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Showing posts with label hitchhiking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hitchhiking. Show all posts

Monday, April 16, 2012

El Rio Charter School

El Rio Charter School in Los Angeles made the mistake of hiring Ed Eadon as their acting head administrator.  Read about Ed in my earlier blog posts.  Here's the exchange from the comments section.  Joan Jaeckel removed my first comment - which said the PLANS lawsuit hadn't been resolved yet (which would put ALL California Waldorf charter schools at risk - possibly all national charter schools as well), and which also described my children's experiences at Highland Hall and Ed's connection to them.

Anthroposophist Steve Hale chimed in.  Here's the exchange:

  1. Steve Hale said at 3:13 pm on April 10th, 2012: I would like to hear from Joan and Ed concerning Pete’s allegations which he has been fuming about for years now. His goal is to discredit every Waldorf school in the world if he gets his chance. His apparently local problems with Highland Hall (local because no one else has even remotely come close to his complaints, there or anywhere else) seemingly should have been resolved by now. My understanding is that some of his children even completed high school, so something certainly appears successful about HH. Regards.
  2. 2 Steve Hale said at 9:05 pm on April 10th, 2012: Pete is already casting aspersions on the Ocean Waldorf School, as well as further denunciation of Highland Hall, as if all instructors moved on and took up resident aliases because they were so bad as teachers.
    If Joan and Ed could speak on behalf of El Rio and Waldorf, it would be nice. But maybe the heat in the kitchen is making you swoon. I trust it is as always, which means a quality education system for those that seek an alternative to public education.
    Pete just might be running out of days in order to file his coveted lawsuit. And I suspect that pressure is what bothers him. It is not like we haven’t been encouraging him in that direction for quite some time in order that he can get final closure and move on.
    You see, the only other alternative is for him to seek to undermine every legitimate effort to further Waldorf education with his purely negative attitude, which is backed up by PLANS and the Waldorf_Critics list.
    So, please speak on behalf of El Rio, and have the courage to defuse the slander and libel that emits from Pete. I would encourage making him aware of what he is doing, and consider filing a lawsuit for libel/slander against him.
    At least, then he’ll get his day in court.
    Regards.
  3. 3 Joan Jaeckel said at 12:40 am on April 11th, 2012: HHello Steve,
    Not knowing about the back story of alleged third party events beyond El Rio’s scope, I can only respond by saying, basically, that this site is not the forum for defending El Rio against anything or anyone, or Waldorf education, or our choice of volunteers. This is the web site and blog for people who like the idea of El Rio and the idea of public Waldorf education. It’s not a political forum to debate with people upset over events unrelated to El Rio directly or who think El Rio is a bad idea. There are other places on the net for that. There’s a disclaimer announcing that negative comments will not be welcomed.
    The bottom of the front page of this site says: “Conscious, individual expression and personal initiative for the good is a universal value of Waldorf education worldwide. The opinions expressed by the el Rio Charter School founders and school blog authors are ours alone as individuals. Collectively, we hold to Waldorf’s shared human values of (1) the gift of attentiveness (2) the power of initiative, (3) the count-to-ten pause for objectivity, (4) the joy of positivity, (5) the curiosity of openness, and (6) “being the change you wish to see in the world.” We hold the same standard for comments on our blog posts and look forward to your thoughts and conversation starters!” Since the comment your refer to does not hold with the constructive spirit of the web site the writer posted to, I have removed it as inappropriate for the stated aims of this forum.
    I know there are people who don’t appreciate Waldorf education for their own philosophical reasons, and this web site is not for them as our disclaimer clearly says. I also know that out of everyone who ever encountered a Waldorf school, that some had a disappointing or actually bad experience. This is not the place for old wounds unrelated to El Rio. I’m aware of the lawsuits and, not being a lawyer, have no comment except to say that I, personally, am satisfied that (a) “anthroposophy”, the worldview underlying Waldorf education, is a philosophy, and not a religion and (b) that El Rio charter school will be a public school in every sense of the word, meaning sensitive to First Amendment issues. The lawsuits have been beneficial in encouraging discernment over the distinctions between Waldorf education in public schools vs and Waldorf education in private schools. Steve, it sounds like you are interested in this question as a prospective parent? If so, and you have some thoughts about our proposed educational program or anything else, please let me know.
  4. 4 Joan Jaeckel said at 12:43 am on April 11th, 2012: Hello again, Steve,
    Please see my reply below.
    Best,
    Joan
  5. 5 Steve Hale said at 7:32 am on April 11th, 2012: Thanks Joan. I certainly understand what you intend and want with this website and its comments section. I was just doing a little defending based on faith and reason. I am an anthroposophist who put three kids through public school, but I would love to have been a prospective parent seeking a school like El Rio. Regards.
  6. 6 Pete K said at 8:05 am on April 11th, 2012: Joan wrote: “Not knowing about the back story of alleged third party events beyond El Rio’s scope”
    Really? My ex wife WORKED AS YOUR ASSISTANT. Joan “knows nothing” when it’s convenient. Like I said, Joan has a strained relation with the truth.
  7. 7 Steve Hale said at 9:43 pm on April 12th, 2012: It seems that Pete K is now denouncing you as being the superior of his former wife.
    So, how low can it go? Angela K. obviously holds strong allegiance to Waldorf, which is why two sons graduated through high school at Highland Hall. What greater truth is there than that?
    Surely not Pete’s belief that it all happened while he was negating it all. The truth is, Pete; it means it is, while you gnash your teeth and wring your hands about it.
    Your loss is yours, so stop inflicting it upon the world. Get it, chump?
    Steve
    ps-jeesh!!
  8. 8 Pete Karaiskos said at 9:51 pm on April 12th, 2012: The truth cannot be told here Steve… Obviously. It will be told in court when I sue Ed Eadon and many of the staff of Highland Hall (now at other Waldorf schools) for conspiracy to commit criminal actions and to cover up the same. And thanks to YOU, the conspiracy to defame has been connected to Patrice Maynard of AWSNA. Ed Eadon is a criminal waiting to be held accountable for his actions… and he’s the acting administrator of El Rio Charter school. Let Joan say this not a topic for this blog all she wants… this DIRECTLY relates to El Rio. The law is the law!
  9. 9 Pete Karaiskos said at 10:06 pm on April 12th, 2012: Ed will be saying goodbye to El Rio long before I do… this I promise. Waldorf has a bigger problem, however. Everything Ed did was IN ACCORDANCE with Waldorf practices. There will be accountability not just from Ed, not just from Highland Hall, but from all of Waldorf – for the harm they have done… and continue to do. So far… not even an apology. When I’m done… there will be a LOT of tears shed over this… and Waldorf charter schools will be a memory. You harmed the wrong person’s kids this time… YOU WILL PAY!
  10. 10 Steve Hale said at 10:22 pm on April 12th, 2012: And for how many years have you been threatening this bit of business against Waldorf, Pete?
    Way more than anybody even cares about, or feels threatened by these days.
    ohooooo ;)
    Nice try, Pete, while you waste the very last shred of the Statute of Limitations (which you seem to find a way to extend forever).
    LMAO, Steve
  11. 11 Pete Karaiskos said at 5:57 am on April 13th, 2012: The law is the law Steve. The statute of limitations is still good in this case… and will be for another year and a half. I’ve got plenty of time to file my lawsuit – and I’m going to take every minute of it.
    I don’t see Joan laughing. Ed is a liability to her precious charter school scheme. My blog is filled with letters of complaint against Ed – this isn’t just me. Everyone knows his crimes, thanks to ME and to other brave parents who spoke up at the time. Ed Eadon is a monster who MUST be held accountable for his actions at Highland Hall. I don’t stop until that happens.
  12. 12 Steve Hale said at 7:42 pm on April 13th, 2012: Pete, you know that I have been supporting you in your quest for justice for quite some time now (even if you don’t think so), and the reason is for all the very same reasons you give concerning what has taken place in your life with Waldorf. Your lawsuit stands to be the biggest civil case against Waldorf ever, considering the scope involving specific individuals, HH, and AWSNA.
    I only give you a hard time because you need to get it on and get it over with. Closure will be good for you, and disclosure of all the relevant evidence concerning the aforesaids will likely make this the case of the century. I wait for it to appear on the docket, because I take a keen interest in the facts, and the truth; and the justice that is proper to ending this whole matter for you.
    It will be interesting to see if Waldorf has a future after this, but you have to remember that their defense will attempt to match you, allegation for allegation. That makes it very compelling to see it happen.
    Believe me, I hope it does. No one has come forth like you have, so it must be serious, and the sincerity of purpose is one you have never wavered from.
    Steve
  13. 13 Pete Karaiskos said at 8:16 pm on April 13th, 2012: If my daughter would have died (and she came very close) the charges would have been accessory to MURDER… is that serious enough for you? As it is, she is physically and mentally disabled as a direct result of the monsters at Highland Hall… led by Ed Eadon. Yeah… I’d like to see their attorney match me allegation for allegation. But this is going to happen on MY time line… not yours or Highland Halls.
  14. 14 Pete Karaiskos said at 5:58 am on April 14th, 2012: BTW, Joan, go ahead and delete my comments if you like. I’ve recorded them… and will post them elsewhere – so that people from El Rio can see EXACTLY what you’re hiding from them. Oh, and give our Cowardly Colonel my best…
  15. 15 Pete Karaiskos said at 6:59 pm on April 14th, 2012: Hmmm… silence? Did Joan take the weekend off? I’m guessing not. I think she just had an OOPS moment. Well, until she deletes my posts, I’ll just assume she’s taking a moment to think. It didn’t sound like she knew about MY lawsuit… she was talking about the PLANS lawsuit. It may have caught her by surprise. I wonder what she’s thinking? I’m sure she’s considering ditching Ed… she’d be an idiot not to. But I’m guessing she doesn’t want to appear like she’s caving to pressure from me… so the problematic miscreant, Ed Eadon’s probably going to stay for a while despite being an obvious bad choice for El Rio and potential harm to the children there (I can’t even begin to list all the children who came to harm under Ed’s term at Highland Hall). But Joan’s more worried about deleting negative comments than allowing parents to see who she has selected for this position.
    With regard to my (surprise to her) lawsuit, I’m wondering if she’s thought about the negative publicity this is going to bring to Highland Hall? This isn’t like some dusty school with CEO’s nobody’s heard of… there are celebrities there… BIG ones. I’m sure Ed remembers the paparazzi days. Highland Hall will be a very interesting place in the coming years.
