feedback was a desire to have more clarity with our resources through Student Support and Counseling. These two pages were added to the Preschool and K-8 Handbooks to help with building that transparency.

Another trend framed parent’s desire to learn more about how Rainbow’s holistic approach evolves as students matriculate. Particular interest focused on Omega Middle School and how the 7 domains integrate with a dynamic and rigorous academic experience to build a strong foundation for high school and adolescent development. This topic is truly inspirational, and a point of pride for Rainbow. We will be bringing visibility to the learning trajectory from preschool through 8th grade through highlights in Rainbow Reminders, subsequent in depth explorations in Kaleidoscope, and more.

Safety

Safety is central to a thriving community. Fortunately, one silver lining to pandemic education is that we have built a strong foundation in personal and collective responsibility for our wellness. Moving into this year, I hope we will continue to embrace the motto, “We Are In This Together” recognizing that we each have a role to play in maintaining our community health.

Masks are a primary tool in the fight against Covid-19 transmission and the commitment to keeping kids in school. Current guidance distinguishes the pathway for school exclusion as a result of Covid contact based on masking. Therefore, we would like to request the following compliance with masking protocol. If any family needs help with purchasing masks, please reach out to Love In Action.

  • Use a mask that fits snuggly but comfortably around the nose, jaw and chin.
  • Use a mask that does not require consistent adjustment throughout the day.
  • Gators are used with the addition of a disposable mask or double layered for appropriate fit and thickness.
  • Masks with a ventilator are not used on campus.

Health Checks are now completed at home before school starts. You have likely seen our sandwich boards with the health screening questions. Please be reminded that students should not be on campus if they are not well or if they have contact with someone with Covid or Covid-like symptoms. Sometimes it can be difficult to determine the true status of your child’s health. Reach out to Susie, Jessy, or Kate at any time for support in determining your health status. Text is the best way to reach us with important updates on health status so we can attend to this information in a timely manner.

Traffic flow on campus should always move slowly to ensure the safety of our community. The upper and lower campus parking lots are one way driving.

  • Upper campus enters from Haywood Rd. and exits onto State Street.
  • Lower campus traffic enters from State Street and exits on Pennsylvania Ave.
  • Omega pick up can result in a long car rider line. If you are the first to arrive, please pull all the way to the edge of the lot by Pennsylvania Ave. The cottage will be on your right hand side. We will bring your child to you. Additionally, parents can park in the Omega lot and we will walk students to your car. These two steps will help ensure we don’t have a pick up line that backs onto State Street.
  • Traffic directions are also part of our walkway systems. When dropping off or picking up for preschool or afterschool by the butterfly house, please observe the one-way walking patterns and physically distance if there is a line.

Affinity groups are another way that we are supporting safety and wellness within our community. An affinity group is a designated “brave space,” where everyone in that group shares a particular identity. This identity can be based on race, gender, sexual orientation, language, nationality, physical/mental ability, socio-economic class, family structure, religion, etc. Affinity groups can be a place for people in a community to come together to learn more about their identifiers and to feel more connected based on those identifiers. At Rainbow, we collectively reaffirm our commitment to a culture of caring for all by beginning these Affinity spaces for our least represented populations. We will be sharing more with the community about this initiative in the coming weeks.

This is just the beginning and our Dynamic Governance model helps us foster engagement and feedback on behalf of all stakeholders as the year continues. A reminder that today (8/24 at 3:30pm) is our first Equity Circle of the school year and that our first Parent Council meeting is this Friday (8/27 at 9:30am). The Finance Team begins the following week and Pollinators will be up and running soon with tentative meetings scheduled for Tuesday, September 7th from 9:00-10:30 and another meeting on Tuesday, September 14th from 9-11. Look for these and more opportunities to get involved in Rainbow Reminders.

In Gratitude for All That Is and All That Will Be,

Susie Fahrer
Executive Director

November Kaleidoscope 2019

November Kaleidoscope 2019

by | Nov 8, 2019 | Blogs, CEO's Kaleidoscope, Director's Blog, Home Page News, News, Publications

November Kaleidoscope

Symbolic Events

It’s only the beginning of November, yet we have already completed several cycles and symbolic events at Rainbow this school year. We have welcomed new families and new students, who by now are hopefully feeling a sense of community. We completed our student testing cycle for students in third through eighth grade. At this point, most classes have held their first of three parent class meetings. We have welcomed autumn, the harvest, and the coming days of darkness with the Halloween Harvest Hoedown, the Halloween Day celebration, Día de los Muertos, and a fire circle. Some of these events and transitions are marked with ritual and highlighted in this November Kaleidoscope.

