Thank you for coming out on a rainy Saturday for our third public meeting!

Thank you very much to our guest Lisa Duarte of Ninth Street Elementary School in Boyle Heights for sharing her experiences and, at times, her personal struggle with applying Waldorf methods to her Kindergarten class in a public school that is demographically similar to our own. You rule Lisa! Thanks so much for your input.

Last Saturday’s public meeting was a little different than the meetings that we’ve held in the past. We decided to do a workshop this time. Joan led a “Conversation Cafe” and we broke into groups of 5 and discussed our topic for the day, “Meaningful Diversity.” We got a lot out of this meeting; ways to move forward in the planning of the school that will allow us to reflect and respond to the needs of our culturally and socio-economically diverse neighborhoods in North East LA. Thank you very much to you all for sharing your experiences, advice and insight into a subject that, I think, can be a bit challenging to talk about sometimes.

Here’s the meeting report in numbers: 35 adults, 2 teens, and 14 darling kids with excellent whispering voices. We sold 10 handmade birds and received $259.00 in donations! Fan-freakin’-tastic!

A big Thank You to The Audubon Center for continuing to host us in such a lovely space.

A big Thank You to Blue Hen Vietnamese Kitchen for donating a platter of delicious spring rolls for us to snack upon.

A big Thank You to Ruth Ortiz and Mary Crist for offering their spanish translation services.

And a last quick note; we found a red children’s art case and a blue water bottle/jug with a sport top after the meeting. Please email us if they belong to you.

Our next Public Meeting will be on Saturday, June 5th, same time, same place – meeting topic to be announced so stay tuned, or email us and let us know what you’d like to talk about next time!

Second Public Meeting – Thank You

Thank you for joining us at our second public meeting.
And massive thanks to Tamar Kern of Ocean Charter School for speaking and answering questions.

Last Saturday’s meeting was an inspiring one! Tamar Kern of Ocean Charter School, LAUSD’s first and only public charter school inspired by Waldorf education (yet!), spoke, answered our questions and gave a sneak-peek of what the Waldorf pedagogy looks like when applied to a public school setting. Our own Joan Jaeckel fielded questions specific to our plans for el Rio.

The questions you brought were insightful and contributed to an excellent, informative and inspiring conversation. Imagine a classroom like Tamar’s for our kids and our neighbor’s kids! I’m so excited – can you tell?

We all look forward to more of these talks at our public meetings and during volunteer committee-work (we’ll be in touch; thank you!) Also, if we ran out of time and didn’t get to your question, please email us at elriocharter@gmail.com and we’ll do our best to answer it, and perhaps add it to our FAQ page.

Another packed house; 43 engaged adults and 22 incredibly well-behaved children – thanks for keeping it down, kids!

Our next public meeting will be held in February, stay tuned to the website for details and sign up for our mailing list at elriocharter@gmail.com.

Thank you for attending our first public meeting! Join us at our next meeting Saturday, October 17th!

We held our first public meeting on August 22nd at the Audubon Center in Debs Park. Our agenda for this first meeting was to gain petition signatures, volunteers and donations and to begin the conversation with our neighbors that will eventually inform the language of our charter.

Thank you for showing up and meeting those aims with us! We are filled with elation, wonder and gratitude at the outpouring of support from all who attended. Check out pictures on our facebook page!

In numbers: 43 adults, 17 children, 38 petition signatures, $283 in donations, 37 questionnaires/sign-up sheets turned in. [*statistics corrected -jp, web admin]

In less quantifiable terms; the day was a success because you shared valuable insights into your dreams, intentions and concerns about the education of our children here in Northeast Los Angeles. And because we were able to share our enthusiasm for el Rio with you.

Please join us for our Second Public Meeting; scheduled for Saturday October 17th at the same place; the Audubon Center at Debs Park.

This meeting will focus on Waldorf pedagogy as applied to public education in Los Angeles. With special guest speaker Tamar Kern, teacher at Ocean Charter School in Mar Vista.

Bring a friend!