    So what does this mean for El Rio? Well, the negative publicity will affect EVERY Waldorf charter… they taught my kids RACISM as if it was science, for crying out loud. I have a feeling the California charter school system doesn’t have a lot of tolerance for schools that do this. And Highland Hall is the training center for Waldorf teachers in this area… so Joan’s going to have a lot of ‘splainin’ to do when all this comes into sharp focus on El Rio.
  16. 16 Steve Hale said at 8:53 pm on April 14th, 2012: Pete, this is nothing but more of your typical bluster, which you have been duly challenged in the way of pursuing a viable case against these people. Any lawyer representing you would have told you long ago to stifle your comments, which are libelous to the extreme, and wherein any lawyer at this point would likely refuse to represent you.
    So, you may be looking at being your own prosecutor, but with all the time in the world to do it, take every minute to consider every aspect of it, in detail.
    It could very well be that these people see a bluffer and puffer in you, and that is why they stay silent. Why wouldn’t they?
  17. 17 Pete Karaiskos said at 8:16 am on April 15th, 2012: A charge of libel requires that I make statements that AREN’T TRUE. If Waldorf had a libel case to make, don’t you think they would have made it after all these years? Before losing half their student body?
    I have a VERY good lawyer. Many of the critics know who he is. I’m not bluffing… but I REALLY hope they think I am.
    When Joan connected Ed to the charter school system, she screwed up – SERIOUSLY. Now the whole system is up for review.
    See why I wait to file my lawsuit Steve? Last year, I had BRAND NEW developments in my case. This year, MORE new developments. The longer I wait, the more I describe publicly what they did, the more Waldorf tries to cover up their crimes… and the more I CATCH them doing it. Every day is an opportunity to connect a new dot. The people I’m suing have infiltrated Waldorf schools across the country. It’s to my benefit and to Waldorf’s detriment for me to wait as long as possible before filing.
    I hope Joan tries to force my hand. I searched for my daughter while Highland Hall helped hide her. Through that search, I made some good, supportive contacts at the Poly Klaas Foundation, the Attorney General’s office and the California Department of Justice. I contacted police departments throughout the state. I personally went day and night without rest looking for my daughter. I NEVER STOPPED until she was recovered and safe… ALL the time working AGAINST the efforts of the monsters at Highland Hall.
    Now, I’m watching her physically and mentally deteriorate before my eyes. Guess what? I’M NOT GOING TO STOP UNTIL MY KIDS GET JUSTICE!
  18. 18 Pete Karaiskos said at 8:44 am on April 15th, 2012: I wrote “I hope Joan tries to force my hand.”
    Actually, the timing couldn’t be better for this… Right before El Rio opens would be the PERFECT time to draw attention to MY lawsuit.
    Joan is kinda stuck. To make me stop, she has to take me to court… and I’m pretty sure she isn’t fooling herself about how THAT will end. But, to let me continue will undermine her efforts to spread Anthroposophy to unsuspecting people using public monies.
    I’m sure she’d LOVE to pay me to go away quietly, but even Waldorf doesn’t have THAT kind of money. So (and see if you get the irony here) – Waldorf has to sit there and be continually bullied by ME!
    Hey, maybe there really IS a GOD?
  19. 19 Pete Karaiskos said at 9:35 am on April 15th, 2012: We may as well keep going: From Joan’s blog: “Courts in California and worldwide have found that “anthroposophy”, the philosophical foundation of the Waldorf-like curriculum and methods in public charter schools, is a philosophy and not a religion.”
    That’s NOT TRUE. The case is STILL OPEN and is in the 9th district court of appeals.
    (Joan, you shouldn’t believe everything you read on Waldorfanswers… LMAO!)
    Waldorf has a LONG way to go before satisfying the claim that Anthroposophy is not a religion. The courts are still looking at this case – it has NOT been decided… and there’s a good chance (now that there’s a new judge on the bench) that it WILL go differently with respect to the evidence that has been allowed. The role of Waldorf in the California Charter School system may be a moot point when that lawsuit is finished. It may very well be denied ANY charter schools.
    So, to be clear, there is a current “first amendment” lawsuit against Waldorf, AND a “civil” lawsuit coming soon. And no, we’re not sharing the same lawyer.
    One question Steve. Why would you think for a moment that I might have trouble finding a lawyer to represent me here? Mine is a multi-million dollar lawsuit. I’ve literally had to screen applicants who want to represent me in this… You think I can’t find a lawyer to take this case? Are you kidding me?
  20. 20 Steve Hale said at 8:54 pm on April 15th, 2012: Pete, here’s the deal. I support you all the way with this, but you have spent how many years with this pathetic story of abuse? Sure, you can retain any lawyer these days. They are falling out of the trees, and I suspect the potential of a high-profile lawsuit against Waldorf assures the screening process.
    But, what have you just said here? Why would you wait while your daughter suffers so much at the hands of these fiends? What if you were to die tonight because the thief of your soul took you? Who would carry on your legacy?
    See what I mean? People think you are bluffing, and that is why they stay silent. Why wouldn’t they? Only you has come forth announcing the egregious offenses inflicted on your kids. Yet, two of these actually graduated from Highland Hall, true?
    So, where do you draw the line? Your daughter, according to your own public forum, left Highland Hall after the 8th grade for a public high school, where the real trouble began for her. True?
    You see, this is all going to come out in court, and the Waldorf lawyers will take every opportunity to show that it was her transition to public high school, and not Highland Hall, that did the greatest damage.
    But, you have no case whatsoever against public high school, and so you seek to pin it all on a private alternative school which you agreed upon voluntarily, and even saw the successful graduation of two sons through the full program at Highland Hall.
    It is important to look realistically at the full scope of your situation, and having a dialogue here with Joan and Ed present seems quite real to me.
    Steve
  21. 21 Pete Karaiskos said at 10:05 pm on April 15th, 2012: I’m not going to detail out my ENTIRE case here Steve – curious as you may be. You may not believe this, but I’m actually trying to AVOID criminal charges for my children’s mother, while charging the other monsters… not that she isn’t guilty of criminal actions – but because it would further harm my kids to see her in jail. It’s not that easy to do.
    My ex was living with the administrator of Highland Hall (after Ed) during her time in public school. He kicked my daughter out of their home after serving me with a restraining order and helping my ex deny my daughter therapy. When I found out what was happening, and tried to find my daughter Highland Hall organized around him to try to keep me from finding her. They would rather see a child come to harm than see bad publicity for their school… get it?
    I know you want this over Steve… but I really don’t care what you or Waldorf wants. My kids are still very sensitive and this matter is VERY serious. But don’t worry… If I die tomorrow, my case is laid out and my attorney will run with it… I’m not his only client in this case, remember… there are three others.
  22. 22 Steve Hale said at 10:52 pm on April 15th, 2012: Well then, sleep tight tonight, Pete. You’ve got it all covered, don’t you?
    Except for the one little detail of waiting all these years in order to gain justice and commission on the part of Waldorf. No, you felt you should wait for years while the damage continued unabated, and your children suffered.
    Nice try, but that makes no sense to any normal person who sees criminal offenses being committed right before their eyes.
    No, you have waited way beyond the statute of limitations in order to gain justice, even if you have 1-1/2 years left on it, and taking every minute out of it.
    Just look at what damage has been inflicted while you wait. Why? Ask you attorney.
    Ask them all, Pete.
    You know what they’ll tell you? Time is of the essence in lawsuits. Why? Because evidence has a tendency of moving on and getting lost in the shuffle. So, you’re lost in the shuffle, Pete.
    You waited way too long in order to make justice in your case a feasible possibility. You’re now nothing more than a pain-in-the-ass to those that have written you off. Why? Because all you do is talk, and threaten, and bully, and bluster about your own pathetic self.
    And what do they do in response. Yep; ignore you, as any reasonable person would. Now, go talk to your attorney’s, and tell us what comes next. We’re waiting.
    Steve
  23. 23 Pete Karaiskos said at 5:43 am on April 16th, 2012: You saw my website right? ALL the documents I filed in court? ALL the legal declarations? How many times did I ALREADY go to court Steve? Do you have any idea? You DARE to suggest I sat around and did NOTHING while they harmed my kids? Do you know how many times the DCFS were called to my ex’s home? Steve, this is why I don’t discuss this stuff with you – you’re a dimwitted moron. Get a clue – I’ve NEVER STOPPED fighting this fight. NEVER!
  24.  Pete Karaiskos said: Nobody has to wonder if Waldorf intends to teach children WHAT to think.  Here's Rudolf Steiner from "Faculty Meetings with Rudolf Steiner" - pp41-42
    http://digitalseance.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/faculty_meetings_1_2.pdf
    Rudolf Steiner: "It is true that anthroposophy is a worldview, and we certainly do not want to bring that into our school. On the other hand, we must certainly develop the religious feeling that worldview can give to the human soul when the parents expressly ask us to give it to the children. Particularly when we begin with anthroposophy, we dare not develop anything inappropriate, certainly not develop anything too early. We will, therefore, have two stages. First, we will take all the children in the lower four grades, and then those in the upper four grades.
    In the lower four grades, we will attempt to discuss the things and processes in the human environment, so that a feeling arises in the children that spirit lives in nature. We can consider such things as my previous examples. We can, for instance, give the children the idea of the soul. Of course, the children first need to learn to understand the idea of life in general. You can teach the children about life if you direct their attention to the fact that people are first small and then they grow, become old, get white hair, wrinkles, and so forth. Thus, you tell them about the seriousness of the course of human life and acquaint them with the seriousness of the fact of death, something the children already [k]now.
    Therefore, you need to discuss what occurs in the human soul during the changes between sleeping and waking. You can certainly go into such things with even the youngest children in the first group. Discuss how waking and sleeping look, how the soul rests, how the human being rests during sleep, and so forth. Then, tell the children how the soul permeates the body when it awakens and indicate to them that there is a will that causes their limbs to move. Make them aware that the body provides the soul with senses through which they can see and hear and so forth. You can
    give them such things as proof that the spiritual is active in the physical. Those are things you can discuss with the children."

