Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork

Background Statement

In 1949, modern Aspen was born through a bicentennial celebration of the life and work of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. The Goethe celebration brought Albert Schweitzer to America for the only time in his life and was featured on the cover of Time Magazine on July 11, 1949. Out of that celebration came the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, Aspen Center for Physics, Aspen Music Festival, Aspen Design Conference, and indirectly the Aspen Skiing Company. The emerging Aspen Idea called for a healthy integration of the body, mind, and spirit. Given the connection between Rudolph Steiner and Goethe's work, one might say that a Waldorf School here was inevitable.

The Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork initially began as the Aspen Waldorf School. With Rene and Merilyn Querido and Eugene Schwartz as sources of inspiration, a small group of teachers and parents led an effort in 1990 to create a track within the Aspen public school for Waldorf education.

While that effort was unsuccessful, it did educate the larger public about the benefits of Waldorf education and serve to strengthen the resolve of core supporters. This led to a successful summer camp and a commitment to form a Waldorf school. In 1991, the Aspen Waldorf School opened with a kindergarten and combined first and second grade in a former public school building. The faculty was led by one of the school founders, an experienced former public school teacher and dynamic woman, Patty Fox.

Aspen serves as a job center rather than a population center, with workers and business owners living throughout a 41 mile-long valley. Within a few years it became clear that the majority of new students were coming from mid- to lower-valley communities rather than from Aspen. Enrollment was growing slowly but even combining classes did not lead to healthy class sizes, thus discussion turned to how to "grow the school."

A second attempt was made to integrate into the public school system with a proposal to create a new Waldorf-inspired school in the mid-valley under a recently passed Charter School law. The attempt was again unsuccessful, however the interest in the school from area families was strong.

In 1996, the entire school community gathered together to set a vision for the future. At the gathering, a number of Aspen-based families committed their time, talent, and treasure to supporting the creation of a school campus in the mid-valley. That act of inspired selflessness became the seed from which the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork was born. As Eugene Schwartz noted in Raising Waldorf, " I have ties with over 100 schools but I've never seen more strong and vibrant personalities or greater selflessness."

Land was secured and ground was broken for a new school building 19 weeks and four days before school was to begin at the new campus in the fall of 1997. The construction project involved hands-on labor and community-building. This 'barn-raising' like experience grounded the school community in the land and structures that would serve the children. Great care was given to siting and building the school's structures in an ecological way. The resulting school buildings have been the subject of local, national, and international media stories, as well as



serving as milestones in the evolution of school design.

The evolution of the campus and expansion of classes was guided by the school's first strategic plan, created in 1997. Additional strategic planning efforts were undertaken in 2004 and 2009. A central goal of the current strategic plan is pursuing accreditation. The next strategic planning effort will take place during the 2012-13 school year.

In 1997, the new school doubled enrollment the first year and had a 50% increase the second year at its new home. This new enrollment created growing pains for the school as the legal, pedagogical, and social demands on faculty, board, and core supporters were beyond the experience and capacities of those involved. The result was a few years of learning lessons the hard way. School policies, academic assessment procedures, admission processes, governance rules, and many other aspects of school practices were in need of formation, documentation, and clarification.

In 2001, a task force was created to envision a new form of governance for the school that would draw on the collective wisdom of faculty and core supporters. After months of study a "Community Council" was born as the collective day-to-day decision-making body for the school and a council to generate needed form. A three-year governance agreement was created that was refined and confirmed again in 2004 and 2008. The purpose of the agreement was to allow the faculty to focus its collective time on pedagogical development and child study while shifting administrative issues to the Community Council.

In general, the agreement served the school well and led to a period of successful faculty development. In 2011, the school community's needs had changed and the governing model was changed to better reflect the current and future needs. Day-to-day management is now the right and responsibility of the Business Administrator and Faculty Administrator. These two positions will ultimately be joined by a Community Development Administrator, rounding out the third aspect of our threefold organization.

Shortly after the turn of the century, a commitment was made to phase out combined classes. The development of an early childhood facility in 1999 created the opportunity for two mixed age kindergartens and a space for early childhood parent-child education. There was also an off-site preschool program for a few years that was later moved onto the campus into the preschool space. The commitment to early childhood has led to growing stronger first-grade classes.

While the school enjoyed enrollment growth, it also continued to expand the depth and breadth of the curriculum. An array of trained subject teachers were generated or attracted to the school and the financial needs to support the faculty have been greater than the net tuition generated by enrollment. The school has been blessed by the generosity of donors who have funded the gap between net tuition and total expenses. As the operating budget has grown, the demand on those gift dollars has been a strategic issue. Finding a healthy balance of tuition and gifts remains a subject of conversation.

While the nature of education is such that people arrive, grow, and depart (hopefully to return), our school experienced its first major loss when Steven Moore passed away in 2004. Steven, a eurythmist and speech formation artist had been at the heart of the artistic impulse of our school since the early years and he is missed to this day.

Over the last six years in particular, the school has attracted strong faculty members who work together in a healthy manner. Faculty members challenge each other, care for each other, and enjoy working together. Frances Lewis, Patti and Tim Connolly, Matt Johnson, Heather Handy, Didianne Gilman, Sarah Jane Marshall, Jill Scher and Carla Comey have all provided leadership in forming a healthy and productive pedagogical community.

During the same period, the Board of Trustees has grown in its ability to look forward and guide strategically. There is mutual respect and relatively clear differentiation between board and faculty roles. Balancing operating budgets remains a challenge, but issues have thus far been resolved in a cooperative manner.

One way to picture the evolution of the school is that the Aspen years were a blissful period of achieving a modest goal, the early years at the new campus were growing pains, and the period that we are currently experiencing is developing into our true self. As the Aspen Waldorf Foundation enters its 20th year, the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork is fulfilling its mission. Our modest but growing pool of graduates is testimony to the work of our faculty and community.