by Webmaster | Nov 8, 2014 | CEO's Kaleidoscope, Director's Blog, Publications
Kaleidoscope: The Many Colorful Things Happening at Rainbow –
From the Executive Director
Why does our sign still say Rainbow Mountain Children’s School?
Maybe we are just too nostalgic to change it?
Actually, it is a series of unfortunate events behind a long journey which began many months ago, but our sign maker has returned from his back injury and we might actually have our new sign by December – fingers crossed.
Where Will all the Students Go?
We have 5,500 square feet of space in the lower level of the new Community Building that is unusable until we can bring it up to code and configure it into full-size classrooms.
This involves major construction, including removing structural walls and creating handicap access.
This space needs to be completed as soon as possible in order to have enough space for all of your children for the 2015-16 school year!
For example, next year, the Omega 7th and 8th grade will be an estimated 40 students as the current 6th and 7th grade students matriculate up.
Omega only has one classroom now, so they will need another room in order to have enough space for 40 kids. This is one reason we are in a crunch to finish that space. It is silly to have all the space sitting there, unusable, when we don’t have enough classrooms for all your children.
Our contractor says we need to begin construction in January in order to have the space ready for students in August. The permit for the next phase of construction is already being submitted to the City of Asheville.
The Deadline
By December 19, we need to have $150,000 pledged toward the construction project to know that we can begin construction in January and be able to fund the project.
Have you pledged yet?
Fortunately, we don’t literally need cash in hand when we break ground in January, but we do need enough money pledged by then.
(You can pay a pledge later or over a period of months.)
This year’s campaign is every bit as important as last year.
Thank you for investing in Rainbow’s facilities which will serve your children and so many others for years to come. It is exciting to see the pledges rolling in. It’s incredible how it really does take everyone doing what they can – no more, no less — to make the goal.
For those of you who have already made your pledge, thank you so much!
Not only have you gotten this campaign rolling, but every time someone donates early in the campaign, it means we can spend less money and effort on fundraising and more money and resources on education. The earlier people donate, the better it is for our whole community. Thank you!
Coming Down from the Summit
I found the Parent Summit to be an exciting event.
The board is filtering through pages and pages of notes and documentations from the Summit.
Thank you to the many volunteers who helped make the event happen and/or volunteered to organize notes afterward.
As a result we have a ton of suggestions and ideas.
The board’s job is now to find the common themes in those ideas to help steer the overall direction of the school, and then to turn the management-level ideas over to the various circles which would potentially implement them.
Our Faculty: Life-long Learners
During the faculty work day in October, all faculty members visited another school of their choice.
Although the main goal was for them to observe other teachers, a side benefit is that they act as ambassadors for Rainbow.
You may want to ask your child’s teacher which school they visited and what that experience was like.
Coming soon!
The office is working on completing the 2013-14 Annual Report by Thanksgiving. Look for it!
Wanted: Community Coordinator
We are looking for someone who will write a newsletter highlighting Asheville community events/classes/activities that Rainbow families may be interested in.
Looking for an interesting way to use your volunteer hours?
Contact Kate in the office if you want to know more. This is a fun job for the right person. Most of the work can be done off campus.
EPIC Faculty Training
The teachers are receiving a rich menu of training on Systems Thinking, Engineering, and the Maker Movement this year.
The last two trainings were called Engineering is Elementary.
Before that Tom Heck presented “Making, and Making a Difference.” Tom runs the EPICS program (Engineering Projects in Communities and Schools) at Purdue University. He will be consulting with our teachers throughout the year, helping them integrate robotics, engineering, and tinkering into their units of study.
The Many Adventures of Reneé – Changing the Odds
I attended the Changing the Odds conference, October 9 and 10, in Dallas to help at the table with Ashoka Changemaker schools.
There were 10 other Changemaker schools there, and it was really wonderful forging relationships with other change leaders and teachers. I got to meet some of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell and Tony Wagner.
The Changing the Odds conference focus was largely on the importance of social/emotional learning, especially empathy and compassion.
The school that hosted the conference is called the Momentous Institute, a private school funded by the Salesmanship Club of Dallas, which raises $7 million a year by hosting a PGA golf tournament.
