November Kaleidoscope: The many colorful things happening at Rainbow
Thanks to many people we had a lovely ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Orchard House last week, led by the Chamber of Commerce. Although we already had the ribbon cutting, there are a few more details to finish up before we receive its Certificate of Occupancy, which we’ll have soon. It is going to be a wonderful music studio, an office for the business manager, and a multi-use space for the children and also for adults. Parent council and other committee finally have a reliable place to meet on campus. The other exciting aspect is that it opens up the possibility of having adult classes on campus, such as parenting classes, yoga, meditation, and more. Thanks again to everyone who helped make Orchard House possible. In addition to thanking all of you who donated to the Orchard House project, we’d like to thank The Universal Joint, Panera, and Ingles for providing food and flowers for the event, and Bill Evans for playing music.
With the Orchard House finished and the new sidewalk in, Max Mraz, our facilities and grounds manager began work on the sand and water feature (to be called “The Lagoon”?) in the new playground. This is possible thanks to the $45,000 in pledges already received! If we reach the $75,000 goal by the holidays, we will be breaking ground on the new structure, “The Gnome Village,” as early as January! The design for the new preschool playground is almost complete, and it will be installed in the spring. Thanks to everyone who is donating to make the new playground a reality. It is going to be very special – a place of play and imagination the children will remember their whole lives.
Thank you to Tiffany Cannoncro (wife of Jason Cannoncro, Omega teacher) for donating the beautiful Family Participation sign just installed. You are an inspiration!
I’m sure most of you are aware that there is an odd triangle of land that is fenced off between the Orchard and the playground. This triangle actually belongs to the Church of God, next door. Many of you have wondered if we have offered to buy that piece of land from the church. We certainly have, but they are hesitant to let it go because they will soon be expanding their facility and are worried they might need to claim every inch of green space to comply with city zoning and planning. They are very generous in allowing us to use the church grounds for PE and other activities and have truly expressed much good will toward us over the last year in several ways. If you ever get a chance to meet Pastor Kevin Chapman, please thank him.
How shall we call ourselves? Due to some of the sentiments that arose during the strategic planning process in our community, the board is very seriously working toward changing the name of Rainbow Mountain Children’s School for various reasons (see my 2012-13 Welcome Letter). Thus far, the mission committee and a naming committee have generated over a hundred name possibilities. We have also received help from a marketing firm in creative name generation. Some of the advice we have received is to choose a very neutral name. On Monday, November 19, I had the pleasure of centering with the Omega class to talk about the potential name change and to listen to their feelings about the current name. Over the next several weeks, I will be engaging more students in this conversation.
Speaking of the strategic plan: The work last year on creating the strategic plan guided the faculty, board, and administration in planning for this year and implementing change. However, we have not yet formally finalized the strategic plan in a publishable format due to the immensity of the document. The final draft should be available soon.
Sheila Mraz began work as our new part-time admissions director last week. We welcome Sheila (back)! Assistant director, Sandra McCassim, will oversee admissions and partner with Sheila. Therefore, if you know a family who would benefit by enrolling their child at Rainbow, Sandra (extension 21) is still the best contact.
The Halloween Hoe-Down was so much fun!! Thank you Jenny Hatcher and all the Hoe-Down parent volunteers! The weather was fantastic this year, and it was a great way to raise $3,000. 25% of net profit is being donated to Children First/Communities on Schools, which was awarded in a short ceremony on November 19th at 10am.
Save the date! The event called “Shine” begins at 6pm, Friday February 8, at Asheville Music Hall. The program will again be a parent talent show, plus a DJ dance time by one of Asheville’s best DJ’s. Parent Council is making baskets to raffle, and there will be a lot of AWESOME auction items. This is going to be a super fun event! The purpose of Shine is to raise money for arts programming at RMCS. Specifically, Shine pays for artists-in-residence to work with students – an experience that children never forget.
The last few faculty trainings have been interesting. We had a presentation from Asheville Pediatrics on Sensory Integration/Sensory Processing last month. Our training prior to that was on sex education. We are fortunate to have parent, Donna Burkett, and staff member, Sarah Couture, as experts in this topic.
I was very fortunate to attend Duke’s Non-Profit Management for Executive program last month, where I participated with executives from all around the world, learning cutting-edge approaches to leadership. My next adventure is a training on Singapore Math in Charlotte, which I will attend with assistant teacher, Pamela Goodrum.
We love it when alumni visit! Recently, Ryan Gerleve, Russ and Margaret Gerleve’s son, visited from Dallas Texas, where he is a software designer. Alumna, Marley Ferris also visited, and informed us that she was the Valedictorian of the Early College high school program at AB Tech. You can see pictures of Ryan and Marley on RMCS’s facebook page. A more recent alumnus, high school junior Summit Jaffe, also visited and told me was co-directing the Three Days of Light festival on the grounds of Camp Rockmont. We are very proud of all of you!
Rainbow Mountain Children’s School’s executive director, Renee Owen, has been chosen as one of ten “Educators of Excellence” in North Carolina to travel to Ecuador this summer with the Museum of Natural Science. The Educators of Excellence Institute programs are designed to give deserving educators an opportunity to learn about the ecology and natural history of other regions. Educators of Excellence Institutes are a learning opportunity for teachers who want to pass on to their students the ability to envision themselves as part of the global web of life.