    p43
    "In contrast, it is important that we develop imaginative pictures through which we can show the supersensible through nature. For example, I have often mentioned that we should speak to the children about the butterfly’s cocoon and how the
    butterfly comes out of the cocoon. I have said that we can explain the concept of the immortal soul to the children by saying that, although human beings die, their souls go from them like an invisible butterfly emerging from the cocoon. Such a picture is, however, only effective when you believe it yourself, that is, when you believe the picture of the butterfly creeping out of the cocoon is a symbol for immortality planted into nature by
    divine powers. You need to believe that yourselves, otherwise the children will not believe it."

    It's pretty obvious to me that Steiner is telling teachers to make every lesson - if not directly about Anthroposophical ideas, at least about ideas contained within Anthroposophy - such as reincarnation, the existence and immortality of the soul and so forth.  That's what the curriculum is leading up to in Waldorf.  Students might not necessarily come out Anthroposophists, but the intention is to soften them up for Anthroposophy.  And if they've gotten the parents hooked, that's the first step.  If they only get 5% of the people who find Waldorf (parents and students) to accept Anthroposophy, they're doing better than most religions.  If all the other 95% did was fund the school for the other 5%, that's just fine with Waldorf.  Do they worry about the families who they've drawn in and who leave in disgust after a few years?  Yeah, they worry all the way to the bank.
Endoscopic Review:

http://www.elriocharterschool.org/about_us/

Ed Eadon - formerly from Highland Hall is now School Director at El Rio Charter
Waldorf School. After he was finally fired from arguably the WORST Waldorf
school in existence in 2008, he spent two years at a Los Angeles Charter school,
Amino Locke ACE Academy in Los Angeles. Let's see how they are ranked, shall
we:

http://school-ratings.com/school_details/19647330119909.html

"The State Rank is determined by a school's API Score in comparison to all other
schools in California. (1 is the worst, 10 is the best). An equal number of
schools occupy each rank. * This rank comes from the 2010 California Academic
Performance Index (API) Base report."

So, schools are ranked from 1 (Lowest) to 10 (Highest). Amino Locke ACE Academy
received the LOWEST possible ranking of 1 (despite a student/teacher ratio of
13:1).

Amino Locke Ace Academy was shut down in 2011 after only two years in existence.

So, after a stellar performance at Highland Hall, and an equally noteworthy
performance at Amino Locke, Ed Eadon is now ready for El Rio Charter school.
Remember, under his leadership, teachers at Highland Hall covered up the abuse
and sexual molestation of children, taught racism as physiology, taught
intelligent design as science, abused parents and even struck children without
fear of reprisal. Ed will, I'M SURE, bring El Rio and the entire Waldorf
presence in the charter school system to even sharper focus than cover-up
activities of Joan Jaeckel. They're cut from the same cloth apparently.



EL RIO CHARTER SCHOOL PARENTS BEWARE!!!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Parent Recommendations for Highland Hall


June 26, 2001

College of Teachers & Board of Directors                                              DRAFT
Highland Hall Waldorf School
17100 Superior St.
Northridge, CA 91325

Dear Members of the College & Board:

On Friday, June 22, 2001, we participated in (or have been told about) a meeting held at school that covered many difficult issues surrounding actual and potential exposure to inappropriate/harassing sexual commentary and propositions that a number of the children at our school experienced from Jeffrey Wilkins, the teenage son of then 3rd Grade Teacher, Wendy Wilkins.  It is our understanding that Ms. Wilkins will no longer be teaching at Highland Hall and that efforts are being made to help Ms. Wilkins and her son get the professional help that they and their family need.

