Parent Handbook

The Parent Handbook is current until otherwise stated or updated. Windsong reserves the right to modify policies as needed. The community will be notified in the Windsong register of significant updates to language and/or content.

Welcome

Dear Windsong Families,

Welcome to Windsong School! We are a community of parents, teachers, and children striving to change the world through an education towards freedom. As teachers, we work out of child and human development through the lens of Anthroposophy. Families choose Windsong for all sorts of reasons – be it the robust academic offerings of the grades, the play-based education of early childhood or the feeling of “belonging” when they visit here.

We hope that our relationship with you is one of support, growth, and communal striving towards our common goal. There is often much to learn when you are a first-year parent (how to dress for outdoors, dealing with mud season, group singing!). Please reach out! Everyone has been a new parent before and is eager to help first-timers get their feet underneath them and become part of this wonderful community

The soundest advice I can offer is to participate! We have so much to offer in terms of parent
education, community building, and supporting your child’s school and education. Your participation models for your children what it means to be in community with others and we sincerely hope that you take that seriously! Our world needs community now more than ever.

Sincerely,
Lauren Bergstedt-Kohler
Sunbeam Kindergarten Lead Teacher on behalf of Faculty Leadership

The Windsong Approach

Windsong School is inspired by Waldorf Education (also known as Steiner education), a humanistic approach to pedagogy. The Waldorf Curriculum is formulated based upon the developmental stages of childhood and how children learn best in each stage. Learning is interdisciplinary, integrating practical, artistic, and conceptual elements. The approach emphasizes the role of the imagination in learning, developing thinking that includes creative, as well as an analytical component. The educational philosophy’s overarching goals are to provide young people the basis upon which to develop into free thinking and morally responsible people who can command their own will. Schools and teachers are given considerable freedom to define curricula within collegial structures. The first U.S. Waldorf school opened in 1928 in New York City, and there are currently over 1,000 independent Waldorf schools located in sixty-two countries throughout the world.

For nearly 100 years, the Waldorf curriculum has been thoughtfully developed to meet students’ developmental needs throughout childhood and into young adulthood. Its aim is to keep wonder alive, to foster joy, and to build a quiet confidence born of creativity realized and challenges met.

Anthroposophy

Anthroposophy is a spiritual philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner who lived in Austria from 1861 – 1925. He was a literary critic, philosopher, and founder of the first Waldorf School. Anthroposophy is also a path of knowledge. Steiner described spiritual exercises that we can use to increase our awareness of spiritual ideas. Anthroposophy is used to nurture a respect for, and interest in other people. Anthroposophy has practical applications such as in Waldorf Schools, biodynamic farming, curative education, the Camphill Association of North America, the anthroposophical medicine. The world-wide center of anthroposophy is the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland.

Windsong teachers study Anthroposophy, but do not teach it to the children just as physicians study medicine, but do not teach it to their patents. Teachers use it to inform teaching and cultivate insight into what each child needs at each particular stage of their life. Anthroposophy is not a religion. It has no dogma, no profession of faith, no set of rituals or practices and no sacred texts. It appeals to anyone, of any or no religion. It doesn’t replace religion. It is a philosophy of freedom.

For more information on Rudolf Steiner and anthroposophy, please explore our website or WaldorfAnswers.org.

Our Approach to Social & Emotional Development

Social skills take time to develop, and each individual develops social skills on their own timeline. We are inspired by Waldorf education which has always been controversial, as it seeks to balance what is out of balance in our time. Right now, the way we support children’s social and emotional growth is out of balance. At this moment in our culture, adults are not wholly comfortable allowing children to practice joining in, managing conflict, or weathering social rebuffs. At Windsong School, teachers and the wider community take a very active interest in helping students grow in authentic empathy, social competency, and emotional maturity. These capacities will not develop fully without practice over time, healthy adults to model, and a variety of social experiences, including challenging social experiences.

For this reason, Windsong teachers approach social learning as they do all of the other capacities nourished during the school day – with loving attention, faith in the child’s ability to learn, support in ways that do not undermine the child’s learning, and strong action when children need direct support.