The Momentous Institute is their sole recipient of these funds. So this private school has a dream budget that provides free tuition to many kids who would otherwise attend public school. Momentous has as many therapists as teachers on their staff!
They invest in best practices and have the money to collect and analyze a lot of data. Momentous has really great research that ties social emotional learning (SEL) to academic success.
SEL is becoming accepted as the most important aspect of education.
Forbes predicts empathy as the #1 desired quality for careers by 2020. I am posting some of my favorite quotes and thoughts from the conference on my blog, which can be accessed here.
Mind and Life Institute
Last week I traveled to Boston for the Mind and Life Institute’s International Symposium on Contemplative Education.
Three hundred and sixty doctoral and post-doctoral papers were presented at this conference on effects of contemplative practices in education and life! Just a few years ago contemplative education was extremely rare, and now the field is exploding!
I worked with 30 educators from around the world on the topic of merging transformative education (education for social action) and contemplative education.
John Powell was a riveting speaker. Dr. Powell is a powerful social activist, particularly in the area of race and racism, and he is a contemplative meditator who spent a significant amount of time in India.
He spoke about how people can use meditation to tune out or to tune in. Clearly, we use contemplative practices at Rainbow with the intention of tuning people in– helping them to be more engaged.
A side note on the use of your hard-earned tuition funds: Rainbow spends as little as possible on all the travel I do.Ashoka paid for the Changing the Odds Conference expenses, and I am fortunate to have a family member who used to work for an airline, so I have extremely discounted standby airfare. Plus, I have friends in several cities to stay with, and when I don’t, I am as thrifty as possible. In Boston I stayed in a hostel dorm room.
Time to Slow Down
This has been the busiest fall at Rainbow I have ever experienced – one exciting event after another.
It’s time to slow down.
Winter is approaching, and the time of year when our bodies go inside for warmth is also when we warm our hearts and become more focused on our inner selves.
It is no coincidence that virtually every religion has a major holiday coming up – it’s a very spiritual time of year.
I hope you can soak up every minute of the upcoming Thanksgiving and winter breaks with gratitude and plenty of family time. Blessings.
by Webmaster | Sep 21, 2014 | CEO's Kaleidoscope, Director's Blog, Home Page News
Here we are – together – at Rainbow Community School, 2014.
I would love to hear about your experience and impressions so far this year. What has intrigued your child? What have you learned? What has the staff learned? I think the most important thing I have learned (again) is to simply be myself. After all, who else would I be?
We open the 2014-15 school year with many landmarks.
Campus is twice as big as it was this time last year, and our enrollment has ballooned. There are 195 students enrolled at Rainbow Community School. That’s 50% growth since two years ago! 46 students are in preschool; and 149 are enrolled in K-8. There are 164 families, and over 60 of you are new. We met our goal to have every class full, with 16-20 students and two home-room teachers.
Life-long learning, as demonstrated by one of our founders.
Rainbow’s first Executive Director, Aostre Johnson, called me just before school started. She teaches education at St. Michaels in Vermont, and though she is well into her 60’s she just completed a Fulbright trip to Ireland last year to research contemplative/mindfulness education. She sent us a copy of her latest book, Education from the Heart. It is in the office.
We are IN!
Just in the nick of time, we finally received our temporary Certificate of Occupancy for the new Omega classroom and the auditorium.
Our hard-working contractor, Christopher Fox, probably spent 40 hours in the last few weeks meeting with people at the city offices and dealing with inspectors in order to make that happen. Max has been incredibly patient and diligent.
They definitely have a few stories to tell about the whole experience. (One of many examples: How fair is it for an inspector to say you don’t need a Van Accessible sign, and then a week later at the final inspection the same inspector tells you he won’t pass you because you don’t have a Van Accessible sign?!)
Anyway, we won’t have access to the bottom floor of the main building until the next round of construction (as planned), but the auditorium is now open. Yay! Thanks again to Jeff Dalton of RowHouse Architects. You are brilliant. Thanks to EVERYONE who made the campus expansion possible through donations, guidance, and positivity. You know who you are!!
