Monthly Archives: August 2018

About the Fire of July 29, 2018

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What happened?

In the early morning hours of Sunday, July 29 fire broke out at Meadowbrook Waldorf School in Richmond, Rhode Island. The fire was caused by a lightning strike that also destroyed the electrical and telephone systems needed to activate the alarm and emergency response. Despite the efforts of  250 fire fighters from 22 towns, the building was declared a total loss and the remains were demolished.

Was anybody hurt?

We are thankful that nobody was in the building at the time of the fire. Three firefighters were taken to the hospital during the incident, one needed extended treatment for a condition not directly related to the fire, but all made a full recovery.  We are so grateful to all who responded to the emergency call for their acts of bravery and their dogged determination to bring the blaze under control.

Did Meadowbrook Waldorf School have fire protection systems?

Yes.  The MWS building was constructed in 2006/7 with all of the fire protection systems required by the RI State building code.  The Fire Marshall inspected the building annually  in accordance with RI Department of Education requirements and consulted with MWS throughout the year.

Will the school remain open?

Yes!  On September 4th, we welcomed our students back for another year of Waldorf education in a temporary space. Our programs for 145 children in nursery through grade eight are accredited by the Association of Waldorf School of North America (AWSNA) and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). We also offer classes for younger children and their caregivers. From our play based pre-school classes, through the building of creative thinking skills in the elementary grades, to the rigorous academics of middle school we will continue to foster love of learning in our specially prepared home away from home.

We have signed a one year lease with the Town of South Kingstown, with an option to extend for a further year, to use a former public school building on South Road in South Kingston. MWS teachers see these unexpected circumstances as an opportunity for the students, with teachable moments about resilience and the value of community.

Was the school insured?   

Yes. Thankfully the school was insured for the cost of replacing the building that was lost. However, we had recognized before the fire that the building was too small for our growing community and some improvements were needed to meet the needs of the children. Planning for the expansion, and the fundraising campaign needed to pay for it, had already begun before the fire. These plans have been revised and are now included in Meadowbrook Rising: The Campaign to Rebuild Our School.

How is Meadowbrook Waldorf School funded?

MWS is an independent school and receives no federal funding.  MWS is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that strives to make Waldorf education as affordable as possible to those who seek it. We offer a Tuition Adjustment program that allows a generous sliding scale for families of various economic situations.  While tuition covers a portion of the operating costs, the school relies on fundraising to balance its annual budget.

How has MWS community responded to the devastating loss?

Our school has a long history and has touched many lives. Before the ashes had cooled, current and former parents and teachers came together to reflect and immediately set to work. Volunteerism is at the heart of MWS community life. A team of current and alumni parents made 40 baskets with home baked treats and jelly, fresh picked fruit and flowers and Thank You cards from the students and delivered them to the emergency response crews that attended to the fire.

In a matter of days, a network of volunteer teams was put in place to manage tasks ranging from sourcing furniture donations and coordinating deliveries, to creating class libraries and stitching felt crowns for the nursery children’s dressing up box. Our extended families are using their businesses and connection to organize fundraising events on behalf of MWS. All of us at MWS are filled with gratitude for the outpouring of help and support we have received from our local community and friends around the world.

What is needed, how can I help?

We are enormously grateful for the many donations of goods and services we received to help reopen the school. We are now fundraising for the new building and to assure that, during the rebuilding process, we can continue to deliver the high-quality Waldorf education our families have come to expect while keeping tuition as affordable as possible. In addition, it will allow us to continue to prioritize the well-being of our Faculty and Staff. To be successful, we must raise $1.75 million.

  1. Online donations can be made through our GoFundMe page at:
    https://www.gofundme.com/8wxzy-rebuilding-our-school

GoFundMe asks that you pay a ‘tip’ for their services in addition to your donation. Their suggestion is 15% but you may select an alternate amount in a drop down dialogue box. If you prefer to give to MWS online without signing up for GoFundMe, you may do so through the MWS website: https://mws.inexi.com/online-giving

The cost to MWS from donating via GoFundMe or the MWS website is the same and consists only of the credit card companies’ charges.

  1. Physical checks are welcome and can be added to the GoFundMe page at no charge. These gifts will be posted as ‘anonymous’ unless you note that you prefer your name be shown. In that case you may also add a dedication to show with your name and gift.

