Kaleidoscope – May 2019

Kaleidoscope – May 2019

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.

Willow – Team Highlight

Willow – Team Highlight

Willow the Welcome Dog – Highlighting a Special Friend!

For this month’s team highlight, we have something sweet to share. You may have noticed a sweet dog greeting you when you come to Rainbow. She’s the official “Welcome Dog,” a self-imposed designation by our four-pawed friend. In fact, she’s so adept at being a greeter and interacting with humans, we think Willow doesn’t know that she’s a canine and not, in fact, a homo sapiens.

Willow claims West Willmore as “her human” – the Curriculum Director and Development Coordinator, as well as the Director of Operations for Rainbow Institute.

But Willow has come into her own as the Welcome Dog. She’s quite at home in our community and loves it when people come up and pet her.

welcome dog team highlight

Willow is happy to welcome you to Rainbow!

During the course of the day at Rainbow, she loves being part of centering. In fact, she hopes that her presence will be perfect for “therapeutic student interactions.” She loves how she can help students calm down – just when they would want some time to take a few breaths.

calm dog

Willow loves being pet and finds that this calms students, too!

She attends faculty circle from time to time and likes to keep tabs on what’s going on in the community. It’s hard to sit perfectly next to other staff members in the circle, so she doesn’t mind going into the center. She figures if she just listens really well, no one will mind.

center of circle

Sitting in the center of the circle.

Willow sees to it that she’s present for all school celebrations. One of her favorites is Halloween.

dressed up for halloween

Willow and Sandra, our Director of Operations, all dressed up for Halloween!

Another favorite is May Day each year.

willow dog dressed as a fairy

May Day celebrations with Willow!

She also doesn’t mind an impromptu “long lost cousin” costume, either.

wooly costume

We think that perhaps that extra layer should be sheared…

She even likes to hear the graduation songs and speeches at the end of the year.

willow posing at graduation

Graduations are reasons for everyone to gather around…

She doesn’t mind crowds or having them look at her. That’s funny because although she doesn’t bark, West reports that she’s kind of afraid of everything.

Willow doesn’t mind helping students out with their science projects. She gives them lots of ideas.

willow nature awareness

Willow just doing her part for science.

Willow On History, Science and Sports

When she’s not helping students out with centering or science, she likes to sunbathe on Rainbow’s main deck – as long as it’s warm enough to do so. She figures what would be the point of sunbathing if the sun doesn’t bathe you in some warmth?

During history lessons, Willow is great at illustrating the idea of “hunting and gathering.” She hunts and gathers bits of food from snack time and is really good at keeping the floors clean.

She can be a comedian, too. One of the funniest things she does is stand in her water bowl. When she does that, we think she’s trying to tell us that it’s time to get out and play. Preferably in the water.

Indeed, she loves to swim! Not only does she go with her human to the lake quite often, she also goes on rock climbing trips, hiking, trail running, and more. Even though she likes to hunt, she’s content with the thrill of the game and accepts the fact that she doesn’t catch much.

Travels All Over

She also accompanies West on plenty of road trips. She’s been all over the U.S. and has her sights set on international travel. For now, she can boast that the farthest she’s ever been outside of North Carolina is California.

Willow has made quite a life for herself in the world of humans. When she was born, she was the runt of her litter-mates. As soon as she met West, however, it was loyalty at first sight.

If you see a light-colored fluffy dog around the campus of Rainbow, just say, “Willow!” and she’ll come right over to you and make sure you feel welcome. Don’t worry if you’re allergic to dogs: Willow is hypoallergenic.

willow in director's office

You might find Willow in an office, ready to offer her insights, but she can’t promise complete seriousness all the time…

You can find Willow in Instagram under her owner’s account with the hashtag, #willowthewaterdog.

May Day 2017

May Day 2017

Come celebrate the return of the faeries with us this May Day from 10:30am to 12:00pm in the Outdoor Classroom on Haywood Road!

We will celebrate the magic of spring by dancing together, wrapping the May Pole, eating berries-n-cream, blowing bubblles, bursting with song, and reveling in our bright costumes. We invite you to come dressed up in fairy, magical, and animal inspired outfits. We can’t wait to see you sparkle! If you feel inspired to, we also welcome you to bring small gifts to place in the nooks of nature for the faeries and their houses.

