MCWS 21-22 Annual Report

Our Emergence Post COVID
A LETTER FROM FREDERICK VEITCH, PRESIDENT, BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Embracing Each Moment of Strife
A LETTER FROM JOSH LYTLE, CHAIR, COLLEGE OF TEACHERS
The 2021-22 school year was one
of emergence and of laying the
groundwork for a renewed path
of sustainability and growth at Maine
Coast Waldorf School. We began the year
with cautious optimism that we would
slowly, and eventually, regain the sense
of normalcy that we had lost in the early
spring of 2020. Our focus remained on
evolving the COVID-19 blueprint to meet
the diverse challenges we faced across
our community: eligibility for vaccines was
not uniform and new variants and new
policies emerged seemingly every month.
As they had since that fateful spring,
our parents, students, teachers, and
staff remained patient, kind toward one
another, and undeterred in their passion
to make good on our mission while slowly
bringing back those aspects of the closeknit
MCWS community that we had lost.
At the beginning of the year, singing in
classrooms and chorus had returned.
As we moved into the winter, class plays
were once again held in Merriconeag
Hall in front of full audiences. By spring,
May Faire, the Pentathlon, and a recordsetting
Spring for Waldorf were back,
capped off by both a fully attended Rose
Ceremony and Graduation at school
year’s end. It was an incredible journey to
get back to where we had been before,
and one that would not have happened
without the perseverance and love of an
entire community supporting and taking
care of one another.
Through this emergence, the Board of
Directors worked tirelessly to address
the economic hardships that these past
three years have created for all who
work for and attend MCWS. Higher costs
of living from rent to housing prices as
well as housing shortages, and inflation
have all adversely impacted the ability
to live, work, and send one’s children to
independent private schools like ours.
In addressing these issues head-on,
the Board of Directors held discussion
sessions with our teachers and staff
throughout the year to learn firsthand
what was critical for their support and
sustainability. We also held numerous
meetings to research and evaluate
the salary and benefit structures of
surrounding public and independent
private schools. From this came the
creation and implementation of
a comprehensive overhaul of our
compensation and benefits structure
to ensure that everyone who works at
MCWS makes a competitive wage at
or above those at surrounding schools
based on the same levels of educational
background and experience.
This plan phased in over a two-year
period, not only takes into account
inflation but addresses wage gap
inequalities with increased health benefits
to all employees. To balance these efforts,
the Board was also mindful of the impacts
on the costs of families sending their
children to MCWS. With modest tuition
increases and the implementation of a
renewed five-year tuition plan, the Board
sought to mediate the need for increased
tuition revenue with the reality that too
significant a tuition increase would be
difficult for many of our families to bear.
The Board’s historical financial prudence
and conservative fiscal policies with a
focus on carefully allocated reserves
from past years’ surpluses allowed us
to balance the budget this year while
rolling out these essential changes to
our benefits structure. With a renewed
focus on the cultivation of a culture of
giving in everything we do over the course
of the 2022-23 school year, we remain
enthusiastic and confident that the MCWS
community will continue its growth out of
the pandemic. With your help, MCWS is on
the cusp of incredible times to come.
BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
2021-2022
Derek Blackburn
Mary Bloch
Frank Chessa
Justin Corcoran
Phoebe Dolan
Kari Guddeck
Lisa Lukis
John Manganello
Jeannie Mattson
Karl Schatz
Frederick Veitch
Dan Walker
Faculty Members:
David Barham
Chloe Dowley
Josh Lytle
Caitlin Pow
Non-Voting Staff
Lyn Baird
Laura Bonarrigo
David Eichler
Lynne Espy
Christopher Kasprak
Jennifer Pochurek
Melissa Watson
At a recent conference, I heard
Douglas Gerwin, one of the
leaders of the Waldorf Education
movement, speak about the concept of
“strife,” which is etymologically related
to “strive,” and even to “stride.” He was
looking for a touchpoint to consider
the current state of contemporary
society and the world, which can often
appear conflict-laden, polarized, and
disheartening. I found these relationships
of meaning quite interesting, particularly
the “stride” relation–the idea of two
opposing movements: of a leg pushing
backward in opposition to the one moving
forward, and that this forward “striving” is
a result of the “strife” between these two
forces of the “stride.” So often, life seems
to thrive out of a series of interactions or
potential contradictions.
In June as this past academic year came
to a close, our faculty came together
for a week-long series of meetings and
professional development, closing out
the old year, laying certain seeds to grow
and develop over the summer. Our first
activity was to review the year, starting
with the most recent events, and then
tracing backward from event to event
(literally, from that very review, into
Graduation, the Rose Ceremony, etc., etc.)
until we arrived back at the fall of 2021,
when we had gathered together before
welcoming students.
It was a powerful activity to perform as
an entire faculty: Early Childhood, Lower
School, and High School teachers sat in a
circle, thought collectively back into our
year, and beheld that which we had all
engaged in to create a living experience
for our students, parents, and each other.
There were many events from the year
that were mighty positive, and a number
which were flagged as in need of change
and attention: together, it was the striding
through positive and negative elements
that collectively formed our forward
striving at Maine Coast Waldorf School.
This activity had particular resonance
for me, as it was three years ago that my
family and I arrived at MCWS, and COVID
hit that very first spring. As such, this was
the first year that I could see the rhythm
of the year in its entirety, start to finish.
Rhythm is an important part of our work
as Waldorf teachers, and the rhythm of
each school has its own life and flavor,
unique to each location and group of
individuals that comprise their community.
Now, as I write this, it is early July.
According to the Calendar of the Soul,
which lays out a series of meditations that
reflect upon the relationship of the human
being to the turning of the seasons over
the course of the year, summer is the
time when our intellectual powers recede
somewhat, becoming “dormant” in the
face of our physical body and senses,
which have been fully awakened. It is a
way for our inner self to rest and store
up its energy so that when we return in
the fall, for another invigorating year of
striving together, we are ready to meet
both the physical and the intellectual
challenges that await us. Fascinating,
how elements of our being must sleep
in order to expand, how these forces of
conflict, opposition, and struggle are part
of growing and living fully.
Embracing each moment of strife we
encounter in this next school year (and
beyond) serves to move this School
forward and allows us to continue
evolving as a vibrant, flourishing Waldorf
School. I’m hopeful we all keep this in
mind as we strive towards a powerful new
year of possibilities!
COLLEGE
OF TEACHERS
2021-2022
Josh Lytle
Johanna Flath
Nancy Goldberg
Helen-Ann Ireland
Jeff O’Brien
David Barham
Caitlin Pow
Margaret Samuelson
Cerridwen McQueen
Lauren Kerr
Jill Fox
Lynn Thurrell
Marta Rackmales
Michael Fenderson
Ezra Smith
Chloe Dowley
Lynn Wetterhorn
Melissa Watson
David Eichler
2 MAINE COAST WALDORF SCHOOL 2021-2022 ANNUAL REPORT 3