When children are going through a difficult social or emotional period, we recognize that to some degree, the struggle lies within the child. The children need our support, not condemnation. Natural consequences, even if they are sometimes helped along by the teacher, are known to support the healthiest social and emotional development. As students get older, they crave and respond to more direct forms of adult expectation. For instance, the third grader tests boundaries and needs to have them reinforced in order to have confidence in the world that is seeming to change under their feet, and the 12-year-old craves rules and consequences – especially when he or she can point out when others have breached rules!

We compare the development of social and emotional skills to the fruiting of an apple tree. Given time, attention, and nourishment, the tree will fruit abundantly and produce life-sustaining food. But apple trees are known to take quite a while to fruit for the first time. Sometimes people even remove a tree because they don’t understand the need to wait. Trees can also be stimulated to produce prematurely – but this weakens the tree. For a robust, balanced, life-sustaining social ability and emotional maturity to develop, we must have patience and the courage to wait. The consequences are too severe to risk weakening the growth of emotional maturity by thwarting the natural processes of social emotional development. We have seen through experience that providing an environment that allows long-term relationships to develop through natural ups and downs, authorizing teachers to work out of love and intuition, and providing a space for abundant social interaction strengthens social emotional health in the best way. This approach to shepherding students’ social and emotional growth leads to resiliency, authentic empathy, and the ability to be the “captain of one’s own ship”. This is our deepest wish for all of our students in these trying times. We hope we have given you a picture not only of the progression of the curriculum at Windsong School, but also the never-ending movement of the human being toward freedom. We strive to serve this aspect of human development in all that we do.

The Windsong Community Structure

Faculty-Led School

Windsong differs significantly from other schools in that it is not administrated by a principal or headmaster. Windsong is a faculty-run school. The Windsong Faculty make decisions regarding acceptance, dismissal, curriculum, school policies, etc. Windsong’s administrative staff serve to carry out the decisions and policies created and approved by faculty.

Spokane Waldorf Education Association (SWEA) Board

Windsong School’s financial and legal interests are managed by our non-profit Board of Directors, Spokane Waldorf Education Association (SWEA). The SWEA board is comprised of three to nine members at any given time. They keep a watchful eye on the financial health of Windsong School and work closely with the faculty and administrator. As is standard in Waldorf-based settings, their decision-making is consensus based.

View the current board members here.

Faculty Leadership Group

The Faculty Leadership Group is a decision-making body responsible for: holding the vision of Windsong School, management of the school as a well-integrated whole, development of policies, creation and implementation of faculty development, observations, and evaluations.

The Faculty Leadership Group is made up of teachers who have completed Waldorf teacher training, have at least five years teaching experience, and have taught at Windsong for a minimum of three years.

Parent Circle

The Windsong Parent Circle is comprised of parent participants whose goal is to further develop and assist in the vision of the school and larger community. It strives to strengthen our community and offer opportunities for spiritual development, artistic activity, and intellectual stimulation for our school and our regional community.

The Parent Circle provides a wonderful opportunity for parents to enrich their own sense of community and model healthy community for children. We would like to invite each parent to contribute to this important work. We welcome and value your participation and unique gifts. Please look for information about meetings and events in both the Windsong Register weekly email and the Windsong Parent Circle Facebook group.

Governance Map

Coming soon

Communication Methods and Expectations

Email is an important form of communication at Windsong School. It is the responsibility of each family to check their email for messages sent from their child’s teacher and the school. Windsong School is not responsible for families neglecting to read electronic communication.

School news, updates, events, and other important information will be emailed out in the Windsong Register each week school is in session and the last two weeks of August. It is critical that families read each edition of the Windsong Register. The Windsong Register is sent out using an email marketing service and may occasionally go to your email spam, junk, or promotions folder.

Communicating with School Faculty and Staff

Whenever possible please limit your communication to traditional business hours, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday. Messages to personal cell phones and personal social media accounts may go unanswered.