The meeting lasted four hours and only ended because people became exhausted.  All acknowledged the need to continue to discuss the various issues that these events have raised.  Understanding that the College of Teachers has spent enormous amounts of time and personal energy dealing with this situation, and hearing an appeal for help in leading the community through this difficult time, we have taken it upon ourselves to outline some potential next steps for the College and Board to consider:

  1.  Investigation & Discovery and Recovery:  Many people felt that before they would be able to contemplate the future, it is critical to understand more fully what actually happened, to the extent it can be learned.  Also, in order to improve our process for dealing with, and ideally preventing, incidents of this nature, we must understand what was done this time, what reasoning went into the decisions that were made and the results of the choices that we collectively made.

As follow-up to the guidelines suggested by the Valley Trauma Center, we recommend that a meeting be set to which all people who have since spoken with their child and who have direct knowledge concerning incidents involving Jeffrey and their child that could be shared to the benefit of others would be encouraged to attend.  The meeting should be facilitated by the Valley Trauma Center personnel.  The purpose of the meeting would be to create a timeline of events that is as complete and accurate as possible.  These events would include incidents involving Jeffrey, parents notifying school authorities of such incidents, the school’s communication(s) with Ms. Wilkins regarding the situation and any other actions taken in regards to the situation.  People with such direct knowledge who are unable to attend in person would be encouraged to provide whatever information they had to offer in writing prior to the meeting.

In order for the meeting to be most productive and to try and limit the potential for a raging forest fire of hearsay, we suggest that every family and faculty/staff member be sent a letter explaining the purpose of the meeting and a description of the recommended process for discussing the situation with their children.  It would probably make sense to enclose the handout from the Valley Trauma Center.  The emphasis would be on calmly eliciting the facts, reassuring the children if they need to share difficult or embarrassing information and helping the children affirm their own power for any potential future incidents of this nature.  The goal is to avoid the inadvertent creation of misinformation in the quest for the needed information to allow healing to be assisted and improved processes to be developed.

The following people are willing to help with drafting the mailing to the community, arranging the meeting time in coordination with the Valley Trauma Center personnel and arranging the logistics for the meeting:   (please let me know if you would like your name added here)

2.  New 4th Grade Teacher Search & Future Teacher Searches:   Many parents in the upcoming 4th Grade feel that it would enhance the process of selecting the next teacher for the class if the College had the benefit of parent opinion, as well as all of the other factors the College takes into consideration when selecting a new teacher.  We recommend that a new Search Advisory Committee be selected by the College from a pool of volunteer parents from throughout the school.  This Advisory Committee would review the resume and any other information available on any teacher candidate under serious consideration by the College, interview the candidate from the perspective of parents, rather than colleagues, and give its impression and any areas of recommended further investigation back to the College as part of the College’s due diligence process.   We would recommend that Advisory Committee members recuse themselves when the teacher candidate is for their own child’s class.

The following people are willing to work with whomever the College mandates to do whatever letter writing, recruiting and other legwork necessary to bring the formation of this committee about:   Alex Wright,  David Cohen (please let me know if you would like your name added here)

3.  Changes to Current Community Practices to Better Protect the Children Under the School’s Care:   In order to realize the opportunity inherent in these unfortunate and painful events, we as a community need to grow and change.  Many questions and ideas have been put forth regarding notification, education, faculty/staff training, etc.  In order for these questions and ideas to be more fully discussed and lead to actual changes in the practices of our school community, we recommend that a committee from the broad community be formed to discuss these issues in depth, solicit ideas from professional resources, such as the Valley Trauma Center and/or other communications facilitators, and discuss with College members what kinds of guidelines and principals govern College decisions.  With this education and opportunity for discussion, the committee would formulate and present recommendations to the Board and College for consideration.

The following people are willing to work with whomever the College mandates to do whatever letter writing to the community and other legwork necessary to bring the formation of this committee about:   Alex Wright,  Lynne Moses (please let me know if you would like your name added here)

We all appreciate that Highland Hall is more than a school, that it is a social community for the families that make up the students, parents, faculty, staff, College and Board of the school.  We also recognize that much of the work that is typically handled by a larger administration in other schools is instead handled by faculty members volunteering to serve on the College at Highland Hall.  Therefore, the work of those in positions of authority in running the school extends far beyond the usual demands of school governance.  For this reason, we recognize that we all need to do our part in bringing about social change and supporting the College and Board in your work.  We sincerely hope that these suggestions are taken in that spirit of responsibility and loving support.

                                    Sincerely,

David Cohen
Ayelet Cohen
Alex Wright
Ben Moses
Lynne Moses
(Please let me know if you would like to add your name here) 

cc:  Parent Association

Friday, March 4, 2011

Parents don't trust Highland Hall teachers

Highland Hall, after another bout with abuse in 2004, tried to send our kids on an "all-teacher" supervised camping trip.  The parents would have nothing of it.  As it turned out, the poorly-supervised trip yielded the hitchhiking incident I refer to elsewhere in this blog.

 

Monday, February 7, 2011

Racism Conference Emails

Email Communications about:
Meetings regarding the teaching of Racism as physiology to Pete’s Child

My son was taught a very disturbing lesson in physiology class by Merrily Lovell.  He reported to me that he was taught that “the blood of Europeans is more evolved than the blood of Africans and Asians”.  Karen Grant, my son's sponsor, explained this to me as “Out of Africa Theory”.  She needs to read about what Out of Africa theory says. Then she said none of the children took anything racist away from that lesson (as if she knew).  I had already been posting my experience on Openwaldorf.com.   In an attempt to stop me from posting more about this, Karen Grant agreed to meet with me to discuss the lesson that was taught to my son and the possibility of racism surfacing Waldorf education.  I found out later, the only reason we were talking was to keep me from posting on Openwaldorf.com.  Naturally, they didn’t want any part of these exchanges posted... but I felt some of the points they raised were worth noting.  Anyway... The following email exchanges give you an idea of how it went.

From: Pete Karaiskos
To: Karen Grant
Subject: Meeting
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 11:30:12 -0700 (PDT)

Hi Karen,

We talked about having a meeting together.  I'm wondering if you are still interested in having this and when it might be, and who might attend.  As I'm not particularly interested in attending any of the Essential Conversations (I don't think they are all that productive for me), I'm thinking this more private meeting might be worthwhile and a reasonable substitute.  I have two people in mind that I would like to ask to participate.

Thanks Karen,

Pete

Response from Karen Grant: 10/22/2004
Pete, I look forward to a meeting.  My schedule is kind of extreme right now because I have a particularly heavy teaching load and the 8th grade interviews have begun during the main lesson time.  I can meet on Thursday and Friday afternoons from 2:30 until about 4:30.  Are the two people you have in mind available during those times?  I guess I was thinking maybe Janet Knight would be helpful, though I'm not sure she could meet before 3:30 on either of those days.  Let me know what you think and if you're available at either of those times.  I could meet next week. Karen

From: Pete Karaiskos
To: Karen Grant
Subject: Our conference
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 21:07:58 -0700 (PDT)


Hi Karen,

I tried calling you this evening but missed you.  I was out of town all day yesterday.  I was hoping to have our conference tomorrow, Thursday at 2:30 as you suggested.  I have asked Alex Houghton and Dr. Knight if they wouldn't mind attending and both have agreed.  If this is too short notice, we could shoot for Friday afternoon instead.  Please let me know.

Thank you.