Beltane, or May Day, lies directly opposite Halloween in the solar calendar. Both mark the point between the preceeding equinox and the following solstice. The holidays mirror each other as opportunities both to interact with magic beings, wether ghostly ancestors or trickster faeries, as well as to mark a major shift in our relationshiop to the sun, wether we’re moving towards the shadows or turning towards the warmth of light.

Thank you for coming to celebrate this bright, flowering, new beginning of springtime with us! This is one of our favorite holidays we celebrate and we cant wait to share it with you. Check out our pictures from years previous to get a sense of the festive magic involved ♥.

Kaleidoscope – April 2016

Kaleidoscope – April 2016

Kaleidoscope, April 2016

The Maypole gets wrapped on Monday at the annual Rainbow May Day Celebration – a quintessential Rainbow event.  Fairies, elves, ancient dances, strawberries and cream – anyone who can slip away for the morning from 10:30 to about 11:30 will be filled with the delights of spring and the gift of life.  You are all invited!

The LONG Summary of the March 22 Community Circle
The last Kaleidoscope I published was right before the March Community Circle, which was about “Cracking the Nut.”  How can we keep tuition affordable, while increasing teacher salaries and improving equity?  We started the meeting with an overview of how the budget is developed each year at Rainbow, stressing that since 80% of our expenses are staff salaries and expenses, any raises in staff pay directly increases tuition.  We noted that our overall financial standing is very solid as a non-profit organization.

There seemed to be general agreement that the need to pay our teachers at least equal to district public school teachers is paramount, and whether the money for that comes from fees or increased tuition, people are behind that effort in spirit.  In fact, people have made the point that paying our teachers fairly is an equity issue.

However, there was also concern that increasing tuition would create a hardship on many current families who might not be able to stay through years of tuition increases, and as one parent expressed at the meeting, they don’t want Rainbow to become a culture of the elite, where only those of the highest income brackets attend.  As I put it in one of the slides in my presentation, we want a culture of community, not a culture of commodity – the latter being more like a business, and the former a culture where a community of people are working together to create a successful nonprofit organization and to provide the healthiest and most loving atmosphere possible for our children. If tuition increases too much, would that increase the risk of a more transactional/commodity-based community developing?

How much would tuition increase annually in order to meet the current goal to raise teacher salaries to the level of district teachers within four years, along with other strategic plan goals, such as increasing diversity?
Approximately 7% a year, for four years.  To provide some context, the national average for private school annual increase is 5.4%.  For the 2016-17 school year, Rainbow tuitions are increasing 6.8% on average.
To simply maintain regular staff raises, we need to increase tuition about 4%/year.  The extra 3% increase amounts to about $360 per family/per year on average, or about $30/month.

The most confusing aspect of the meeting was having teacher pay linked with increasing equity and diversity. 
The primary reason for this linkage is that if teacher salaries increase dramatically, the higher cost of attending will make RCS even less equitable, further exasperating its inaccessibility to those of lower and moderate incomes.

What is the connection between equity and diversity?
Equity is not the same as equality.  Equality means that everyone is treated exactly the same. Equity means that those who have fewer advantages are given a chance to have some of the same opportunities as those with more advantages.  In a society where people are born into very inequitable situations, we all struggle with the issue of inequity:  It’s inherent in our society, but an organization that believes in mitigating societal issues rather than exasperating them, would logically try to make its own culture as equitable as possible. In a private school, financial aid is an example of a tool that promotes equity.  Those who can’t afford to pay 100% of tuition receive a discount.  Roughly 25% of our school population already receives a tuition discount, including staff children.

What do we mean by diversity?
Diversity comes in many forms, including religious, ethnic, racial, socio-economic, and gender identification, to name a few.  We think/hope Rainbow is a fairly open and safe environment for most forms of diversity. However, racial diversity is severely lacking, and socio-economic diversity could be improved.

Why do we want diversity?
At the community circle, I presented a list of six primary reasons – too much to delve into within this newsletter.  One reason is that we are a holistic school with a mission to develop leaders who will build a more compassionate world.  We teach primarily using experiential learning, which means kids learn through experience.  While we can cognitively teach students to be open, accepting, and empathetic of people of all types of races, incomes, etc, if they are not experiencing that diversity, it is very hard to embody that acceptance.