Questions, Direct Communication, and Conflict Resolution

At Windsong, everyone in the community must be committed to direct communication.

What is direct communication? Direct communication is the act of speaking both FIRST and directly with the person with whom you have a question or concern. That person will be the only person who can answer your question or enact change regarding a concern you might have.

Every day, we ask our students to engage with one another in a way that builds human connection and allows practice at relationship building and re-building through direct communication. We, as the adults of the community, must do this as well or it directly and fatally undermines the students’ ability to manage conflict in a healthy way. For most of us, this too is a practice and oftentimes is uncomfortable because it involves dealing with conflict head on. And yet, we must do it!

Accordingly, gossip in any form undermines the community as a whole, is contrary to our goals of direct and honest communication, and will not be tolerated in our school. We must encourage one another to discuss concerns through the most direct and appropriate avenues. We engage in conversation around difficult issues trusting that we are all doing our best.

Here is who you would directly communicate with regarding different questions or concerns that may arise:

Class teacher – Student to student interactions, classroom issues, questions about actions taken by your child’s teacher
School office/ administration – Tuition, enrollment, fundraising, administrative questions, all other questions

Should you have attempted directly communicating with the involved person and feel that you are not reaching resolution and need assistance, please contact our administrator. The role of the administrator in this event is not to mediate or to hear the different sides of a story or to sit in on any meeting between involved parties, but rather to work with the staff involved to ensure that direct communication gets back on track and is supported, and can determine whether additional support is needed.

Festival Life

Celebration of festivals throughout the year provides rich nourishment for our inner selves and an opportunity to socialize with other Windsong families. Festival attendance is like attendance for a strings performance or a class play. It is a part of school and the education and is not optional. Students will be preparing for the event and will be disappointed if they are unable to attend.

All-School Festivals

Lantern Walk/ Martinmas

This festival is celebrated by the entire Windsong community. It takes place at night, outdoors in November. It is important that everyone is outfitted in weather-appropriate attire. Bringing a BBQ lighter to re-light lanterns is suggested. To keep with the reverent nature of the festival, we ask cameras and phones be left at home and talking be kept to a minimum.

In Autumn, as the daylight diminishes, we need reminding that our inner light is constant. For Martinmas we carry our lanterns into the dark night and gather together around the fire to hear the story about a man who carried his heart light into the world, helping the poor and needy.

The Martinmas festival celebrates St. Martin with the telling of the story of St. Martin and a reverent lantern-lit walk around the Cannon Hill Park pond.

Winter’s Gifts

This festival is open to the Windsong community and extended family members.

Description coming soon.

May Day

This festival is open to the public. Windsong families are encouraged to invite their friends and family members. Everyone is encouraged to wear white and is asked to bring a savory dish or fruit to share, as well as dishes and utensils for your family, and a picnic basket.

When Lady Spring arrives in Spokane, Windsong gathers for our last festival of the school year – May Day. The grades children take hold of their ribbons and sing and dance around the Maypole, creating an intricate weaving, a picture of how our lives are interwoven with one another; inseparable and creating ever-changing beauty. We share a potluck dinner picnic on the meadow in the fading light of a Friday afternoon.

Grades Festivals

Michaelmas

This festival is celebrated by our grades students and their families at the end of September in our grades play yard. Everyone is asked to wear red to the Michaelmas festival.

The Michaelmas celebration is one of courage and willingness to face “dragons” in whatever form they present themselves. The celebration includes a pageant given by the upper graders and parents, the sharing of dragon bread, and the whole grades community participating in games of courage. This festival holds deep meaning in the Windsong community. Human beings have free will. We can deal with destructive forces as we choose. We can ignore them, we can aid them, we can hide from them… We get to choose! This festival celebrates those who choose to wrestle with forces of destruction and also acknowledges that the Archangel Michael stands beside us when we choose to do so.