November Kaleidoscope

Ritual – Being Present

Why ritual? When I am leading a ritual, I sometimes like to explain the reason for having a ritual by asking, “Your body is here, but where is your mind? Your heart?” Even the simplest of rituals, such as taking three breaths together, helps us to become fully present in mind, body, and spirit.

Interconnectivity

A second purpose of ritual is to help us connect as humans and to recognize our interconnectivity with all of humanity and nature. For example, in addition to centering, almost every meeting at Rainbow begins with a brief opening round where each person in a circle is invited to share a word, a phrase, or a short anecdote about how they are doing or something significant in their life. This simple ritual helps every person to name what is going on in their life so that they can be more present with the group. Often in opening round we learn that someone is in mourning or they are in physical pain, helping others to be more empathetic. Most of all, ritual helps to connect us, reminding us of our common humanity and creating a spirit of togetherness, which is especially important when we are about to engage in making decisions together.

Transitions

A third reason for ritual is to honor and aid in transitions. Ritual helps humans to move through change with dignity – giving up and letting go of the past, and moving bravely into the future. For growing children, rites of passage can help children move into adolescence and then into adulthood. In ancient and indigenous societies, rites of passage were/are central to the culture. In America’s current mass culture, the lack of rites of passage often leaves adolescents feeling empty and confused about growing up. Saying goodbye to childhood isn’t easy for adolescents, yet they also desire the trappings of adulthood. When we don’t provide a rite of passage, teens find other rites, that can be risky or unhealthy, such as drinking or sexual activity. Meaningful ritual can help our children and teens to develop a deep sense of connection and purpose in their lives.

Rites of Passage in Omega Middle School

This is partly why the Omega Middle School program is structured to be a multi-year rite of passage. From the ritual around the beginning-of-the-year Omega honor code to the final rituals of eighth grade, Omega students see themselves as important members of their community. They are honored for what they contribute to their community and for who they are and will become. Embracing one’s purpose is the heart of Omega.

november kaleidscope

Open House

I invite you to attend our Omega Middle School Open house coming up on Thursday, November 21. Even if your children are much younger, the Open House will help you understand the whole arc of development at Rainbow and why Omega Middle School students have such a healthy self-image and the confidence and character to succeed in high school and beyond.

The White Pine Tree

The Mourning Ritual

You may have noticed that our large white pine tree in the middle of the playground died over the summer as a result of a native pine beetle infestation. This is a sad loss. When the faculty discussed it, we knew ritual would help our children to say goodbye to the white pine and find meaning in its death. Sue Ford and Susie Fahrer composed a song for the tree, and for one of our Tuesday song circles, we all gathered around it and sang:

Bless this tree for giving us life
Bless this tree morning noon and night
Bless this tree flower fruit and cone
Bless this tree oh see how we’ve grown.

You are a sacred sight
You are nature’s light
Rest you, return to the Earth
Rest you, and bring rebirth.

This beautiful ritual helped us to reverently grieve with one another and to remember the beautiful cycle of death and rebirth. In the coming weeks, Tim Slatton (partner of West Wilmore) will be taking down the white pine with the help of our facilities keepers, Max Mraz and Shawn Fain. We trust they will respectfully put it to rest. Niki Gilbert, Omega Middle School science teacher, is creating a team of staff and students to make a thoughtful plan for the planting several new trees on campus. Rest ye and bring rebirth.

Video credit: Tracy Hildebrand

Authenticity and Wholeness Training

Teachers who love…themselves

Over the past few weeks, the teachers and I have continued our series of training on developing authenticity and wholeness in students through teacher development. For one of our Wednesday afternoon trainings I led a training on Mindfulness. Our theme for the day-long training on November 1, was Openness. In this training we acknowledge that teaching is a challenging profession. Teachers have to make hundreds, if not thousands of decisions a day, knowing that every decision they make could have profound effects on the lives of the children they love and for whom they are responsible. Teachers have to perform with empathy, creativity, and dynamism while under tremendous stress and without being thrown off by their own emotional triggers. Teaching is a messy, complex job that is impossible to do perfectly. Teachers are often very hard on themselves. Yet, if teachers are going to be compassionate toward students they also need to be compassionate with themselves.

Invoking the Sages

The Buddha, said “I have two things to teach. Suffering and the relief of suffering.” Deep within the Puritan roots of American society, there is a tacit belief that self-compassion is the same as selfishness. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Through the new field of positive psychology and with advances in neuroscience research, we now understand that self-compassion, or empathy for ourselves, is the key to empathizing with others. It doesn’t mean we give up or let ourselves off the hook for changes we need to make. It simply means we acknowledge that we are only human. Part of being human is sharing the suffering all of humanity has experienced since the beginning of time.

