Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Supporters of the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education,

Welcome to the 2024-25 school year! For some, school has been open for a few weeks; others began this week, and we have a few that will be opening with the “traditional” date of after Labor Day. Whenever the first day was or is for you, we hope it was (or will be) joyous. For many of us, “school” in various forms has been a major focus of our biographies; this time of year is truly new year’s for me and for so many of us, with a feeling of new beginnings, hope, expectation, maybe a resolution or two - and at least a few new supplies. From my perspective, at this time of year, there is little that a fancy new notebook and pen can’t fix!

We are imagining your various opening events taking place in schools across the country: nervous or excited new students, continuing students who are relieved and happy to be back, reunions with friends, rose ceremonies or similar events to honor incoming and oldest students, family potlucks, and many other community-building, celebratory events. Early reports suggest that students are arriving back more settled and ready than a year ago - may that be true for you and a positive sign for the year to come.

As we enter this year, we mark a couple of important milestones. Yuba River Charter in Grass Valley, California, will turn 30 this Fall! We will note this significant milestone in detail in our next e-news. As a bookend to our spectrum of schools, we congratulate the Sangre de Cristo initiative in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for its recent award of a charter for a Public Waldorf School. Welcome, Sangre de Cristo!

Summer break is now behind us, but it was a busy time for most of us. There were many courses, workshops, and conferences and our Public Waldorf folks were there in force. Some schools provided on-site workshops. Many teachers traveled far from home. They all brought back new ideas, activities, and perspectives. Classrooms will be enriched by what was learned and shared. School leaders, please watch for an upcoming survey on summer professional development - it helps all of us to know where people went and what worked particularly well for Alliance schools needs.

We offered our Alliance online professional development again in July and are very grateful to our experienced, knowledgeable presenters who generously guided participants as they looked to a new school year. Our professional development continues to provide important support to schools with instructors who have direct experience of the joys and demands of public education. Week One, Fundamentals of Public Waldorf Education, was attended by over 80 people, with a cross-section of newly hired teachers, school leaders, Board members, and parent leaders. We have been asked to repeat this offering during the year to help those who will continue to enter our schools. In week two, we had over 20 register for early childhood, 28 for the grades, and, strikingly, almost 30 for the leadership track.

We now turn our attention fully to the year ahead. Our regular Zoom sessions for school leaders will start again on Tuesday, September 17th, and will be offered after that date on the first and third Tuesday of the month. We will continue to send reminders for these - please note the change in time to 1 pm Pacific/4 pm Eastern. We hope this will allow more to attend. 

We will also offer a “drop-in” for teachers on the first Monday of each month, starting October 7, at 4 pm Pacific/7 pm Eastern. This will serve as informal office hours through which we can provide guidance, suggest resources, or link teachers.

Lastly, we are eagerly looking forward to our annual conference, to be held at Ocean Charter School in Los Angeles, January 17-19. Please save the date: this will be our first conference outside the Sacramento area and we are working on a truly exciting event. 

We greatly look forward to seeing you in person or online during this new school year. We look forward to a year of collaboration, discovery, and joyful learning together!

With best wishes for this new school year, and deep gratitude for all that you bring to it,

Liz Beaven

Upcoming Professional Development

and Teacher Preparation

Jennifer Militzer-Kopperl: Renewal of Literacy

• Online, on-demand support courses for literacy and language arts in the grades; access for 6 months or 1 year.

https://renewalofliteracy.teachable.com/

Eurythmy Spring Valley: Full-Time Eurythmy Training. Postgraduate Eurythmy Training & Frontier Eurythmy Part-time Training

• Fall 2024: Chestnut Ridge, NY

https://www.eurythmy.org/workshops-events

Gradalis Understanding Waldorf Education (UWE) Program

• September 2024-April 2025, Virtual

https://gradalis.edu/uwe-mentorship,/

Center for Anthroposophy- Starlight Rays in Darkened Times: Seminars on Contemporary Topics

• Fall 2024-25, Virtual

https://centerforanthroposophy.org/starlight/

Sunbridge Institute

• Oct. 15: Meet & Greet: Elementary & Elementary Music Teacher Education, Virtual
• Oct. 22: Meet & Greet: Early Childhood Teacher Education
• Nov. 15: Calling It Like It IS: Uncovering and Dismantling Racism in the Waldorf Movement

https://www.sunbridge.edu/courses-workshops-events/

Please visit our website to find out about job postings at our member schools.

https://www.publicwaldorf.org/job-postings

For more information:

Liz Beaven, Executive Director 

Carly Fedor, Administrative Assistant

Alliance for Public Waldorf Education

1000 River Rock Drive, Suite 218

Folsom, CA 95630

Public Waldorf is a service mark of the Association of Waldorf Schools

of North America and is used pursuant to a license.

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