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