There is an official Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on September 10, from 4:30 – 6:00 pm that the Chamber of Commerce and the West Asheville Business Association are hosting. Wicked Weed is sponsoring and serving beer, so this is an event to leave your children in after school care. Businesses from all around Asheville are attending.
Much Gratitude
You are one dedicated, loyal, and enthusiastic group of parents! Despite being less than half the size of the other schools who won awards, you voted Rainbow Community School as the BEST SCHOOL in WNC. We tied for first place.
You also gave preschool a first place award for Best Preschool, and voted Sue Ford as the best music teacher.
Rainbow’s Art Program won second place! You showed up to vote, and it made a difference. THANK YOU! (As a tangential note: I hope you also show up for this November’s North Carolina’s elections, because you folks know how to make things happen. If you are new to town, be sure to register early and HAVE YOUR ID.)
Another Rainbow Alumnus Makes a Difference
Last night, at a Chamber of Commerce event I met Rick Fornoff, whose kids went to Rainbow Mountain Children’s School in the 1980’s. I always want to know what interesting things our alumni are doing, so I was astounded when he told me that his daughter, Erin, is an award-winning spoken word poet who works for a non-profit organization called Ashoka, and her job is to find social entrepreneurs around the world. (A social entrepreneur is a term for someone who uses entrepreneurial skills to help others.)
What an amazing coincidence! I explained to him that Rainbow just became an Ashoka Changemaker School, and that recognition distinguishes us as a school that teaches kids to become social entrepreneurs – just like his daughter!
Read all about it
We were published in two national/international publications this last month.
Part 1 and Part 2 of the Innovation Generation articles I wrote were published by the Ashoka Changemaker Foundation in August, and they are publishing Parts 3 and 4 next month. This is quite an honor.
Triple Pundit published an article about our cutting edge organizational system, called Dynamic Governance. The article titled, “What Can a School Teach Us About Organizational Agility?” can be accessed here.
Did you know…
…Rainbow’s webpage receives over 4,000 unique hits a month? That means that far more people than our parents or even prospective parents must be accessing our webpage to read the content.
Family to Family
The holistic clinic, Family to Family, which was founded by Rainbow parents, is going to be one of Rainbow’s partners this year. Dr. Susan will be offering an advice column for parents and will be onsite a couple times this year offering classes for parents. Thanks, Family to Family!
Partnering with the Police
We are fortunate to have a good relationship with our local police officers, who keep a special protective eye on our campus. After school started, I called Officer Jones, who is our assigned community resource officer, and let him know school was open and that we were concerned about cars not stopping for pedestrians in the crosswalk in front of the school. He said they would spend a few mornings parked there and give out warnings or tickets to help send the message that pedestrian safety in front of our school is essential.
Rise Up to the Summit! Climb the Peak! Be There, or Be Square!
I hope it is an indelible event in your calendar by now: The Parent Summit is September 29 from 5:30 – 8:30. It is a required event, meaning at least one parent from every family is requested to attend. Why it is so important? Why is it so long? At the last summit (three years ago) everyone was asked “What are we called to do?” Almost every answer that came out of that summit has since come to fruition, including expanding our campus. You are an inspiration.
“I believe that education is the fundamental method for social progress and reform.” ~John Dewey.
Education is a powerful tool, so please attend the summit to help guide us in the right direction.
Have you thanked a teacher today?
I bet you have.
Our teachers are blessed to be in a community that understands and appreciates how hard they work and how special they are.
The outpouring of love you have showed your teachers already this year is overwhelming and appreciated. Love is a circle: It comes right back to your child.
Thank you for making it go ‘round.
by Renee Owen | Apr 4, 2013 | CEO's Kaleidoscope, Director's Blog
Introducing New Faculty Members!
Great News! Sue Ford has agreed to be our new music teacher, beginning with the 2013-14 school year. She has also begun working with a few Rainbow grades this year — conducting a music residency with preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and 5/6 for Imagine. Sue used to teach music at Rainbow, but left to pursue a full time position as Evergreen’s music teacher for the last seven years. She is well known for the children’s marimba band she leads in Asheville. Sue has decided to retire early from full time teaching, so she was really excited to accept our part-time music position. Sue is wonderful with children, has a vast repertoire, and will be really fun to collaborate with. We are grateful to Joy Black for coordinating the music program for the second half of this year, in-between permanent music teachers. Joy has brought in diverse music styles for the kids and she has brought “joy” into music class. Thank you so much!