Santa Lucia Day (St. Lucy’s Day)

This is an in-house festival held by the second-grade class and takes place during the school day. The oldest second grade girl wears a wreath upon her head. She and her classmates dress in white and visit the other classes singing and giving saffron buns to all they meet.

Santa Lucia Day is a festival of light that heralds the Yuletide. A Scandinavian winter holiday, Santa Lucia Day falls on December 13^th and celebrates the life of Saint Lucy and the return of light. (In the old Julian Calendar December 13^th marked the Winter Solstice.)

Fundraising

The school relies on fundraising as part of our operating budget. These efforts are critically important and include our Annual Giving Campaign, The Treehouse Ball (our annual auction), and passive fundraising (Amazon Smile, Box Tops, etc.)

Annual Giving Campaign

The Annual Giving Campaign kicks off each fall! Its success is truly vital to our school’s fiscal well-being. Every gift, great or small, is received with immense gratitude. Windsong School continues to be one of the most affordable programs inspired by Waldorf education in the country. Our Annual Giving Campaign is a critical component in keeping our tuition affordable. Each family is called upon to raise funds in support of the school. While financial circumstances may vary, we ask that each family make a meaningful contribution to this effort.

Knit-a-thon

Description coming soon.

Class Fundraisers

Each grades class has an annual fundraiser to offset the cost of their culminating class trip. Information about each fundraiser will appear in our weekly e-newsletter, The Windsong Register.

First grade – Bake Sale (fall)

Second grade – Popcorn (spring)

Third grade – Calendar sale (Christmas), Hot lunch day (February), Mother’s Day flower sale (spring)

Fourth grade – Coffee (weekly)

Fifth grade – Sweatshirts (fall), t-shirts (spring)

Sixth grade – Poinsettia sale (Christmas), Public performance of class play (Spring)

Seventh grade – coming soon

School Policies

Tuition, Fees, and Discounts

Tuition and fees for the current and upcoming year are listed here on the website.

Information for tuition assistance is here on the website.

Enrollment Requirements

Parents must attend any required enrollment meetings and/or child observations.
Supply fees must be paid upon acceptance, unless alternative payment arrangements have been cleared with administration.
All paperwork, including a tuition agreement, immunization records, field trip forms, must be completed before a student is considered enrolled.
Tuition agreements must be completed within one week of acceptance.
Parents must attend the all-school meeting held the last Wednesday before school begins.

Our school utilizes a continuous enrollment model. This means that once a student is accepted and enrolled at Windsong, they are enrolled until they graduate or administration receives written notice of withdrawal. The 30-day withdrawal policy still applies.

Withdrawal Policy

Tuition paid for prior months (including summer months) is non-refundable. All fees are non-refundable.

Due to yearly budget considerations and planning, in the event a family must withdraw from the school, 30 days’ written notice must be provided to school administration. If 30 days’ notice is not provided, equivalent tuition will be due upon withdrawal.

As a courtesy to our families, Windsong allows monthly billing which begins in July. Summer tuition payments hold your child’s place in a class, pay for supplies, and pay teachers for their work on your child’s behalf during the summer.

Families withdrawing during the summer months are subject to the same 30-day withdrawal policy.

School Hours and Calendar

Our administrative office is open 8:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday while school is in session. Please see the school calendar for holidays and other school closures. The school calendar can be accessed here on the website.

How We Honor Martin Luther King Jr. and Veterans’ Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an important school day at Windsong School. One of the wonderful things about Waldorf education is that it is always intentional. At Windsong School, we put a lot of thought into everything we do. We bring Martin Luther King Jr. Day to the children, as well as stories of other American heroes and justice workers, in a way that honors where each class is developmentally. For instance, some classes may take a field trip to the parade, others may process a story from his life throughout the week, and another class may work on an in-class reader’s theater play. The younger classes will be inspired by the positive work of Martin Luther King Jr. and all of the help he received, while older classes will be inspired by the negativity he had to overcome, and the older students’ desire to change the world will be inflamed by what he and the others he worked with had to face. We strive for meaning and authenticity.