Pete

Response from Karen Grant: 10/28/2004 6:22am
Pete, This isn't much notice, but I'm pretty sure I can clear my calendar.  I'll call you at 11:30 if I can't do it; otherwise let's plan on having the meeting today at 2:30.  Karen
Meeting ensued that day.
Email from Karen Grant: 10/28/2004 7:26pm
Pete, Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed our meeting today.  You brought up some good points, and I'm eager to share them with Lynn, Martina, and Bari.  I appreciate so much your willingness to come to the table.  I do understand, better than before the meeting, what your concerns are.  Give me a chance to read through the Internet papers you gave me, and then we can reschedule another meeting.  If you think of anything else you'd like me to think about before the next meeting, just email me.  Also, if you'd like another meeting before I contact you, just let me know.  Karen

From: Pete Karaiskos
To: Karen Grant
Subject: openwaldorf
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 13:16:15 -0800 (PST)

Hi Karen,

I know you've probably been too busy to nose through the stack of papers I gave you at our meeting, but as the thread I gave you had been dead for some time, and I realized this topic is still meaningful, I decided to add a few comments to it to see if anyone else is still interested in discussing it.  I mentioned your comment about Waldorf traditions vs Anthroposophy.  The link below will bring you to the last page of the thread, if you are interested.

http://p087.ezboard.com/fopenwaldorffrm12.showMessageRange?topicID=3.topic&start=181&stop=194

Warm wishes,

Pete

Response from Karen Grant: 11/3/2004 5:39am

 Dear Pete,
     I appreciate your email letting me know that you had added more to the openwaldorf site.  I was surprised and disappointed, as I thought you had answered in the affirmative at our meeting when I asked you to stay off for awhile as we tried to work directly to answer your questions.  I guess I can talk to Alex and Jimmy to see how I misread your intention.  Perhaps you weren't happy or trustful of my answers, but I had hoped that you would keep the conversations in our meetings between you and me, and Alex and Jimmy, who you had invited.  I must admit, I felt betrayed to find my ideas represented by you on this site, even though you didn't use my name.  I feel like I should be able to represent myself if I want to, which I don't.  Anyway, I don't know exactly how to move forward now.  What do you think?
Sincerely, Karen

Nov 5, 2004 – I emailed Karen to ask about my son’s homework.  She added the following to her response:
Email from Karen Grant: Nov 6, 2004

Pete, Here's the email Christine sent back to me regarding Nick's homework.  I also want to let you know that I have begun speaking to the staff in admissions and outreach, and so far I've experienced only openness to your concerns, so that gives me some encouragement, and I hope it does the same for you.  I just wanted to let you know that we do have two classes occurring weekly on campus for parents who are interested in what lies behind Waldorf education.  These classes are announced weekly in the Lunchbox Express and are open to any interested parents.  Well, now I must begin correcting papers.  Let me know if you need anything else.  Karen

***Karen Grant tries to get me to join a Waldorf study group... and basically blows me off...


From: Pete Karaiskos
To: Karen Grant,  "Dr. James Knight",  Alex Houghton
Subject: Next meeting?
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 16:27:18 -0800 (PST)

Hi everyone,

I am wondering if we are moving forward with another meeting.  I felt like there was some good progress made last time and that we should meet again if everyone is still interested.  I would love to have Martina, Lynn and Bari join us.

Pete
 
 11/11/2004 two positive replies:
Alex Houghton: Hi, Whenever everyone's ready, I'm there.  Alex
J. Marshall Knight: Hello, I am also hoping there will be a next meeting. I feel there is much to be accomplished when "good" and "right thinking" people commune together. Please let's continue.  J. Marshall Knight
 
Reply from Karen Grant: 11/11/2004
Pete, I have made some progress; Bari gave me a name of someone I can contact re: the spiritual aspects.  I have not had time to contact him.  I am absolutely overwhelmed with work right now.  I have many papers and tests to grade before I write grades on the one main lesson and two track classes I taught in the first nine weeks.  This work takes me approximately one hour per student, so 55 hours in addition to my regular work must be done before next weekend.  I think we may have to wait until after the Thanksgiving break.  I'm sorry, but I don't know what else to do.  Karen

 

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Steiner Quotes - The Jews, Racial Progression, Blood and the Future


The Jews

"It certainly cannot be denied that Jewry today still behaves as a closed totality, and as such it has frequently intervened in the development of our current state of affairs in a way that is anything but favorable to European ideas of culture. But Jewry itself has long since outlived its time; it has no more justification within the modern life of peoples, and the fact that it continues to exist is a mistake of world history whose consequences are unavoidable. We do not mean the forms of the Jewish religion alone, but above all the spirit of Jewry, the Jewish way of thinking." (Steiner, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Literatur p. 152)

"Thus the greatest tragedy of this 20th century [World War I] has come from what the Jews are also striving for. And one can say that since everything the Jews have done can now be done consciously by all people, the best thing that the Jews could do would be to disappear into the rest of humankind, to blend in with the rest of humankind, so that Jewry as a people would simply cease to exist. That is what would be ideal. This ideal is still opposed, even today, by many Jewish habits - and above all by the hatred of other people. That is what must be overcome." (Steiner, Die Geschichte der Menschheit und die Weltanschauungen der Kulturvölker p. 189)

"Today all aspects of the Jews are dominated by racial qualities. Above all they marry among themselves. They see the racial qualities, not the spiritual. And this is what must be said in reply to the question: has the Jewish people fulfilled its mission within the evolution of human knowledge? It has fulfilled it; for in earlier times one single people was needed to bring about a certain monotheism. But today spiritual insight itself is necessary. Therefore this mission has been fulfilled. And therefore this Jewish mission as such, as a Jewish mission, is no longer necessary in evolution; instead the only proper thing would be for the Jews to blend in with the other peoples and disappear into the other peoples." (Steiner, Die Geschichte der Menschheit und die Weltanschauungen der Kulturvölker p. 190)

"Actual antisemitism is not the cause of this Jewish hypersensitivity, but rather the false image of the anti-Jewish movement invented by overwrought imaginations. Anyone who has dealt with Jews knows how deep runs the tendency to create such an image, even among the best members of their nation. Mistrust toward non-Jews has completely taken over their souls. [. . .] I consider the antisemites to be harmless people. The best of them are like children. They want something to blame for their woes. [. . .] Much worse than the antisemites are the heartless leaders of the Jews who are tired of Europe, Herzl and Nordau. They exaggerate an unpleasant childishness into a world-historical trend; they pretend that a harmless squabble is a terrible roar of cannons. They are seducers and tempters of their people." (Steiner, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Kultur- und Zeitgeschichte pp. 198-200 [1897])

"...the Jahve forces from the moon sphere meet and cooperate with the Mars spirits and thus a special kind of modification arises, namely, the Semitic race. Here is the occult explanation for the origin of the Semites. The Semitic people are an example of a modification of collective humanity. Jahve or Jehovah shuts himself off from the other Elohim and invests this people with a special character by cooperating with the Mars spirits, in order to bring about a special modification of his people. You will now understand the peculiar character of the Semitic people and its mission."(Steiner, The Mission of Folk Souls p. 105)

"[Jesus felt]: All the forces of soul which I believed had been bestowed upon me lead only to the realisation that in the evolution of the Jewish people there is no longer the capacity to reach the heights of Divine revelations." (Steiner, 1913, The Fifth Gospel. (1913) Trans. C. Davy & D.S. Osmond. London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1968. p. 67)

Progression through the Races

"The relation between soul-development and race-development is preserved to us in a wonderful myth. Let us imagine race following race, civilization following civilization. The soul going through its earth mission in the right way is incarnated in a certain race; it strives upward in this race, and acquires the capacities of this race in order next time to be incarnated in a higher one. Only the souls which sink in the race and do not work out of the physical materiality, are held back in the race by their own weight, as one might say. They appear a second time in the same race and eventually a third time in bodies in similarly formed races. Such souls hold back the bodies of the race. This has been wonderfully described in a legend. We know, indeed, that man progresses further in the fulfillment of the mission of the earth by following the great Leaders of humanity who point out the goals to be attained; if he rejects them, if he does not follow them, he must remain behind with his race, for he cannot then get beyond it. Let us think of a personality who has the good fortune to meet a great Leader of humanity, let us suppose such a personality confronting Christ Jesus himself, for example; he sees how all his deeds are evidence for leading humanity forward, but he will have nothing to do with this progress, he rejects the Leader of humanity. Such a personality, such a soul would be condemned to remain in the race. If we follow this thought to its conclusion such a soul would have to appear again and again in the same race, and we have the legend of Ahasuerus who had to appear in the same race again and again because he rejected Christ Jesus. Great truths concerning the evolution of humanity are placed before us in such a legend as this." (Rudolf Steiner, The Apocalypse of St. John, pp. 80-81)