Self-Compassion

In addition to learning the science behind self-compassion, I engaged teachers in a simple 3-step exercise that I highly recommend for parents and children, too.

Step 1: When experiencing a challenging moment or being critical of yourself, acknowledge your situation and pain. You may simply say to yourself something like, “Ouch. That hurts.” Or, “this is stress.”

Step 2: Have compassion for yourself by recognizing that suffering is part of life. All of humanity shares a similar experience. You may say to yourself, “I am not alone.”

Step 3: Place your hands over your heart. Say to yourself, “May I be kind to myself,” and offer yourself a gift. It may be patience. It may be strength, or forgiveness.

This simple one-minute exercise was developed by Kristen Neff. Click here for advice for parents around fostering healthy self-compassion.

A legacy of love

A few days ago you received an email from Sandra McCassim, P-3 Division Head, that after 20 years at Rainbow, she is leaving at the end of this school year. I cannot possibly convey what this means to me personally. Sandra lifts up others in love as teacher, administrator, and friend. Her gentle wisdom has helped shape the loving culture here at Rainbow. Sandra was here many years before I came to Rainbow, and we have been through so much together. I am going to soak up every minute I have with her for the rest of this year.

Sandra will be instrumental in helping with the hiring of her replacement. Sandra and I have worked together to hire most of the excellent faculty we have on campus, and she reminds me that every time someone leaves the faculty, a new magical person brings new gifts. We are beginning our search for a new Division Head – a process which we are still defining, a process in which faculty will also be involved. Please feel free to contact me if you have any thoughts about the search. If you know a talented educational leader who is interested in joining the Rainbow team in the coming years, you can refer them to the employment page on our website where there will soon be information on how to apply.

november kaleidoscope

Bringing Light to the Spirit of Education

I write this Kaleidoscope while sitting in the library at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York. West Willmore, Eddy Webb, and I presented at the Spirituality in Education Conference there.

As some of you know, The Collaborative for Spirituality in Education (CSE) at Teachers College has been working with Rainbow for a couple of years. Through generous funding from The Fetzer Foundation and The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, they have paid Rainbow Institute quite well to share our best practices.

No Child Left Behind

Since the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in 2002, our nation has moved in the direction of “teaching to the test,” or only teaching what can be quantifiably measured. Of course what can be measured is only the smallest aspect of education – the most material aspect. Our politicians, most of whom were not educators, did not understand that such an emphasis on the material would gut our schools of the spiritual – that which is immeasurable and unseen in the literal sense of the word. Nor did they realize that when you gut the spiritual aspects of education, nothing can thrive, certainly not academics, because without spirit there is no life and no motivation to learn. Not surprisingly, 19 years after NCLB, academic achievement is lower than ever and the opportunity gap wider. Furthermore, as a nation, both children and adults are in the midst of a mental health crisis.

Spirituality in Education

The good news is that the pendulum is beginning to swing in the other direction. When one of the highest ranked educational schools in the country hosts a Spirituality in Education conference, it legitimizes a movement. Even the President of Teachers College spoke at the conference, stating that the conference represented the direction education needs to go. As Timothy Shriver (nephew of John Kennedy and an influential educational leader) said at the conference, “It isn’t a fad, it’s a field.”

In this now blossoming field of spirituality in education, Rainbow is a beacon for the world. Let our line shine. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” There is no greater light that the pure light of children. Thank you for sharing the bright light of your child with the world.

5 Reasons to Attend the Omega Open House

5 Reasons to Attend the Omega Open House

by | Oct 10, 2019 | Events, News

 You can learn so much at the Omega Middle School Open House

Our Omega Middle School Open House is right around the corner. We hope you will take some time to be part of this event, no matter your child’s grade in elementary school or middle school. It gives you an opportunity to see a Rainbow / Omega education across the grades, culminating with the 7th and 8th grade years in which students engage in larger projects, presentations, and leadership opportunities.