Please mail checks via USPS to:
Meadowbrook Waldorf School
300 Kingstown Road
West Kingston, RI 02892

  1. For giving from an IRA or other investment vehicle, or for employer matching gifts, please contact MWS Development Coordinator, Beth Riungu development@meadowbrookschool.com

Is my donation tax deductible?

Meadowbrook Waldorf School is a 501(c)3 so your donation may be tax deductible.  A receipt letter will be issued for all monetary gifts received with the donor name and a physical address. The Meadowbrook Waldorf School federal tax identity number is 05-0383653 and our organization is listed as Meadowbrook Waldorf Association.

When will the school be rebuilt?

Work has begun and we are pursuing an aggressive time line. If all goes well, we will begin swinging hammers early in 2019 and return the children to their woodland home in January of 2020.

Further Questions? Contact Beth Riungu development@meadowbrookschool.com

July 29 Honor Roll

Scott W.  Barber, Chief of the Richmond-Carolina Fire District in the Town of Richmond, listed the fire departments that responded to the Meadowbrook Waldorf School Fire as well as EMS departments. He said that this was a historic and overwhelming response to a tragic loss for the community.

Hot meals were donated and delivered to the emergency responders by K&S Pizza, Kingstown Pizza, Town Pizza II and Alaina’s Ale House.

We are grateful to you all. In any case of error or omission in these lists, please accept our apologies and send corrections to Beth Riungu development@meadowbrookschool.com

 

Fall 2018 Parent Child Program at South Road School

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As we begin to say good bye to summer, it is time to welcome back our Fall Parent Child Program!  This session will be held in our beautiful temporary school location at South Road School, 1157 South Road in South Kingstown.


For the fall session, classes are offered on Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays from 9-11am.   In this 6 week program, you can explore the joys and challenges of raising your child in a supportive and nurturing environment. Caregivers and children share a lovely morning of play, snack and circle time.  Perfect for the new walker to the older toddler, and their caregiver.  Siblings are welcome.

We are pleased to announce Miss Julia will be returning to this program and holding the parents and children of this fall session.

Julia lives with her husband Jarod in Wakefield, and they are the parents of three children, two of whom are students at Meadowbrook.  Julia was a K-12 art teacher in the Cranston school district before becoming a mom, and when her children were young, she provided care for other children in their home.  She was also an Early Childhood assistant at Meadowbrook for a year prior to the birth of their youngest child and is a MWS Parent Handwork Group veteran. Julia is very much looking forward to getting to know more young families of our Parent Child program!

Click below for more Parent Child Program information and registration documents.  Please email Chris in Admissions at admissions@meadowbrookschool.com for availability before registering.

For Mondays, click here.

For Tuesdays, click here.

For Wednesdays, click here.

A Building Lost, A Community Endures

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Charlotte O’Brien was the administrator of Meadowbrook Waldorf School from 1998 to 2011. She writes, ‘It was and remains my great honor to have been part of the team that built the school that burned down on Sunday, July 29.’ She writes further about the what was lost that day, and what endures:

I recall vividly the community workshop to site our building where it would perfectly unite the ideals of our community with the land we had been gifted. Every aspect of developing the site and constructing the school building was permeated with meticulous loving care, from our pain at cutting the trees that had to be cleared, to searching for months to find the exact right color for flooring tile that would blend with the range of pastel tones used through the classrooms.

We had a very small budget, too small for our physical and aesthetic needs. Yet on Opening Day, we had a beautiful building of extraordinary qualities inside and out, a gift from the vast crew of community volunteers who donated their skills and time to bring our vision into existence. Meadowbrook had more than 11 wonderful years in that building until a combination of lightning strikes resulted in the devastating fire.

I loved that building deeply, and I am mourning the loss of tangible memories that were embodied in the school. Five stained glass lamps hanging in the lobby, created by five sequential MWS eighth grades during their geometry studies of Platonic solids under the tutelage of Hans Schepker. The walls of the commons room and the corridors beautifully painted by parents and teachers using the lazure technique, led by Robert Logsdon. What fun but seriously hard work that was. Yet, it is not the loss of the building that matters most but the potential loss of history and continuity with the past.