By now, you should have received an email introduction to Melissa Scott, Rainbow’s Sixth Grade teacher for next year. This is a new position because 5th and 6th will not be combined. Melissa has an MA in teaching from Brown University and some incredible experience as an environmental educator, literacy coach, and curriculum coordinator. We are excited to welcome another amazing educator onto our prestigious faculty!
Also, please introduce yourself to Jessica Bachar and Mary Yacovelli, who are the interim preschool teachers while Teddy Humpert and Kate Couture have their babies. Jessica and Mary are very accomplished educators at both the preschool and elementary levels. Some of you already know Jessica, who is mother of Jaggar in kindergarten. The faculty held a Blessingway ceremony and gift-giving party for Teddy, Kate and their partners in March. It is beautiful to watch our family grow! The next addition to the Rainbow family will be Jessy Decker’s baby who is due in July. Wow! What is in the water in the preschool?
The Saga of “What shall we call ourselves?” continues…
Okay, I heard some of you loud and clear. On the Rainbow name survey, a few people said, “Enough, Already! Either keep the name, or choose a new one, but get on with it!” We have let this process linger for almost a year now. There have been long periods of time that we have simply let it sit, as it didn’t seem prudent to move too quickly since the decision we make will be very permanent. Nonetheless, our goal was to make a decision by the end of this school year, and it looks like we will meet that goal. Elly Wells Marketing held a listening session in March, where they listened to a group of people comprised of two parents, two board members, two administrators, two teachers, and one alumni parent. They were also given the results of the survey we sent out. Over 70 of you responded – a higher response rate than we have had on any previous survey! Despite the great response and lots of good feedback, which were very helpful, the surveys did not provide any clear direction. In fact, the largest number of respondents were neutral about the name with about an even number liking or not liking it on each side of neutral. The only crystal clear aspect was that if we keep Rainbow and/or Mountain, the word “Children’s” can be eliminated. A few people pointed out that if the point of changing the name is to broaden the appeal of Rainbow Mountain for marketing purposes, then maybe we should consider that admissions is busier than ever before. Good point!
There were a couple of valid concerns expressed in the name survey comments that deserve a response. One was that we should focus our resources on the classroom and not on marketing. Please be assured that is always what we do. In fact, we used to spend less than 1% of our budget on marketing. In the past two years, we increased our marketing spending to 1.6% of the budget. Even though that is still a very small slice, it allowed us the funds to make a beautiful video about the school, improve the website, develop our Facebook page, and increase the quality of our advertising. We are reaping the rewards of our increased investment with the vast increase in admissions, which will quickly trickle down to improving the programming for every child. When enrollment is up, everyone benefits, especially the children. Fortunately, Elly Wells, who is sympathetic to the needs of non-profit organizations, is giving us a great deal on the branding work she is doing.
Another concern was a question about if we were looking at changing the name because of confusion with the LGBQT movement. Personally, I believe the biggest concerns about our name are that it is perceived as a preschool (only), and that the name has some cliché elements to it that perhaps keep people from regarding it has a credible educational institution. In addition to that, a much smaller issue is that Rainbow is a brand that has been used by several businesses and movements, including South Africa’s Rainbow Nation, the Rainbow Gathering, and the Gay and Lesbian movement. While these are all movements that Rainbow Mountain is sympathetic to and/or aligned with, we don’t want people to confuse us as being synonymous. That is what branding is all about – defining yourself as you, not to be confused with others– even others with whom we have a lot in common. Rainbow Mountain will always be an open and affirming community for all types of families, no matter what our name.