What made me a supporter of Rainbow, was the kids’ strong sense of self. They knew who they were and were not. They knew their strengths and weaknesses. And even though high school and college brings its own set of social and educational challenges, the students I met were at peace with themselves, ready to take on the challenges of young adulthood with confidence and determination. —Bill Drew, parent of a current 5th grader

Here is this year’s schedule:

Morning Session
8:30 – 10 am

  • 8:30 – 8:45 coffee/tea/chocolate in the auditorium foyer
  • 8:45 – 9:00 short presentation about Omega Middle School
  • 9:00 – 9:30 tour classes in progress
  • 9:30 – 10 Q & A with current teachers & students back in the auditorium

Evening Session
6:30 – 8:00 pm

  • 6:30 – 6:45 – pizza and salad in the auditorium foyer
  • 6:45 – 7:00 – short presentation about Omega Middle School
  • 7:00 – 7:15 – tour classrooms
  • 7:15 – 8:00 – meet recent graduates and ask questions with our alumni panel

The five big reasons you should come to the Omega Open House:

1. Meet teachers

During the school year, it’s not always so easy to speak with a teacher who is not attending to other tasks – students, planning, teaching, training, in a meeting, etc. Having their undivided attention to answer all your questions about what they teach and how becomes such a gift! The open house provides you this opportunity. Meet all the teachers in our Omega Middle School: Susie (division head), Susan, Jason, Niki, Justin, Lisa, Jenny, and some of our specialists.

open house


2. Meet students

We love opening up our campus so that you can meet students and see how incredible they all are. The programs and curriculum in the Omega program allows them to explore their interests more in-depth through our regular academic program and through our electives classes. We have extensive electives courses and our students can tell you about them.

open house

3. Meet recent graduates

You also have an opportunity to hear from recent graduates who can give you candid answers about how prepared they felt for high school. They can share about their Rainbow experiences, the transition to high school, and tell you much more about their academic and extracurricular careers as a result of their Rainbow / Omega experience.

You can get a great feel for how this works with our past alumni panels who have spoken at other Open Houses:

 

4. Visit classes

On the morning of the Open House, you can see classes in progress. On any given day, students engage in different experiential activities involving collaboration, problem solving, math, language arts and social studies.

omega open house

5. Get all your questions answered

We cannot stress enough the value in being part of an event like this. You get to see the “whole Rainbow story” and how proud we are of our young students and who they grow to be.

Last year, one parent attended and felt so moved by the event, he wrote a long letter of how this event alone helped him decide on a middle school for his child. Take a look! at Bill Drew’s Testimonial Letter.

We hope you will join us for an evening of connection, information, and fun! We’ll have door prizes and other giveaways, too!

Bill Drew Testimonial Letter
Get free pizza - RSVP for the Open House
Kaleidoscope – September 2019

Kaleidoscope – September 2019

by | Sep 18, 2019 | Blogs, CEO's Kaleidoscope, Director's Blog, Home Page News, Publications

Kaleidoscope

A publication by Renee Owen for parents to get a better understanding of what’s happening through her perspective

I believe that every child should feel utterly special. That’s what we are aiming for at Rainbow. Therefore, in early September, when I found myself on stage for Rainbow’s opening ceremony, I told our students that we are all in a special place (Rainbow), and the reason Rainbow is a special place is because each of them is here. I also wanted them to know about their place. I explained that before us, a church “lived” on the spot of the auditorium for 60 years, and before that the venerable Dr. Orr had a “gentleman’s farm” that spread out over this part of West Asheville, and he lived in the Historical Building… and sometime before that the Cherokee stewarded this land for a long, long time. We thanked the Cherokee people for taking care of this land so well before us and we honored all native people. In particular, we thanked First Nations people for sharing some of their most important stories with us — stories to help us learn to live in harmony.

I told the story of the Warriors of the Rainbow who were prophesied by many native legends to be the keepers of the ancient wisdom who would help to heal the earth and unite humankind. I explained that these aren’t warriors of war, but warriors of the heart. The Warriors of the Rainbow would have incredible courage – the courage to tell the truth even when people wouldn’t believe them and the courage to love even when people were hateful.

kaleidoscope

Warriors of the Heart

I hope we are worthy of sharing that vision with the native people who told the legend. I want all of our children to think of themselves as Warriors of the Heart, or Rainbow Warriors – confident, accomplished, and creative learners who are prepared to be compassionate leaders in building a socially just, spiritually connected, and environmentally sustainable world – as our mission reads. That may sound lofty, but that’s what we show up to do every day at Rainbow. It takes compassionate courage from all of us to be here.