We also work on Veterans’ Day for many of these same reasons, specifically: we can highlight the power of service to humanity.

Family traditions are important. Please communicate with your child’s teacher and the school office if you plan to keep your child out of school on Veteran’s Day or MLK Day.

Snow Closures

Our policy is to defer to Spokane Public Schools who have a greater ability to assess local road conditions.

If SPS is closed for weather, Windsong School will also be closed. Notification of school closure will be sent via email, Facebook, and text message as soon as we are made aware of the SPS’s decision. However, in the event that Spokane Public Schools delays the start of the school day for inclement weather Windsong School will NOT delay. In this case, classes at Windsong will start at regular time, and families are asked, as always, to drive carefully and use their good judgment on whether to come to school. Tardies will not be recorded when SPS announces a delayed start day.

Attendance and Absences

Your child’s consistent attendance is crucial to their education and parents must make a commitment to support regular attendance. Windsong School offers an experiential education based on direct instruction, and there is no way for a child to “make up” the work that is missed. If a child must miss school, please alert the school office with the reason for the absence prior to the start of class. This can be done by calling (509) 326-6638 or emailing attendance@spokanewindsongschool.org While we know that illness can make childcare/work difficult, please keep children home when they are sick. This is the best way to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

Late Pickups

Please make every effort to pick your child up on time. We understand that occasionally, circumstances may prevent parents or caregivers from picking up their students on time. Please be mindful that late pickups can be upsetting for some students, and that faculty/staff are shifting to other work after students are dismissed. If you or your designated pick-up person anticipate being late for pick-up, please inform the office as soon as possible at (509) 326-6638.

Students must be picked up in the allotted pick-up window:

Kindergarten 12:00 pm – 12:10 pm
Seasonal Camp 1:55 pm – 2:00 pm
Grades 2:00 pm – 2:15 pm

Late pick-ups are charged a fee of $1 per minute per student after the pick-up window. This fee will be added to your upcoming TADS tuition invoice.

Grace will be offered on the first late pick-up per season.

In the case of a family emergency, administration and/or faculty will ensure all children are cared for until they are safely in the care of an authorized adult.

Arrival and Dismissal

Kindergarten Students

The official school day is from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Please see the Windsong Register newsletter for current drop-off and pick-up procedures.

Grades Students

The official school day is from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Please see the Windsong Register newsletter for current drop-off and pick-up procedures.

Campus Care and Use and Child Supervision Before and After School

We are tenants of the Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute and children are to be supervised to all times while not in the care of their teacher. This includes prior to drop off and after pick up. The grades campus opens at 7:40 a.m. and closes following 2:30 p.m. dismissal. The EC building and grounds open at 7:50 a.m. and close at 12:30 p.m. To allow the teachers to do their work, the building (including restrooms) and grounds are not available prior to and following those hours. Please ensure your children are not coming back into the school following dismissal.

Play yards are for classroom use only. Please understand that both tire park and the grassy meadow are not part of our lease agreement and therefore are not maintained by Windsong. The rest of the Mukogawa campus is private property. Please be responsible for picking up any and all trash at tire park and in the adjacent grassy area. When children are on campus and the nearby areas, school expectations are in place in relationship to dress, respect for property, and social interactions – this includes but is not limited to being dressed for the weather, wearing shoes, not climbing trees, and caring for the space as if it were your own home or yard. If you have questions, please talk with administration or your class teacher.

Child Supervision During Meetings and Events

It is expected that children will be supervised by someone arranged by the child’s parents during any and all events that parents are engaged in while on campus, administrative meetings, conferences, festivals, etc. Children cannot be unsupervised.

Keeping Information Up-to-Date

Parents/guardians are responsible for updating their and their child(ren)’s information with the school in a timely manner. This includes contact information (address(es), phone number, email), child(ren)’s health information, the issuance or update of a parenting plan, protection order, or any other pertinent court orders, and any changes to custody, guardianship, or the court-appointment of an individual with educational decision-making authority.