"Each person proceeds through race after race. Those that are young souls incarnate in the races that have remained behind on earlier racial levels. In this way, the races and souls that live around us take on a physical and spiritual structure. Everything makes sense, everything becomes clear and explicable. We are moving closer and closer to the solution of this puzzle and we can realize that in the future we will have other epochs to go through, we will have other paths to follow than the ones made by race. We must be clear about the difference between soul development and racial development. Our own souls once lived within the Atlantean race, and they then developed themselves upward to a higher race. That gives us an image of the evolution of humankind up until our time. In this way we can comprehend how to justify the principle, the core principle of universal brotherhood without regard to race, color, status, and so forth. I will explain this thought in particular later. Today I simply wanted to show how the same essence appears in different forms, and in fact in a much more correct sense than natural science would have us believe. Our souls march from one level to the next, which is to say from one race to the next, and we come to know the meaning of humanity when we examine these races." (Steiner, Die Welträtsel und die Anthroposophie pp. 153-4)

"For peoples and races are but steps leading to pure humanity. A race or a nation stands so much the higher, the more perfectly its members express the pure, ideal human type, the further they have worked their way from the physical and perishable to the supersensible and imperishable. The evolution of man through the incarnations in ever higher national and racial forms is thus a process of liberation. Man must finally appear in harmonious perfection." (Steiner, Knowledge of Higher Worlds p. 207)

"You might now be inclined to say: Is it not an extremely bitter thought that whole bodies of peoples remain immature and do not develop their capacities; that only a small group becomes capable of providing the germ for the next civilization? This thought will no longer disquiet you if you distinguish between race-development and individual soul-development, for no soul is condemned to remain in one particular race. The race may fall behind; the community of people may remain backward, but the souls progress beyond the several races. If we wish to form a true conception of this we must say that all the souls now living in bodies in civilized countries were formerly incarnated in Atlantean bodies. A few developed there in the requisite manner, and did not remain in Atlantean bodies. As they had developed further they could become the souls of the bodies which had also progressed further. Only the souls which as souls had remained backward had to take bodies which as bodies had remained at a lower stage. If all the souls had progressed, the backward races would either have decreased very much in population, or the bodies would be occupied by newly incoming souls at a low stage of development. For there are always souls which can inhabit backward bodies. No soul is bound to a backward body if it does not bind itself to it." (Steiner, The Apocalypse of St. John p. 80)

"People who listen to the great leaders of humankind, and preserve their soul with its eternal essence, reincarnate in an advanced race; in the same way he who ignores the great teacher, who rejects the great leader of humankind, will always reincarnate in the same race, because he was only able to develop the one form. This is the deeper meaning of Ahasver, who must always reappear in the same form because he rejected the hand of the greatest leader, Christ. Thus each person has the opportunity to become caught up in the essence of one incarnation, to push away the leader of humankind, or instead to undergo the transformation into higher races, toward ever higher perfection. Races would never become decadent, never decline, if there weren't souls that are unable to move up and unwilling to move up to a higher racial form. Look at the races that have survived from earlier eras: they only exist because some souls could not climb higher." (Steiner, Das Hereinwirken geistiger Wesenheiten in den Menschen p. 174)


The "Aryan" Race

"The ancestors of the Atlanteans lived in a region which has disappeared, the main part of which lay south of contemporary Asia. In theosophical writings they are called the Lemurians. After they had passed through various stages of development the greatest part of them declined. These became stunted men, whose descendants still inhabit certain parts of the earth today as so-called savage tribes. Only a small part of Lemurian humanity was capable of further development. From this part the Atlanteans were formed. Later, something similar again took place. The greatest part of the Atlantean population declined, and from a small portion are descended the so-called Aryans who comprise present-day civilized humanity. According to the nomenclature of the science of the spirit, the Lemurians, Atlanteans and Aryans are root races of mankind." (Steiner, Cosmic Memory pp. 45-46)


Colonization and the Degradation of the Blood

"But all such questions are illuminated as soon as we recognize the nature of the spiritual essence which lies at the back of our blood. Who can deny that this question is closely linked to that of race, which at the present time is once more coming markedly to the front? Yet this question of race is one that we can never understand until we understand the mysteries of the blood and of the results accruing from the mingling of the blood of different races. And finally, there is yet one other question, the importance of which is becoming more and more acute as we endeavor to extricate ourselves from the hitherto aimless methods of dealing with it, and seek to approach it in its more comprehensive bearings. This problem is that of colonisation, which crops up wherever civilised races come into contact with the uncivilised: namely - To what extent are uncivilised peoples capable of becoming civilised? How can a Negro or an utterly barbaric savage become civilised? And in what way ought we to deal with them? And here we have to consider not only the feelings due to a vague morality, but we are also confronted by great, serious, and vital problems of existence itself. Those who are not aware of the conditions governing a people - whether it be on the up- or down-grade of its evolution, and whether the one or the other is a matter conditioned by its blood - such people as these will, indeed, be unlikely to hit on the right mode of introducing civilisation to an alien race. These are all matters which arise as soon as the Blood Question is touched upon." (Steiner, The Occult Significance of Blood p. 13)


Spiritual Politics of the Blood

“The use of the French language quite certainly corrupts the soul. The soul acquires nothing more than the possibility of clichés. Those who enthusiastically speak French transfer that to other languages. The French are also ruining what maintains their dead language, namely, their blood. The French are committing the terrible brutality of moving black people to Europe, but it works, in an even worse way, back on France. It has an enormous effect on the blood and the race and contributes considerably toward French decadence. The French as a race are reverting.” (FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, pp. 558-559.)


The War of the White Race Against Other Races

"White humankind is still on the path of absorbing the spirit deeper and deeper into its own essence. Yellow humankind is on the path of conserving the era when the spirit will be kept away from the body, when the spirit will only be sought outside of the human-physical organization. But the result will have to be that the transition from the fifth cultural epoch to the sixth cultural epoch cannot happen in any other way than as a violent battle of white humankind against colored humankind in myriad areas. And that which precedes these battles between white and colored humankind will occupy world history until the completion of the great battles between white and colored humankind. Future events are frequently reflected in prior events. You see, we stand before something colossal that - when we understand it through spiritual science - we will in the future be able to recognize as a necessary occurrence." (Rudolf Steiner, Die geistigen Hintergründe des Ersten Weltkrieges. Dornach, 1974 (GA 174b) p. 3)

Steiner Quotes - Specifically Waldorf Related


The Task of Anthroposophy

"The task of Anthroposophy is not simply to replace a false view of the world with a correct one...The task is to raise the spirit-soul into the realm of the spiritual, so that the human being is no longer a thinking and feeling automaton...The human being is...in danger of drifting into the Ahrimanic world, in which case the spirit-soul will evaporate into the cosmos.” (FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 115.)

Demonic Possession in Children

Dr. Steiner: “That little girl L.. in the first grade must have something very wrong inside. There is not much we can do. Such cases are increasing in which children are born with a human form, but are not really human beings in relation to their highest I [the highest element of one’s spiritual being]; instead, they are filled with beings that do not belong to the human class. Quite a number of people have been born since the [1890s] without an I, that is, they are not reincarnated, but are human forms filled with a sort of natural demon. There are quite a large number of older people going around who are actually not human beings, but only natural; they are human beings only in regard to their form. We cannot, however, create a school for demons.”