The work before the work

At Rainbow, teaching is considered a spiritual path. Not only do our teachers have to be master teachers by traditional standards, they also have to be highly developed in all seven domains. That’s partly why we spend so much time in professional development, learning from one another and learning from experts. Even before students arrive in the fall, Rainbow teachers have spent many days together learning, prepping lesson plans and materials, and also preparing themselves for the deeply emotional and spiritual work of teaching. Parker Palmer calls this “The work before the work.”

kaleidoscope march

Wholeness

This year, to honor our school-wide theme of “wholeness,” I am leading the faculty in six training modules from my dissertation research. The training is called “The Path of Authentic Learning”, and the six modules are Connection, Aliveness, Mindfulness, Openness, Authenticity, and Meaning and Purpose. We completed the Connection and Aliveness modules before school started. This helped the teachers develop connections with one another and the natural world, and it helped them to build a sense of deep connection and aliveness within their classrooms. The goal is to develop a sense of authenticity, or wholeness, where each teacher feels their inner self is in harmony with their outer self. How do we develop authentic kids? With authentic teachers.

Learning through listening: A Response to the End of Year Survey

Were you one of the people who filled out the 2018-19 End of Year (EOY) survey in May? If so, thank you. The EOY survey is an incredibly valuable tool that helps the Administration and the Board gain a better understanding of family experience at Rainbow and how we can improve. We really analyze the results.

To view the quantitative results of the survey, you can view the preschool results, and the K-8 results. As you can see, the overall results are very positive. Not surprisingly the “Quality of teachers” is the highest ranking response. Right behind that are communication, opportunities for involvement, the Rainbow philosophy, and the quality of the educational program. Some of the lower scoring items were diversity and equity, facilities, and safety.

kaleidoscope

The RCS Board

While Board leadership didn’t have any scores below “fair,” that item had the fewest “very good” scores. I would like to put in a good word for our Board. There is an old saying that “board leadership is a thankless role.” Our current Board has been through days of training and retreats. They are diligent, wise, and very dedicated. Look for some upcoming messages from the Board in Rainbow Reminders this year.

Appreciations & Comments

Besides the quantitative items, your comments were rich and informative. I spend a lot of time with the survey results and even informally “code” the responses to look for trends. The vast number of written comments are about teachers and an appreciation for the holistic curriculum, the academic program, the community, the emotional safety, character building, and general appreciation. For example, “Nurturing, genuine teachers with a passion for teaching advanced, fascinating curriculum!”

Other than those appreciations, the biggest category of responses was about diversity and equity – both multiple positive appreciations and multiple requests to please do more. Yes, yes, yes! Equity and inclusion will be an ongoing focus for years to come. It’s work that is never “done,” and this is work that all of us – every parent, board member, faculty, and student – is a part of.

Some of the facilities comments expressed longing for a gym. (Wouldn’t that be awesome?!) Also, there were comments about the need for more after school space and a proper space for art and music. There were several appreciations for the aesthetic beauty of our campus. There were a few requests for a high school and a request for improved security. (We agree, and our new security cameras will be installed soon, in addition to all the other safety measures we invested in over the last year).

Beyond that, most of the other comments were singular — many that seemed particular to the family, or particular to a teacher. The most helpful comments are the ones that provide some context.

kaleidoscope

About the Calendar

There was one comment about the number of days off. While our total number of calendar days is right in range with the other private schools in Asheville, I know the student days off are incredibly inconvenient, especially for preschool parents. We heard you! I hope the new program for child care during some of those days is helpful for K-8 working parents (and we wish we had the space and personnel to offer it to preschool).

Also, I ask readers to please note the high quality of the teachers that is so appreciated is directly correlated with the amount of time teachers have for training, collaborative meetings, planning, and the time they have to meet with parents on all of our conference days, plus the work days they have to write narratives and prepare for conferences. We are trying to find a balance that works for everyone, while ensuring your teachers have everything they need to be at their very best every minute, of every day.

kaleidoscope

Who is the Administration?

There was also one comment on the end of year survey about the number of people in Administration. The overall quantitative score for administration was mediocre in the survey. So, I thought it might be helpful to provide some more context:

The administrative team is here to serve families, students, and faculty. At Rainbow, we truly see our administrative role as one of service. Some administrative roles are very public, such as hosting events or providing direct one-on-one services–such as a Division Head helping a family navigate a child’s academic or behavioral challenges. These are the aspects of administration that are most visible.

However, most of our administrative work is quite invisible. This may seem counter-intuitive, but invisible is good. The Administration is most invisible when the school is running smoothly and everyone—teachers, family, and students—has what they need. We recognize that it can be puzzling to understand what all those “invisible” people on administration do, but I promise you, if they weren’t doing it, we would all notice it!

Of course, the teachers have the most visible and the most important role on the school staff. And behind every teacher is a host of administrative support—making sure campus is safe and clean, the bills are paid, equipment is working, marketing ensures enrollment is full, communication is flowing, technology is high-functioning, funds are raised, staff is well-trained and cohesive, events are effective, records are kept, laws abided by, staff are hired and evaluated, students and families are supported, materials are purchased, plans are made and disseminated, protocols followed, and on and on.

