I want to preface this comment by saying that I am sorry I never came forward earlier with this information and that this is not a comment on the parents and children of this school. I also have had no previous experience working for other districts but my mother has been working at her school district for 10+ years and found everything I shared equally upsetting. I know everyone will do their best to give the best opportunity for their children, but you should be informed that in my brief time spent at this school, I found much of it to be out of the ordinary compared to traditional school districts. While I understand this is the draw for this particular school I was surrounded by a culture of secrecy, terrible health conditions where children remained in school and ate from dishes where a dead rodent was rotting behind the dishwasher during an infestation, and blatant classist comments against children on government support. Children were reaching the end of second grade with the reading comprehension of a first grader due to no fault of their own or lack of help. And, while I understand a restriction of media in a school setting, the absolute ban of it removed vital culture and social connection with peers and there were even several instances where when music was playing/someone mentioned a character children recoiled and cried until it was over as if afraid.
It wasn't until I was asked to complete Waldorf-specific training that I realized the patterns of quiet indoctrination often seen in cults to ensure a "us vs them" mentality in students, and while struggling w diversity as a whole, used black figures such as MLK and Harriet Tubman as tokens in their spiritual conversations. It was incredibly disturbing to see this and though I was not in daily classes, in those I assisted there were so many points of learning stolen in the name of 'preserving childhood' that only would further distance themselves from their public AND private school peers from other districts.
If you are from an outside district: unless you are trained and indoctrinated into their small group of selected teachers you will have no say in anything occurring or even be privy to an opinion. While I don't know if this is related after making strong comments about needing basic/better safety procedures during lockdowns, despite being technically a lead, I was never invited to another staff meeting again. read more