Is there a connection between racial diversity and socio-economic diversity?
In Asheville, yes.  While the rest of the country is becoming more racially diverse, Asheville has one of the most severe gentrification circumstances in the country, making it whiter with each passing day.  It’s been especially devastating for the African-American population. A mere few years ago, black people made up approximately 18% of our population.  That number has sunk to as low as 8% by recent estimates.  Of the black people who remain here, 59% are below the poverty line, and about 50% live in housing projects — some of the worst statistics for black people in the country.  This is one of the reasons Asheville is extremely segregated along racial and income lines. There are very few middle class or wealthy African Americans in Asheville.  Therefore, to build a more racially diverse population at Rainbow, statistically, we would have to offer affirmative action/financial aid funds, meaning increasing our socio-economic diversity as well.  However, please don’t assume that all students of color at Rainbow are on financial aid, as that is not the case!

Isn’t there more to building a diverse school community than offering financial aid?
There sure is, which is one reason why we have a Director of Equity, why faculty have been focused on training around equity and racial understanding, and why we are auditing our classrooms and curriculum with an eye to equitability.  Campus needs to feel like a safe, comfortable, and open atmosphere for all races.  That includes having enough diversity that people don’t feel they are token members of a particular race.

Should our strategy be to increase teacher salaries first, and then focus on diversity?
I have had several people ask this, and it’s a fair question.  Of course income is important to our teachers, but so is equity.  These are people who got into teaching to change the world!  That is why they are such great, passionate teachers.  The staff doesn’t see this as an either/or situation. We aren’t going to EITHER raise teacher salaries OR improve equity; we need to do both.  As one teacher put it, “I only want to work at a school that holds equity as a number one value.”  Teachers know that to properly serve your child, they need to be a part of a community that walks the talk of one of our core pillars, as stated in our method: “We model within our community the kind of world in which we aspire to live.”  Our teachers believe that all children should have access to an education like we have here.  While we are practical about not being able to accept anyone and everyone on a sliding fee scale, we believe we can do better than we are now.

The good news is that all of the above is possible as long was we proceed at a modest pace.
Some of the revenue-gaining methods presented and discussed at the community circle to both increase teacher salaries and improve equity were:

-Increase the annual campaign
-Implement an extra fee that is on a sliding fee scale.
-Increase revenues outside the parent body by opening the Rainbow Institute to bring in large outside grants and also revenues for services.  (To be continued…more on this in the next Kaleidoscope.)

We may do a combination of all of the above in order to mitigate tuition increases. Be assured that we will take this one step at a time.  Our board and administration do an excellent job of managing our finances, and we will not take on any extra expenses without having the revenue in place.  The plan that is adopted, with include a year-by-year analysis and opportunity to adapt.
As I said above, I have had many people approach me to say how important it is to them to pay our fabulous teachers fairly, and they were very willing to pay more tuition in support of that effort.  That’s awesome!  The teachers feel so supported!  That spirit is what makes our community special. We also hope to find solutions to keep those families who can’t afford higher tuition here.

New ideas
Some good new ideas came out of the circle. My personal favorite was the idea to give parents the opportunity to make a donation any/every month along with their TADS payment.  This would probably greatly increase the amount of funds donated each year. Margaret is trying to figure out if this is possible through the TADS platform.
Another idea that an expert in sustainable systems later gave to the board, is to calculate the value of attending school at Rainbow Community School, and work backwards from that.  Of course, the value is much higher than the tuition that is actually being charged.  New families coming in may choose to pay the full value, and current families could choose to continue at the current tuition trajectory.

OTHER NEWS
News of planning a high school
Yes, it is in our strategic plan to examine the feasibility of opening a high school within 7 to 10 years, but many of you have been very excited to learn that we were applying to the national XQ competition for the chance to win 10 million dollars for the purpose of starting a high school.  I am honored to announce that our high school design is one of 347 that made it into the semi-finals out of the original 1200 teams.  While we need to be realistic about our chances of being one of the five teams who wins $10,000,000; the competition has forced us get our high school concept on paper, which will be a huge advantage in the future, when/if the opportunity to open a high school presents itself.  Some of you have asked if we do win the XQ competition, how long before the high school would open.  XQ has not defined their preferred timeline, but it is rumored to be about three to five years.

How about those Lectica Scores?  Hopefully, you got to read the exciting announcement about Rainbow scoring higher than any other school in the nation.  Here is a link to the letter.