The administration does all of this so that the teachers can focus on brilliant teaching. To me, the teachers are rock-stars. Behind every rock star is a giant operation. The administration is the business, the promoters, the crew, and the entourage!

The most important thing? Rainbow’s number one top priority is for the children to have an extra-ordinary holistic learning experience. As a non-profit organization, my role as the chief executive officer is to write and administer a budget that uses all of our funds as efficiently as possible, while being fair and equitable and meeting our goals.

Our budgetary priority is for teachers’ salaries to be as high as possible and tuition to be as low as possible, while providing the highest quality of education and service possible. One way we do this is by keeping administrative salaries very low compared to other independent schools and public schools. (Also, about half of our administrative and non-teaching staff work part time.)

While every administrator would make budgetary decisions a little differently, and I certainly don’t expect everyone to agree with all our decisions, I appreciate the good faith the community places in the work we do as an administration in all of our behind-the-scenes service.

I wish I got to be in Omega Middle School!

Along with a rigorous curriculum delivered by the classroom teachers, Omega Middle School creates opportunities for our students to engage with diverse learning experiences that reinforce a holistic approach to education. This includes a dynamic offering of electives classes that are taught by our highly qualified teachers at Rainbow. These courses are designed so that students can dive deep into a topic that resonates with their personal interests and skills. It also provides an opportunity rich with inquiry and wonder as it connects to new learning and the Seven Domains.

I recommend reading the choice of electives for middle school, especially if your child is in third, fourth, or fifth grade. Personally, I want to take them all! Computer coding, inventing, gardening, social justice, facility maintenance, electronics, religious studies, plus all the great art, music, drama, Spanish choices, fitness choices, and much, much more.

Did you know there is a desperate shortage of blood?

When first grade teacher, Rachel Hagen, learned about the blood shortage recently, she couldn’t imagine the heartbreak of being denied urgent medical care due to a blood shortage. So she reached out to the Red Cross to organize the drive. Are you able to make the sacrifice and help?

What you need to know:
Blood Drive Info

You are invited: ZOOM at NOON Moved to October 4

Zoom at Noon was scheduled for this Friday, September 20, but that is when the Global Student Climate Strike is happening. So we moved it. Please click on the Zoom link at 12pm on Friday, October 4, or come to my office. We will discuss the value of social emotional learning and how it affects academic learning. Specifically, we will look at vulnerability. Vulnerability sounds scary! Let’s talk it through!

kaleidoscope

What is the Student Climate Strike?

From the interweb: Since Greta Thunberg’s first school strike for climate a year ago, young people have revolutionized the way humanity perceives the scope of the climate crisis. On September 20, 2019, young people will kick off a worldwide week of action with an international strike. September 20th will be the largest mass mobilization for climate action in human history. This time, adults will be joining the youth-led call for climate action to demand world leaders take meaningful steps to address this crisis with the urgency it requires. Youth and adults will stand arm-in-arm in the fight together for the future of humanity.

Omega Middle School teachers and parents are supporting middle school students who want to strike. Many of Omega Middle School students will be attending the event downtown, where many local students are speaking. Click here for more information, or to join the event. I’m proud to honor the voices of our youth.

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A Sacred Invitation

Finally, we honor of our year-long theme of wholeness and the coming of autumn, we are holding a sacred fire on September 20. The fire will be in the outdoor classroom (next to the upper parking lot.) Feel free to stop by the fire to contemplate, celebrate, reflect, and simply “be.” The invitation:

as the wheel turns
  we come together
    and mark the time
reminding our selves
  of our connection to the rhythm
    of our presence in the story
      of our place within the whole

in humility in gratitude in love
we will hold fire

Friday September 20
from ~9 until school day ends
the space is open for all

Kaleidoscope – May 2019

Kaleidoscope – May 2019

by | May 7, 2019 | Blogs, CEO's Kaleidoscope, Home Page News, Publications

Kaleidoscope – May 2019

I am the earth and the earth is me. Each blade of grass, each honey bee / each bit of mud, and stick and stone / is blood and muscle, skin and bone. I am the earth and the earth is me!
~One of Rainbow’s May Day songs

The song “I Am the Earth and the Earth is Me” captures the heart of Rainbow’s underlying philosophy: We are all interconnected. I recently heard about a satellite video where one can “see” the earth breathing. We are all a part of one giant organism, and that is the underlying message we hope to convey to every child. It’s a very different message from an educational paradigm that assumes that we are all competing with each other.