Yes, I loved the building but my greatest pride was in the school community which we built. A community of resilience and integrity, respected within our region and the Waldorf community beyond. A community that has forged ways of working together to  through adversity and disagreements. A community that has learned how to invite miracles and capitalize on them when they arrive. Above all a school devoted to nurturing the young with love and wisdom so that they are well prepared to take up their life’s tasks in the world.

I have never been more proud than seeing this community meet the fire. The school was burning, yet there on site were my beloved colleagues serving food and drinks to the first responders and fire fighters. Effectively, energetically and lovingly, this community organized itself to meet the immediate practical problems created by the fire, even as they nurtured a vision for the future. Thoughtful soul and caring spirit united in disciplined will. That is our school, still bright and strong.

I have heard the loss of the building called a tragedy, it is certainly a disaster and a massive inconvenience. Yet there are miracles, some loved things survived including the above watercolor painting from my sixth grade class. The glass wasn’t even damaged and it was barely dusty. And this painful event can also be an opportunity. I know a new building will arise from this community, a beautiful new home still dedicated to educating the children of the present and the future. For here, at this school, is answered the hope expressed in the dedication given by the founder of Waldorf education, Rudolf Seiner, at the opening of the first Waldorf school following the catastrophe of the First World War almost 100 years ago.

We are heartened by the generous outpouring of support from around the world.  To make a contribution to the school rebuild and recovery, please visit our Meadowbrook Rising Go Fund Me page.  Donated goods & services can be offered  or email us at rebuild@meadowbrookschool.com.

 

 

We Are Meadowbrook

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On Sunday, just one week since our school burned to the ground, we gathered to mourn the loss of our building and its contents. Much of the wreckage has been removed but a huge pile of debris remains piled on the concrete foundation behind a chain link fence. For some, on their first visit, the sight was overwhelming and tears flowed. For the children though, quiet thoughtfulness quickly turned to spirit of adventure as they greeted their friends. They raced around the path that encircles the school, discovering the ‘bunny hutch’ and play yards miraculously untouched. Shouts and laughter again echoed through the trees from the swings and jungle gym.

The short farewell ceremony took place in one the playing fields, the sun high above the sheltering ring of forest. We joined hands in one huge circle, teachers and staff, parents and Board members. Alumni parents who built the now lost floors and cabinets stood with newly enrolled families that have yet to celebrate their first Opening Day Rose Ceremony at MWS.  We sang our school song together,  ‘Alleluia for All Things’ by A.C. Harwood, a song of thanks for the beauty of world and for human beings working in service of others with courage and integrity. We recognized how much we have to feel thankful for, from the bravery of the emergency responders to countless acts of incredible kindness by so many former strangers.

Only days ago we were a small community, the little school in the woods. Now, as Administrator Jennifer Farrelly said, ‘Meadowbrook Waldorf School is no longer the best kept secret in Rhode Island’. So many people have come from near and far to offer their help. Our GoFundMe appeals has been shared by Waldorf Schools from Maine Coast to San Diego, Toronto to Hawaii, in Detroit and Colorado, and elsewhere. Local businesses are holding fundraising events to benefit MWS. Our public school community and fellow independent schools are rallying to share their resources with us. We are grateful to them all.

There is something else too. There is a sense of something almost sacred, a moment of destiny. We realized that MWS needed more space a number of years ago and have done much work over the past three years to prepare to build. We worked with the teachers and families to identify what was needed. We updated our master campus plan. In July, we engaged Panorama Fundraising, a consultancy firm to help us launch a capital campaign. Our building was well insured so now the campaign for rebuilding can be directed to adding the extra space needed to realize our dream of welcoming in the community beyond our own enrolled families.

Thanks to our newly extended community, we are well placed to have a beautiful, well equipped school for our students on September 4.  While the MWS campus is a noisy construction site, the students and their teachers will be focused on school work in a spacious temporary home, lovingly prepared to be a home away from home for them. As MWS parent Monica Rodgers said, ‘There are disguised gifts everywhere’. At the gathering, long time Early Childhood teacher, Su Rubinoff, spoke this verse;


The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.  ~ John Schaar

These are exciting, heart-filled times. Thank you for joining us on the path!

We are heartened by the generous outpouring of support from around the world.  To make a contribution to the school rebuild and recovery, please visit our Meadowbrook Rising Go Fund Me page.  Donated goods & services can be offered  or email us at rebuild@meadowbrookschool.com.

Su Rubinoff – Early Childhood Teacher