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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend November 22, 2005 Fielding Picton, 9, right, and Nolan Folnar, 10, read Monday at the Waldorf-based Siskiyou School in Ashland. The school is launching a fundraising campaign to buy the old Clay Street church as its permanent campus. (Photo by Denise Baratta) A home for Waldorf The independent school has had its share of growing pains and now is planning for its own campus By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune ASHLAND — The long-struggling Waldorf-based Siskiyou School plans an ambitious fundraising campaign to buy its own campus and consolidate its grades in one location, organizers say. Two sets of parents have bought the old Clay Street Community Church in Ashland, where Siskiyou has held classes for three years, for $750,000 and are leasing it to the school. Siskiyou hopes to buy the school outright pending a capital campaign among individuals, corporations and foundations, said Siskiyou School Board chairwoman and parent Judy Newton. Four grades are taught at the site, with the other three grades meeting at Gracepoint Nazarene Church on East Main. One teacher follows the same students all the way through. The school plans to hold all seven grades on the Clay site starting in September, Newton said. Its numbers are growing — 127 students now, with 35 signed up for incoming first grade next fall. Once overwhelmed with financial and organizational problems, the old Ashland Waldorf School "died" in 2000, but teachers and parents kept it alive in small groups, said eighth-grade teacher Christine Crawley. Tuition dropped from $750 a month to the $330-$450 range, she added. Advertisement "The impulse of Waldorf education lived on in the parents. We teachers worked as individual contractors in intimate pods, with no frills, no copy machines, just cell phones," said Crawley. "It became a situation between parents and teachers, with no meetings about the school itself." Said Karen O’Dougherty, parent of three Waldorf students, "The parents have ownership of the class and the teacher dictates the curriculum. It’s not bogged down now. It is its own living force." If the school is able to buy the 1.5-acre church and site, it will build classrooms out into the rear playground. The school is advertising for an administrator. The school recently broke off negotiations with the Ashland School District for use of the empty Lincoln Elementary School, which it hoped to lease for a year and a half until the Clay Street site was ready. Siskiyou rejected the district’s last offer for "financial and other reasons," said O’Dougherty. Crawley added, "We have a history of failure with the public schools." The Clay Street site has plusses — plenty of parking, access to the freeway for commuters and close proximity to the bike path and an adjacent city park, Newton said. The cavernous sanctuary will be used for band, orchestra, assemblies and plays. The school is part of a network of 750 Waldorf schools in the world. They were started in 1919 by Austrian educator Rudolf Steiner to provide "gentle, nurturing, age-appropriate" instruction that integrates mind, body and creative faculties, often with a hands-on approach. Siskiyou School learned a lesson in the 1990s and will continue to make each class financially accountable to itself, with minimal meetings involving all parents or addressing the finances of the entire school, said O’Dougherty. Teachers will have contracts, which were lacking in the old school. "In the old school, we were bogged down in self-created bureaucracy. It was awful. As soon as the old school died — wow, teaching was fun and the only meetings we had were about what fun assembly to put on," said Crawley. "So enthusiasm grew, parents were happy, it was a huge turning point. The primary focus was children and we were here to teach." Intent on keeping its emphasis on kids and learning, the Siskiyou school board is moving toward "building a solid profile," rich in people with business experience, said Newton. "Parents are always invited to board meetings, but we’re not going to get input on every single thing," Newton added. "It’s very efficient and clear now, the lines of authority. The board and faculty are working well, not fuzzy anymore." John Darling is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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