Kaleidoscope May 2018

The hidden curriculum

The term “hidden” curriculum refers to everything children are learning outside of the stated curriculum. The hidden curriculum includes how the classroom and campus look and feel, how people treat one another, how the teachers speak to the children and so on. Some experts believe that children learn far more from the hidden curriculum than anything else. Our beliefs and values are shaped by the hidden curriculum. In short, we become our environment.

Traditional education

Personally, I grew up in a traditional educational space where we were told to “treat one another as you would want to be treated,” but the hidden curriculum had a different message. The hidden curriculum taught us to primarily “watch out for number one,” which may seem like a simple self-preservation technique; but ironically, when humans try to out-compete one another we end up putting the whole world, including ourselves, in jeopardy. Thus we have racism, global warming, extreme economic injustice, and a host of other human-caused maladies.

Interconnectedness

How does this understanding of interconnection affect our educational model on a day-to-day basis? One simple example is the three breaths every class takes together at the beginning of morning centering. Many schools that are still operating in the “competition paradigm” are adopting mindfulness practices, which is great. However, often these practices are intended to make kids behave better, or perform better, which is fine, but so much more is possible. Instead of having a group of 20 children individually close their eyes and meditate, we begin the day with students taking three breaths together, at the same time. In the simple act they become as one organism – like one giant set of lungs. This helps set the tone for the whole day. The hidden curriculum is one of being connected.

Kaleidoscope May 2019

Sue and Hobey Ford on May Day

May Day

Another aspect of the hidden curriculum is the underlying meaning and message in things as simple as the games we play, the songs we sing, and the things we celebrate. May Day is a celebration of Life and all its glory, which includes celebrating glorious you, glorious me, and all of the glorious children. Were you able to attend the May Day celebration? Did you wear wings or a crown of leaves? Sit on the grass? Did you dance to Jai Ma? Eat strawberries and cream? Hug a friend as tightly as possible? I hope you made the most of every minute. May Day also marks the school year coming to an end. We are so grateful for this wonderful year and are looking forward to some new additions for next year.

Staffing Transitions

It’s that time of year when we get ready to say goodbye to friends who are moving on to new adventures and welcome new staff. Over all, we again have very little turn-over, but here are a few of the changes for the 2019-20 school year:

Kurt Campbell

Kurt Campbell is hired to teach fourth grade next year, as Molly Sawyer is leaving that position. Kurt is pretty well known around town as a popular elementary teacher for Asheville City Schools, as well as for the local volunteer work he does. One parent who found out about him coming to Rainbow sent me an email:

“I am so happy for him and for Rainbow, he is such a multi-talented person with so much heart, I’m excited for his future students!…Just wanted to say, great choice. 😀 I know Kurt primarily through Asheville Performing Arts Academy where he does *amazing* work with musical direction and encouragement for the kids, but I’ve also witnessed him as a soccer coach when [my son] played a couple years ago…Whenever we were on the same field, I was so impressed with his ability to really connect with each kid and find both goals and encouragement for them all. So happy to hear this has worked out!”

We look forward to having him on staff next year. He is already busy with our “onboarding” process, which includes trainings, mentoring, meetings, classes to take, and observations. His two boys will also be joining Rainbow.

Justin Pilla

In Omega, we have some shifting around. Omega’s structure is changing slightly, and 6th grade will be more deeply incorporated with 7th and 8th grade, particularly for elective classes in the afternoon. Therefore, Omega will have two assistant teachers who will also lead elective classes. Justin Pilla will still spend some time in 6th grade, where he is currently Assistant Teacher, but he will more often be in 7/8, and he will teach humanities and art electives.

Christa Flores

On a lucky lark we had the opportunity to hire Christa Flores as the other assistant teacher (primarily in 6th grade) and as a STEM educator. Christa has a degree in science education from Columbia University. She is an author and educator who specializes in the “maker movement,” teaching kids how to invent and engineer. Some of you may know her from the “How to Invent Anything” after school club, which she taught here through the Asheville Museum of Science.

Mark Hanf & Kate Folkman

We wish Mark Hanf and Kate Folkman well. Both have held part-time positions in Omega, and both have decided that their position and/or part-time work was no longer a fit for their next phases in life. Mark has been at Rainbow in several different capacities for 11 years. Kate was new to the staff this year, and we hope she will continue here as a parent or in another capacity.

