Rainbow Community School

A School is Born

The story of how it all began

Once upon a time, in the autumn of 1977, our first director, Dr. Aostre Johnson, a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, collaborated with educators Ashrita Laird and Anne Craig to open Rainbow Mountain Children’s School. Rainbow’s holistic and child-centered education was at our heart from the very beginning.

Not only were these women brilliant and innovative, but they were also deeply spiritual Sufis, believing in universal peace and acceptance of all spiritual traditions. Their motto was “excellence in educating the young child.” In the beginning, the school was housed at the All Soul’s Episcopal Church in historic Biltmore Village and served 15 families. The new school was well-received and grew its influence as an educational leader in the area.

During the 1980s, under the leadership of Ashrita Laird, the school added an elementary program that extended through fourth grade. In 1986, the school acquired its current site at Haywood Road, earning an award for rescuing the historic building in vibrant West Asheville. As the children grew, so did the school. Rainbow created the Omega Program, under the direction of John Johnson, in 1994 to serve middle-school children, completing the grade level expansion from preschool to 8th grade that is still in practice today.

Since that time, each Executive Director has brought further depth, meaning, and purpose to the mission and vision of the school. From campus expansion to curricular evolution, the school’s leadership has fostered refinement while maintaining sacred the guiding principles of our founders.