Immunization Records

Windsong School requires each student to have either a Certificate of Immunization Status (CIS) form listing all vaccinations required by the state of Washington or a valid Certificate of Exemption (COE) form signed by a healthcare professional on file in the school office. This policy maintains compliance with state law and ensures our ability to respond appropriately in the event of an outbreak. Should any student be excluded from attendance due to lack of immunization records or required vaccinations, regularly scheduled tuition and fees will remain due and payable.

Illness

If your child has attended a communicable disease party (chicken pox, mumps, etc.), please inform administration immediately and keep the exposed children at home until the incubation period has passed.

Per state requirements, we do not allow children with any of the following symptoms to be at school or to remain in school; fever of 101 degrees or higher, diarrhea of three or more in a 24-hour period, vomiting, unexplainable or draining rash or sore, eye discharge or pink eye, extreme fatigue, lice, or scabies. If antibiotics are prescribed, they must be given for 24 hours prior to the return to school. In the case of head lice, Windsong maintains a no nit policy before returning to school.

Emergency/First Aid

In an emergency situation, an ambulance will be called, parents will be notified, and a staff member will remain with your child until you arrive. Minor injuries will be reported to you at pick-up or, if merited, you may be notified by phone. A first aid kit is located in the faculty room and healing baskets are found in each classroom.

In emergency situations such as fire, natural disaster, or lockdown, you will be notified as soon as possible. Your child will remain in our care until you are able to pick him or her up.

Should your child require school staff to administer medication while at school, please request a Medication Authorization Form from the school office. Medication must be kept in the original container with prescription label attached for prescribed medications.

Hosting Events

For-profit organizations may use Windsong facilities at the discretion of faculty only in the case of school-hosted events or if the event content is of direct benefit to the mission of the school through Waldorf Education, Steiner principles, or anthroposophy.

Meals & Snacks

Shared meals and snacks are an important part of the daily curriculum at Windsong. Food is prepared in the classroom in the early childhood programs. Preparing food is an opportunity to provide and model purposeful work to the children in the classroom as well as setting the table, serving one another and cleaning up. At mealtime, we come together to celebrate community, sensory enjoyment and to give thanks for our abundance.

The food that is served is wholesome and nutritious. Our classroom offerings will meet the life-threatening allergy food needs of each child so the class as a whole can experience oneness and a sense of wellbeing rather than individualization and alienation during mealtime. We observe that more and more families have their own food restrictions and preferences that they adhere to at home. We cannot make class meal modifications for family food restrictions/choices or non-life-threatening allergies. Mealtime in the classroom is an essential foundation for the development of a healthy social life and must ensure that children experience connectedness. As such, it is expected that children will be able to participate fully in the shared meal experience in the classroom despite possible differences between what they eat at home versus what is offered at school. Medical/life-threatening allergy modification requests for the classroom must be submitted at the time of applications and be accompanied by a plan of care completed by the child’s health care provider. Please see the allergy and medical conditions section below for more information.

Life-Threatening Allergies & Medical Conditions

If your child has a life-threatening allergy or medical condition that requires modifications of activity or food served in the classroom, a physician’s verification of the condition and a plan of action are required. Please contact administration for the proper form. Enrollment cannot be processed until the plan of care has been submitted.

Windsong’s ability to modify activities or foods served in the classroom lies at the discretion of faculty.

Dress Code

Students may not have dyed hair, body piercings (other than ears), or wear make-up. Clothing should be free of large media images and logos. Due to the active nature of our school and the amount of time students spend outdoors, it’s important shoulders and toes be covered and shoes worn at all times. If a particular accessory or article of clothing is causing a distraction in the classroom the child may be asked to remove the item and/or change clothes.

Dressing for the Weather

Expect that your child will engage in outdoor activity daily in rain, shine, or snow. Improper gear puts all children in danger. A child dressed improperly will either need to stay back from outdoor time or will wear any available gear/clothes from the lost and found. All children benefit from copious amounts of outdoor time in different types of weather. Windy days, rainy days, sunny days, and snowy days all give children a different sensory experience – the wind in their hair, the sun on their face, the gentle kisses of snowflakes on their cheeks, and the wetness of the rain.

