Welcome! What's New?

Welcome to the 2009-10 school year at Alabama Waldorf School! In addition to the new name, we have two newly certified teachers to recognize: Lynda Powell completed her 4th summer at Rudolf Steiner College and is now certified in Waldorf Grades Education; Jennifer Cripps is now a certified Spacial Dynamics Instructor, joyfully bringing her movement wisdom to all the grades students. There are also new people and new roles in the Administrative Office: Ginger Downs is our new Finance Manager, bringing a wealth of non-profit experience to the role; Opal Nicholson is our new Enrollment Manager, bringing Waldorf training, preschool teaching experience, and lower Grades teaching experience to the role; Adrianne Morrison (Roberts) is our new Development Manager, bringing her years as Development intern to bear on a Waldorf-inspired Streamlined Giving Campaign for which we have a goal of 100% faculty/staff/parent participation; and Lisa Grupe is our new Administrator, bringing Waldorf Grades certification, preschool and Grades teaching experience, and the benefit of current and ongoing Waldorf Administrative Training to the post.
Our new First Grade teacher, Erica Spencer, has completed her first of 4 summers of Waldorf Grades certification and is thrilled to be delivering a Waldorf curriculum to her first graders! We have several new block teachers for the 8th Grade including the current Mathematics block teacher, Alexander Blokh. Mr. Blokh is third-grader Daniel Blokh's dad and Rita Meikson's husband and has been enjoying our 8th graders who both bring stellar math skills to the table!
There are a few new faces in our Extended Care (XC) Staff. Richard Thornton, who will also be teaching an 8th Grade Woodworking block, is on the Grades XC staff; Anamaria Santiago worked in the Summer program and Pamela Basye subbed there, and now they both work on the Preschool XC staff.
New Family Association (FA) officers include Patrick McCarty, Brian Mixon, Cynthia Mwenja, Dennis Thurston, and Betsy Thagard. (Elizabeth Lasseter, Adrianne Morrison, Bernard Wolfe, Sina Skates continue to have FA roles but are not new to their jobs!).
New members for the Board of Trustees include Misty Garrison, Donna Yester, Elizabeth Westfall, and Patrick McCarty.
It takes a village of people to make the school run smoothly. If you are interested in becoming a room rep, Secretary of the Family Association, or in joining the Marketing Committee, please let the Administrator know!

There are also MANY new dates on the Event Calendar at Alabama Waldorf School. Hard copies are available in the Office, or you can conveniently reference it anytime on our website at alabamawaldorf.org.
We are especially excited about our Why Waldorf Works Open House on Sept. 17 from 5:30-7. Please help us boost enrollment by inviting or bringing a friend to this special event. Our Why Waldorf Works series of talks continues throughout the year on highly relevant topics; Miss Sadhna has begun her Waldorf Early Childhood Certification and kicks off the series on Sept. 22 with "The Importance of Play." Preschool and Morning Garden parents and their friends who are considering Waldorf education will benefit most from this talk which is open to the whole AWS community. Call 592-0541 to reserve limited child care.