A teacher: “How is that possible?”

Dr. Steiner: “Cosmic error is certainly not impossible. The relationships of individuals coming into earthly existence have long been determined. There are also generations in which individuals have no desire to come into earthly existence and be connected with physicality, or immediately leave at the very beginning. In such cases, other beings that are not quite suited step in.... They are also quite different from human beings in regard to everything spiritual. They can, for example, never remember such things as sentences; they have a memory only for words, not for sentences....

“I do not like to talk about such things since we have often been attacked even without them. Imagine what people would say if they heard that we say there are people who are not human beings. Nevertheless, these are facts. Our culture would not be in such a decline if people felt more strongly that a number of people are going around who, because they are completely ruthless, have become something that is not human, but instead are demons in human form.

“Nevertheless, we do not want to shout that to the world. Our opposition is already large enough. Such things are really shocking to people. I caused enough shock when I needed to say that a very famous university professor, after a very short time between death and rebirth, was reincarnated as a black scientist. We do not want to shout such things out into the world.” (Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, Anthroposophical Press, 1998, pp. 649-650.)

"Demons are born through man's immoral conduct. Let us look at the difference between the demons that arise through immoral behaviour and the spiritual entities - spiritual in so far as they only achieve a watery existence on Earth - the spiritual forms that are created by moral actions." ...

"The demons created out of immoral actions also have an astral body, an ether body and a physical body, at the watery level of course, but they do not have the basis for developing an ego. They are born headless, as it were. They do not take up the basis for regular evolution to Jupiter existence but reject it. By doing so they condemn themselves to a fate of dropping out of evolution and adding to the hordes of Luciferic beings, falling into their power. Unable to progress in a regular way they become parasites. This is what happens to all the spirits who reject normal evolution; they have to attach themselves to others in order to progress. Spirits who arise through immoral actions have a particular tendency to be parasites in human evolution on Earth under Lucifer's leadership, and to seize hold of the evolution of human beings before these make their physical entry into the world. They attack human beings during the embryonic stage and share their existence between conception and birth. Some of these spirits, if they are strong enough, can continue to accompany the human being after birth, creating the phenomena seen in children who are possessed.

"The criminal demons attached as parasite to unborn children cause deterioration in the succession of the generations; this eats into human beings, making them less good than they would be if these demons did not exist. There are various reasons for the decline of families, tribes, people and nations, but one of them is the existence of these criminal demon parasites during the period mentioned.

"These things play an important part in Earth evolution as a whole, and we are here touching on deep secrets of human existence. People often acquire certain prejudices and points of view even before they are born because of this. They are then tormented by doubts and uncertainties in life, and all kinds of other things, because of these demonic parasites.

"These spirits cannot do very much once human beings develop their ego, but they prey on them all the more before they are born or in their earliest years." (from "Future Jupiter Existence" (Dornach, 3 January 1915), reprinted in Angels: Selected Lectures by Rudolf Steiner; London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996 reprinted 1998). (pp 167-168))

Whoever could be misled by the preceding expositions into believing that the described evolution bears a fatalistic stamp, would have misunderstood them. Whoever were to believe that in such an evolution a certain number of men would be condemned to belong to the kingdom of “evil humanity,” fails to perceive how the mutual relationship between outer world and the world of soul and spirit takes shape in this evolution. Both outer world and the world of soul and spirit form, within certain limits, separate evolutionary streams. Through the forces inherent in the sensory stream there arise the forms of the “evil human kingdom.” The necessity for a human soul to incarnate in such a form will only occur if this soul itself has created the conditions for it. The case might also arise that the forms originating from the forces of the sensory could not find human souls originating in the previous age, for these souls might be too good for that type of body. These forms would then have to be ensouled from the cosmos by something quite different from former human souls. Human souls will incarnate in the forms characterized only when they have made themselves ready for such an incarnation. Supersensible cognition is bound to state what it perceives concerning this sphere, namely, that in the future indicated there will exist two human kingdoms, one good and one evil, but it does not abstractly deduce from the present state of human souls a future state appearing as though with the force of self-evident necessity. Evolution of human forms and evolution of soul-destinies must be sought by supersensible cognition on two quite separate paths; any attempt to mix the two in the conception of the world would be a remnant of a materialistic attitude that, if present, would project itself dangerously into the science of the supersensible.”


Science in Waldorf

“With the students, we should at least try to...make it clear that, for instance, an island like Great Britain swims in the sea and is held fast by the forces of the stars. In actuality, such islands do not sit directly upon a foundation; they swim and are held fast from outside.” (FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 607.)

“It is not that the planets move around the Sun, but these three, Mercury, Venus, and the Earth, follow the Sun, and these three, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, precede it.” (FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER., pp. 30-31.)


Teaching Reincarnation to Waldorf Students

“For the seventh, eighth, and ninth grade independent religious instruction we could move into a freer form and give a theoretical explanation about such things as life before birth and after death. We could give them examples. We could show them how to look at the major cultural connections and about the mission of the human being on Earth. You need only look at Goethe and Jean Paul [i.e., Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, a German author] to see it. You can show everywhere that their capacities come from a life before birth.” (FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 184.)

Physical Assessment of Student


"And now, if you will begin to observe the child for yourselves -- [to the boy]
Come here a minute! -- you will find many things to notice. Let me draw your
attention, first of all, to the strongly developed lower half of the face. Look
at the shape of the nose and the mouth. The mouth is always a little open, which
has an effect on dental development. It is important to note these things, for
they are unquestionably bound up with the whole soul-and-spirit constitution of
the child... The formation you see here in the jaws -- the jaws belong, of
course, to the limb system -- is wholly part of the head system ... (Look, he's
amused! I think Fraulein B. was asking him why he keeps his mouth open, and his
reply was: 'To let the flies come in.' This is a firmly fixed opinion of his.)

"... Here (in the front) as we remarked, the head is pressed together. In all
probability this points back to a purely mechanical injury, either at birth or
during pregnancy, a mechanical injury in which we can see nothing else than a
working of karma ...

"[T]he whole breathing system ... is very little under control ... Hence the
symptom that is so conspicuous in a child of this kind ... What ought to happen
is that gradually, in the course of life, the whole system of movement in man
should become a servant of the intellectual system. [To the boy] Stand still a
minute! And now come here to me and do this! (Dr. Steiner makes a movement with
his arm as if to take hold of something; the boy does not make the movement.)
Never mind! We mustn't force him. Do you see? It is difficult for him to do
anything; he has not the power to exercise the right control over his
metabolism-and-limbs system...." [Rudolf Steiner, EDUCATION FOR SPECIAL NEEDS
(Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), pp. 106-110.]

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Working with Highland Hall - Open Letter to Highland Hall Community

Pete Karaiskos

Open letter to Highland Hall:
The Board of Directors
The College of Teachers
The Administration
The Faculty
The Parent Body

July 4, 2001
Dear Friends,
Highland Hall is a school in a crisis! I have tried unsuccessfully to have faith that things will get better. Recently my faith was, once again, shattered with the recent problems surrounding the employment of Wendy Wilkins. I say "once again" because I have observed a pattern of "faith-shattering" decisions, policies and attitudes for at least two years. What is most distressing to me is that the people exhibiting such poor judgment are the same people who are involved in the education of my children.

Frankly, I am furious at what my children have had to go through regarding their teachers. My son Christopher was misplaced with Mrs. Dimitrova and then, after he was exhibiting some stress, we had him repeat the 2nd grade with Mr. Janczak's class where he thrived. Then we lost Mr. Janczak and he first had Mrs. Leonard, and then ended up with Mrs. Wilkins. Now, he will have yet another teacher to look forward to.

My daughter, [redacted], has been from Miss Atkinson to Mrs. Devries to Mrs. Leonard and it looks like Mrs. Leonard will only be here another year. She, too, will have to adjust to yet another teacher it seems. It was necessary for her to adapt to three different teachers in order for her to complete two grades. At what point can a parent conclude that the school isn't working in the best interest of their children?