Children must arrive each day dressed with the weather outside in mind. Sleeves, pants, sturdy shoes, and an extra set of clothes are required. For more inclement days, provide sufficiently warm clothing with waterproof outer layers and boots. Parents may be called to pick up their child, if their child is not dressed appropriately.

Media and Cell Phone Use

During school functions or at pick up and drop off, we kindly ask parents to keep cell phones and other devices turned off and refrain from using them while on campus and at school functions. Our modern world is filled with screens (TVs, computers, phones, iPads, etc.), and childhood is best nurtured by avoiding exposure to electronic media. If you need support in changing the current habits in your home, please talk with your class teacher.

Children may not bring cell phones, activity trackers, iPads, etc. to school. Should a child bring an electronic device to class, the teacher will hold unto it until the end of the day.

Children with Strong Needs

Each of us has struggled at some point in time – some more than others, some for larger periods of time, some more visibly and some in ways that are more, or less socially normal. Or perspective is that requiring additional help and special consideration at various points in our lives is part of the human condition. We intend to honor that part of our humanity to the best of our ability by serving children that come to us with strong needs and welcome them as part of our communities.

Our priority is to care for all of the children in a given class in partnership with their parents. Should an individual child need more conscious partnership between the teacher and parent we may ask for a conference to discuss a course of action. This meeting is an opportunity for parents and teacher to share observations, perspective, and information and from that develop a plan to assist the individual child in working with and/or overcoming their struggles. The courses of action may include requests for home-life modifications such as an earlier bedtime, requests for outside resources/evaluations, reduced school days/times, discerning whether the classroom is meeting the child’s unique needs, among other things.

We believe this approach is extremely helpful to the individual child, family, and the teacher. It is also a humanizing picture to other the students and community of an individual being cared for during the difficult times.

Behavioral Concerns

In circumstances where a child’s behavior is unsafe or unhealthy, parents may be contacted to pick child up and meet with the class teacher.

If a child is sent home for behavioral concerns, it may be necessary for the parents and the teacher to meet prior to their return to school to ensure a workable plan is in place. A foundation of healthy communication between the parent and the teacher is necessary throughout this process.

Dismissal from the School

Times do arise when students or families are asked to leave the school. This is an individualized process between the class teacher, the family, and administration, if warranted. This can occur when a child is not able to be served in a way that is healthy for both the child and the class or in instances where a working partnership with the family is unable to be achieved and/or sustained. As a private school, Windsong School reserves the right to dismiss a student or family at any time and for any reason.

Non-discrimination Policy

Windsong School and Spokane Waldorf Education Association do not discriminate on the basis of any race, color, national and ethnic origin, religion, gender, or sexual orientation in relationship to hiring, administration, and students. This educational institution admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship programs, and other school administered programs.

Guardianship Responsibilities

If a family has an existing parenting plan, protection order, or any other pertinent court orders, parents/guardians are responsible for providing this information to the school and providing any updates to those items in a timely manner.

New families’ admission process will be paused until such documents are provided.

Windsong School will follow the most current legal document on file until updated documentation is provided. If something occurs on campus that differs from or isn’t outlined in the court documents, the school will seek law enforcement for support. In this event, law enforcement will hold the responsibility of determining how to address the situation. Windsong School does not assume the responsibility of determining civil matters that fall outside of court documents.

Child Abuse and Neglect

Windsong School staff and faculty are state mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect. Suspected cases of abuse or neglect will be reported to Children’s Administration and are documented and kept on file in the school office.

Parent Library

Self-education is a gift we give ourselves, our children, and our families. Our parent library is available for interested parents and located in the office. Your class teacher may also make a library available to parents. Please return books when you are finished with them.

Other Resources

Like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/WindsongSchool

Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA): whywaldorfworks.com

Alliance for Childhood: allianceforchildhood.org/publications

The parent section of our Grades Library