New First Grade Teacher!

Dear New Amsterdam Community, It is with joy in our hearts that we share with you the news that Jamie Loftus will be joining us as our first First Grade teacher. Many of you had the opportunity to meet Jamie when he spent a week with our community. Jamie has graciously accepted our offer to join our school and help pioneer our first grade. Jamie hails from Sydney, Australia, where he has taught in Waldorf schools for over 20 years. He will bring his adventuresome spirit to this task, and infuse the classroom with his inquisitive mind and joyful energy. We are profoundly grateful to his commitment to our school and to our growth. And we look forward to many years of working together. With Gratitude, The Hiring Committee

5-10 Year Plan Committee

Dear New Amsterdam Community,

 

After our open meeting last Wednesday, The 5-10 Year Plan Committee would like to share an update regarding our work. We feel it is important to be transparent about the tasks that we will be working on in this committee and would like to share our mandate with you all. A mandate is an agreement with the decision-making bodies of the school (in this case the Faculty Circle and Board). Our mandate outlines the timeline, tasks, responsibilities, and articulates the goals of the committee. Please follow this link to find our mandate.

 

Also, we would like to invite all members of our community to participate in our weekly study for the remainder of the school year. Please join the 5-10 Year Plan Committee this week May 21, from 4:00-5:00pm. RSVP to Meaghan (Meaghan.witri@newamsterdamchildhood.org).

 

Thank you for your interest and we look forward to continuing our work together.

 

The 5-10 Plan Year Committee

Mandate for a 5-10 Year Plan Committee (Final Name TBD)

 

Members of the Mandated Committee

Patricia, Mayra, Meaghan, Brigitte and Lisa

 

Length of Mandate

This mandate would go through June 2015

 

Context and Background

These are times of intense growth for the New Amsterdam School. To coordinate the many aspects of this growth effectively a 5-year plan is needed. This fall, the Work-Pay committee found it difficult to develop models for a healthy salary structure because such a larger

plan was missing. A sketch of this plan was created. Having recognized the need, we would now like to work on it in earnest. Such a plan will make the work of all committees far more effective (and, in addition, it is something that any outside Waldorf agency, such as

AWSNA, will rightfully expect from us if we seek accreditation). We are committed to researching and developing ideas to help create a sustainable future and life at New Amsterdam.

 

The context for this work springs from the source of the social mission of Waldorf education: to build individual and group capacities, to develop gift consciousness and to bring about a renewal of education for human beings. Self-education is the doorway into understanding any structure or form, and Waldorf education can be the doorway to the future. Bringing these ideals into clearer and pertinent articulations can support this much larger task of our work in relationship to unfolding the future.

 

Overview

Our proposal is to start a new 5-10 Year Plan Committee, that would take up what has been developed by the Work-Pay Committee. We also propose ending (and, in a sense, merging with) the Towards Societal Wholeness group, so that we have more time to dedicate to this essential task. We also expect that some evenings and weekends will be required.

 

This group will be looking into the following aspects of the current plan: salary structure, tuition models, governance structure and the community life. Also, we will look into developing our school in relationship to, and including these foundational ideals: building capacities, gift consciousness, building partnerships, creating cooperatives.  We will be working primarily with Rudolf Steiner’s ideas and indications on these ideals brought to us out of Anthroposophy.

 

 

 

 

 

Accountability

We take responsibility for facilitating this work between the faculty, board and committees as needed. We will report to the faculty on a bi-weekly basis and to the board monthly. As specific areas are identified within the plan, we will work directly with the individuals or groups involved. This collaborative effort will result in proposals made to the faculty and board for final decisions.  

 

Please find below some examples of the topics we will explore and the corresponding groups with whom we will collaborate.

Salary Structure ⇄ Faculty, Finance Committee and Hiring Committee

Governance ⇄ Board, Faculty, Parents, all Committees and Mandated Groups

Tuition (including finance, tuition assistance and admissions) ⇄ Board, Faculty, Parents

Community Life (this depends on what area but likely) ⇄ Faculty, Board, Parents

Peer mentoring ⇄ Faculty

College of teachers ⇄ Faculty, Board

Co-Teaching ⇄ Hiring, Faculty, Finance

Partnerships ⇄ Board, Faculty, Parents, Other Organizations

Cooperatives ⇄ Board, Faculty, Finance, Hiring, Parents, neighborhood community 

Intentions and Tasks

Specifically, we propose the following:

·        Focusing our work on the 5-10 year plan that the Work-Pay group has developed, while still including broader questions around social hygiene and societal context

·        Continuing with the same schedule as Towards Societal Wholeness (Wednesdays from 4-6pm), but more intensively - meeting weekly with some additional evenings and weekends as needed.

·        Keeping the group open to faculty, parents, board members, and friends of New Amsterdam, and to anyone we feel is connected to the school and these questions, with the requirement that all participants are excited by this work and want to make the above time commitments.

-              If anyone has individual constraints that would prohibit their participation, we ask them to speak with us about their needs (childcare, finances etc.) and we will find a way for them to join us.

-              We will also strive to include those who can't make such a commitment with weekend workshops or open meetings.