Now, none of this would have transpired if not for the senseless firing of Mr. Janczak. I don't think it serves any purpose to stir up old wounds, and I only mention the firing of Mr. Janczak here because it raises the questions of the more relevant issue of trust. I believe we all witnessed a pre-rehearsed school-supported conspiratorial effort to discredit Mr. Janczak in the eyes of the parents of his class. More than a year has gone by and I still don't understand why. The almost unanimous show of support by the parents for their children's teacher counted for nothing. Why not? The light went out of my son's and many of his classmate's eyes when they lost his teacher. How are we parents supposed to trust that the faculty, college, board and administration are working in our children's best interest after this?

I can't understand the hiring of the new 2nd grade teacher - Mrs. DeVries. I can't imagine what could have been going through the mind of the persons who accepted this woman's application, but I can understand that there may not have been very many applicants for the position. Five minutes into the first meeting with Mrs. DeVries, I knew she wasn't qualified to teach at any level, let alone at a Waldorf school and I also knew I didn't want her for my daughter's teacher. I can't imagine the person who would in good conscience make the decision to saddle my child with such an unqualified teacher - theoretically through the eighth grade. I am not going to berate anyone for making a bad decision but I would pose the question - What voice do we as individual parents have when the school selects a teacher that obviously isn't qualified - or wants to remove a teacher who obviously is qualified? What choice do we have but to be united in our voice in order to promote positive change? And in the case where we have united behind a teacher, why wasn't our voice heard?

Concurrent with the hiring of Mrs. DeVries, Mrs. Wilkins was hired. Aside from her
obvious family problems, she was hardly the caliber of teacher she was replacing - that was, again, obvious. Again, maybe there was a shortage of teachers at the time this hiring was going on. Clearly, the school was negligent in researching her background. Clearly, the school may have been less than forthcoming with information about her. It was, apparently, very easy to discover her past history with a few phone calls. The question is - Why weren't these phone calls made? And, if they were made and this information was discovered, why was she hired? And, if she had to be hired, why weren't we, the parents, informed so that we could decide for ourselves whether this teacher was one that we would accept for our children? As a parent affected by the hiring of this inadequate and potentially harmful teacher, I would have preferred to have been informed that NO suitable teacher could be found to take the class. At least that would have been honest on the part of the school and I could have been the one to make the choices affecting my child's education and well-being.

A tremendous trust was broken when the school hired these two teachers. I'm sorry, but I've lost enough faith in this school to consider the possibility that, in light of the fact that a competitive school was being formed by our former teachers, a decision was reached that the issue of filling the teaching spot took precedent over pursuing the questions of incompetence or a potentially dangerous history in the new teacher's background. I can only hope I'm wrong about this.

One might pose another question here. What is it about Highland Hall, a well-established Waldorf School, that doesn't seem to be able to attract the top teachers in the country? When it does attract good teachers, why is it unable to keep them? I believe the problem is internal. I believe there is an undercurrent that is eroding the foundation principles of this school, demoralizing the teachers and isolating the parents. The undercurrent puts what it believes are the needs of the school above the needs of the children. The undercurrent is more concerned about boosting tuition than it is about producing a healthy learning environment. The undercurrent is more concerned with how much money an event will draw than it is about how safe our children will be during the event. And, when something goes wrong, the undercurrent insists that parents only talk directly to the College or Board, and not among themselves.

This undercurrent is something I've noticed - perhaps we've all noticed it. It is quick to discredit a once beloved teacher who chose to move on rather than have their spirit diminished and their ego sucked out of them. The undercurrent expects loyalty - going with the flow. It undermines those that would oppose its force - whether teacher or parent. The undercurrent works beneath the surface, as any good undercurrent should. It doesn't come out and say things in public, it whispers in hallways. It may help us understand why an admired teacher who was fired is actually much better off now because she can be free to pursue her other aspirations. It can instantly comfort us by explaining that a child who was molested on our yard wasn't actually one of our own students, or that a parent who asks for temporary financial help could afford their tuition easily if they would just manage their money better. It swirls around us hoping to envelop us in its flow and to pull us in its direction. It has swept up many of our finest teachers
in its force - teachers who once stood up for their students with dignity, but now bow their heads in shame when parents confront them. Sadly, the light has gone out of their eyes too!

When the undercurrent comes to the surface, it gains momentum through solidarity - as was the case with Mr. Janczak's release. We all saw the undercurrent in action on that evening. They presented a united front - forget whether any of the innuendo tossed around that evening could be substantiated. A few undecided parents who considered leaving the school were immediately separated out and persuaded to stay through some loyalty to the school, or for the sake of their children, or through promises of "things will get better - you'll see". That night the undercurrent got stronger, and things got worse, not better.

Those of us who wrote letters supporting one of our parents who needed tuition assistance felt the instant force of the undercurrent - there was nothing friendly about it - it was strong and fierce with no chance of deviation from its course, it left us no room to take a breath - its purpose was to suck us down and hold us down until we gave in. And, we had to give in didn't we? After all, what choice do we have - the undercurrent holds our children too.

It may be easy for some to label me a troublemaker (no doubt the undercurrent will have a field day with me) simply because I have observed these events and drawn my own conclusions. Now that I have voiced my opinions, I'm sure the undercurrent will discredit me. You, too, may wonder how someone who brings such a negative view be anything but bad for the school. Please believe me when I say that nothing would make me happier than to be completely wrong about everything I have said here. Nothing would make me happier than to have the wonderful, well-balanced school we all expect, instead of the dysfunctional one we've all come to tolerate. I don't mind being labeled a troublemaker, however - better to go against the current of dishonesty than to become part of it. I contend that I am not the one doing harm to Highland Hall.

I believe the undercurrent are good people working within Highland Hall - people that have made their priority what they believe are the needs of the school. Unfortunately this has often proven to be at the cost of the needs of the children. This is not only morally wrong, it is bad business and ultimately detrimental to the school as much as to the children. Although they are well-meaning, I believe these people are doing this school serious harm and it is only by acknowledging what is happening that we can move forward from what are very dark times at Highland Hall.

I would like to challenge these people to acknowledge - if only to themselves - who they are and what they are doing and to please step back or step down. If you don't know whether you are part of the undercurrent, I'll help you discover this for yourself. If you put ANYTHING above the best interests of the children at Highland Hall, you are part of it - so shake yourself off and have a good look. If you are one of the ones who interviewed Mrs. DeVries and didn't notice anything wrong, please step down and let someone else do the interviewing from now on. If you discovered Mrs. Wilkins past history and didn't feel the moral obligation to inform the parents and protect the children of the school, please step aside and let someone else take your place. Whether or not you agreed with the outcome, if you saw nothing wrong with how the meeting of Mr. Janczak's release was conducted,
you are working not for, but in opposition to the good of the school. If you disagree with how things are, but feel pressured to go with the flow - please find a backbone now.

And, if you don't have enough backbone to stand up for what you believe is right, even if it may cause you discomfort among your peers or even cost you your job, please excuse yourselves from teaching our children. We expect, and our children deserve MUCH better!

I don't apologize for being so blunt - I have no time left to waste for my children's sake.

On this Independence Day I think of our forefathers and the suffering they had to endure to stand up for what they believed in, not because it was popular, not because it was easy, but because it was right! It's too late to undo the damage that has been done - and there has been a lot of damage at every level, to our school, to our friends, to our children - but we can avoid more damage by changing direction now. As we each notice the undercurrent that is demoralizing our school, we should be sure to acknowledge it, confront it, and be certain we are not swept unwillingly into its stream. Let's all try to work together to come to terms with what has happened recently and to push for changes so these mistakes (and the decisions that led to them) don't happen again. Let us group together and share our feelings - for in openness and honesty the undercurrent cannot survive. It is my sincere hope to affect a change for a stronger Highland Hall - one in which the requirements of the children take precedent over everything else. This is the
way I envision it and with God's will, the way it will be someday soon.

God bless us all,
Pete Karaiskos