Playground Update
Once the roofs for the gnome village are completed and the structure poles cemented in, progress will be quick. I estimate the project will be done shortly after May 1. Then, the beautiful new preschool playground will be built this summer. Landscaping will also begin this summer, which will dramatically improve the aesthetics of the playground. We are still almost $15,000 short of our fundraising goal. We’ve raised 82% of the goal for the playground, so we may have to decide if we need to cut back on the plans. We would all like (especially the children) to build 100% of the fabulous plans, rather than 82% of them. I think there is lots of hope that a few final donations will roll in to make it happen! Any donations turned in before June 30 will be applied to this year’s campaign – there is still a chance to have your family’s name on the gnome village structure along with other donors. It’s going to be really special. Many thanks to the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and students that helped us fund this project through monetary donations, donating materials, and their precious time!
Sheila is very busy!
Last year we had two tours in the month of March. To give you an idea of how different and busy admissions is: Lately, we average close to two tours a day! It is people like you, who believe in holistic education, and have seen the quality of our teachers and the results for your children, who are recommending Rainbow to new families. Many of you will be receiving a $300 discount on your tuition for next year, thanks to a family you referred who is enrolling. We can’t wait for you to meet the many wonderful new families and children who will be here next year. Thanks for all the great referrals!
The Biggest News of All
Taking into the consideration our busy admissions and our need for classroom space, the board is considering the most affordable and appropriate ways to reach our goal of having enough classrooms for each grade to hold 15 -20 kids per class. At the board’s March meeting, they voted to develop a master facilities plan for Rainbow that will include a round Deltec structure, large enough for four new classrooms! Jeff McGahee, an Asheville-based site planner who has done a lot of great work around town (including most recently, the site planning for Wicked Weed Brewery), will be doing a preliminary master facilities plan, based on physical needs and feedback received from parents and other stakeholders during strategic planning last year. This is very exciting and very challenging, as we have a huge number of factors to consider, including working around our many large and beautiful trees, run-off considerations, sustainability, and more. The goal is to have a plan by mid-May. If our enrollment grows sufficiently, and we can conduct a successful capital campaign, we may be able to build as soon as the summer of 2014!!!
Summer Fun:
Three artists (and Rainbow moms) are offering three separate weeks of arts programming (and lots of other activities, with academics integrated in as well). SOAR – Summer Of Art at Rainbow – is definitely going to be a memorable experience for your rising 1st , 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grader.
Also, Elana Kann, another Rainbow mom, is organizing a permaculture program for Omega students, and alumni. This will be taught be permaculture expert, Chuck Marsh, founder of Earthhaven. Chuck is a pretty dynamic guy!
Springtime is busy and creative
The main focus for the staff over that last several weeks was preparing for conferences. Just writing the narratives alone requires 20 – 50 hours that each teacher finds outside of class time to complete – and they work so diligently on making thorough and thoughtful reports.
Therefore, for our February training, we did a mandala-making workshop that was an opportunity for spiritual fellowship with each other, inner guidance as individuals, and enjoyable. Our March training was with Donovan Zimmerman, our main Imagine artist. Along with some hard-working parents, they began designing and assembling some large puppets to be used in our Imagine celebration of the arts. Donovan of Paperhand Puppets out of Chapel Hill (similar to Bread and Puppets), will be working with many of the elementary level classes from April 29 – May 3 as our main Imagine artist-in-residence. (By the way, Donovan will spend that week in Asheville with his wife and 1 year old daughter. We are looking for a Rainbow family who is willing to host the family. Donovan is fun, friendly, and will be a wonderful house guest!) This promises to be the most intriguing, fun, and creative Imagine yet. The big Imagine performance will be on Friday, May 17 in the afternoon. The Imagine committee has yet to narrow down the exact time, but it will be approximately from noon – 4pm. Please mark your calendars, and set that afternoon aside in order to see the performance.
More Spring busy-ness: I won’t list all of the events coming up in detail, as you have Rainbow Reminders for that, but some of the highlights are Grandparents Tea, staff appreciation day, the student talent show (many peoples’ favorite event of the year), May Day, and of course Imagine. There is also an open house on April 10, and you may have friends you want to refer for that event. This is a great opportunity to meet your child’s teacher for next year, ask questions, and find out a little about next year. Of course, friends and neighbors are always welcome to come to any Rainbow events.
Spring is always a time for blossoming!
by Renee Owen | Nov 19, 2012 | CEO's Kaleidoscope, Director's Blog
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!
