August News (August 30th, 2023)

Reminder: 12:30 early dismissal Friday September 1st and

No School Monday September 4th

School News & Upcoming Events:

Bringing Meaning as a Waldorf Dad: Tuesday Sept 19th 6:30-9pm

Hosted at WSRF, All WSRF Dad’s welcome!

Gather with other Waldorf dad's to explore how our role as parents can bring meaning to the lives of our children at the different stages of their lives. Rites of Passage are an important part of our children's development, whether the rites are recognized through formal events, or quiet moments at home.

If inclined, please read Chapter One of Iron John: A Book About Men by Robert Bly. The first chapter can be found in here.

Have questions? Please contact Travis Cox, dad of one WSRF Alumni and a current WSRF 8th grader at 970-216-4534

Safe Route to School

The school needs your help to garner support from Garfield County for a more safe route to school.

Join local community efforts that seek to improve the Catherine Store Bridge, and let your voice be heard for improvements to the frontage road along highway 82 for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists traveling to and from Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork.

Sign the petition here.

Email Garfield County Road & Bridge here. Thank you to Katie Baily for sharing this opportunity.

Mark your Calendar: WSRF Grandparent's Dates have been set!

Please join us for these opportunities for Grandparents and grand friends to connect and explore our school more. You can share this information now with your family members and RSVP now:

Virtual Grandparents Day: Thursday November 16th 10-11am MST RSVP here

On Campus Grandparents Day: Friday November 17th 8:15am-10:30am MST RSVP here

Updated Bus Schedule

Thank you for your feedback and suggestions as we get the transportation scheduled dialed in for the 2023-24 school year! Please find below an updated bus schedule. You can also download the same PDF here, or in the Resource Documents on the WSRF Family Portal.

Mountain Biking Program

The school will partner with Roaring Fork Cycling to offer an after-school fall Mountain Bike program on Wednesdays beginning September 6th, cost is $150 per participant.

We are looking at having an elementary school day at Crown Mountain on Wednesdays and using one of the shuttles to bring kids from Riverside and Carbondale. I wanted to make sure we have a shuttle available for your school. Everything looks like it should work out.

The program will be similar to past years. Open to all kids that ride Prince Creek style trails. Grades 5 and up are preferred. If a large crew of young kids or kids that are not very comfortable on a mountain bike, we can make something work.

Click here for the registration link. Currently limited to 14.

As always, coaches are harder to track down in the fall. If you know of anyone that wants to ride with the kids, please let me know.

Thank you!

Now Hiring: Business Administrator

After 13 years of service to WSRF as Business Administrator, and more years as a parent having watched his two children graduate, Larry Smith is ready to seek a new professional frontier. He will be staying in his role as Business Administrator until we find his replacement and will play an integral part in acclimating that new person to the position. Because we are fortunate not to have to say goodbye just yet, we will save the many accolades and expressions of appreciation for a proper farewell. For the time being, let's not for a moment take Larry's time and tireless commitment to the well-being of WSRF for granted.

A search committee has been formed to steward the process of identifying WSRF's next Business Administrator. Please join these efforts by spreading the word. You can see the job description here and pass it along to anyone you think might be a good fit. Let's find someone great!

Policy Reminders

Illness

The beginning of every school year brings excitement, but also brings the sniffles! Please review our parent handbook (please link this) on page 41 for our policies around illness. Please be diligent in monitoring symptoms and stay at home when necessary. The below synopsis is taken from our Parent Handbook.

Three Key Criteria for Temporary Exclusion of Children Who are ill:

The teacher or designated staff member will be the one to determine if:

The illness poses a possible risk of spreading to a harmful disease to others
The illness prevents the child from participating comfortably in activities as determined by staff/teacher
The illness requires a need for care that is greater than the staff can provide without compromising safety of others If any of these criteria are met, the child should be excluded regardless of the type of illness

Sugar & Candy at School

We would like to remind all families to please not pack candy or sugary treats in lunches and/or snacks. As a school we working to be mindful of how much sugar are students are exposed to on a daily basis. Please review the Parent Handbook regarding healthy lunches and snacks.

Animals on Campus

Only service animals are permitted on the school grounds unless special arrangements are made with the teachers or administration for visits to the classrooms.

Parking

Please note the one-way direction of traffic flow into our parking lot. Vehicles entering the main entrance are to travel one way in front of the school and then around to the parking lot. For the safety of all, please do not pull directly into the main parking lot.

To assure the smooth flow of vehicles, drop-off and pick up is permitted directly in front of the school when it can be accomplished quickly, otherwise please park your vehicle in the lot. To drop off or pick up quickly, please pull your vehicle to the right side of the driveway and stop just before the crosswalk to drop-off or pick up. Vehicles wishing to pull into the parking lot may proceed to the left of vehicles lined up on the right.

All vehicles traveling to the Kinderhaus are to proceed directly to the left when pulling into the main entrance, and around to the parking spots on the North side of the school.

Please also note the two disabled parking spaces and do not block these. Finally, please note that the Faculty lot is reserved for Faculty only.

Thank you for your cooperation.