Paris Sigler & Marisa Capablo

Another change is in the preschool after school program. We wish Marisa Capalbo, After School Lead Teacher, many blessings as she moves to Hawaii this summer! Taking her place will be Paris Sigler. Paris is a Rainbow alumnus who first discovered she loved working with preschool children when she was a counselor in training – an Omega Middle School program where students work in the preschool during the summer. Paris is graduating with her early childhood degree this spring, so we finally get to have Paris, the “child whisperer,” full time at Rainbow!

Shawna Grasty

Finally, Shawna Grasty is going to graduate school, and she will not work in after school next year. In addition to being a caring and grounded after school teacher, Shawna has done an incredible job working with Love in Action, particularly with our food bank, which distributes healthy food to over 30 Rainbow families, serving about 100 people weekly. Shawna has a huge heart. I hope you have a chance to wish her well before the end of the school year.

A New Formula for Math

For over a decade Rainbow has instituted “school-wide math,” where all students, 2nd – 8th grade have math at the same time, which allows students who are extremely gifted the opportunity to go to a math class at a higher level. Our “normal” math track has our 8th grade students completing their first year of high school math and receiving high school credit before they leave Rainbow. Advanced students will have already completed two years of high school math by the time they leave Rainbow!

After many months of analysis the faculty and administration have decided to curtail the program back, so that students in 2nd – 5th grade who are advanced in math can stay in their classroom with their peers. (No more missing part of centering while transitioning between classes!) Once students start in Omega (6th grade), they will have many levels of math, including the more advanced classes they can travel to. We decided this adjustment was in the best interest of all students, and the healthiest for the culture of each class.

Got Anxiety?

Our world has become such an anxiety-producing society that almost all of us have more anxiety than we are even aware of. Stress is normal, and according to psychologists, even necessary, but anxiety can be debilitating. If you listen to the news you are probably aware that anxiety in children and young adults has become a national epidemic, a mental health crisis. But there is hope. My recent blog post talks about this and a solution being researched at the Yale Child Study Center.

Screen Free Week

Screen Free week has ended, but feel free to be free! I LOVE this piece of art Mark Hanf did for Screen Free week. The message is clear. There’s a whole world out there.

Dissertation

On a personal note, it feels like I am starting a “new life!” I will still be executive director at Rainbow next year, but I am so excited to have more time. You may know that I have been working on a doctorate degree from Teachers College at Columbia University. Last month I finished my dissertation. The title is, “Learning That Meets Life: The Lived Experience of Teaching with Secular Spiritual Pedagogy.” The dissertation journey was incredibly rewarding, and I learned a lot from the research, which I will be sharing with the faculty. But, as you can imagine, it feels great to be done. However, I will be missing almost a full week of school from May 21-24, to travel to New York with my family and participate in graduation and the 250 year old “hooding ceremony” at St. John’s Cathedral. I promise to share pictures.

Stand Against Racism

For Stand Against Racism Month, Rainbow participated in two events. We hosted the “How to Talk to Children about Race” workshop for parents and educators. The event was so well-attended; we had to slightly adjust our plans for the evening. Participants were divided into the age group they were interested in, age 2 to 13. Each circle learned about stages in children’s development and racial identity, and we discussed how they play out on a day-to-day basis. Rainbow faculty has been using these stages to do a racial equity curriculum audit all year, and it was rewarding to expand the discussion to parents and other educators.

The other event was the Westside Walk for Peace with Hall Fletcher, Asheville Primary, Vance Elementary, and Francine Delaney. Children made signs, marched along Haywood Road; and they gave speeches on the lawn of Trinity Methodist. Several Rainbow students, including children as young as first grade, spoke to the crowd. My husband attended (as a reporter for Asheville FM) and he said, with tears in his eyes, it was “The best thing I’d ever seen!” I was so proud of all the kids who spoke. As always, children are so heartfelt. Their simple wisdom and truthful words cut through any confusion, declaring things like, “Sometimes people are treated different because of the color of their skin. And that’s just not fair!”

The Green New Deal

Also inspired by young people, I attended the Sunrise Movement’s event about the Green New Deal, which was hosted at Rainbow last weekend. The young people and adults at this event helped me understand what the Green New Deal is, and I felt so much hope. I highly recommend you watch this very short animated video to really understand the vision. It’s brilliant.

“A miracle worker is not geared toward fighting the world that is, but creating the world that could be.”
~Marianne Williamson (A Return to Love.)

I chose to be an educator so I could help create “the world that could be.” Just as every child is a miracle – the potential for the world that could be, so is every teacher a miracle worker. We only have a few precious weeks left in the 2018-2019 school year. I hope your family makes the most of it; and I hope you have the opportunity to share you appreciation for all the miracle workers in your life.