A gleam of splendour given of heaven

Dear Members of The Waldorf School of Santa Barbara Community,

We are pleased to announce that Ms. Marla Witcher will be the teacher for Grade 1 next year; Miss Angela (who has been on sabbatical) will resume her work in the Kindergarten; and Ms. Tina (Kalkowski) will work as an additional Nursery school teacher for our growing Early Childhood program. All three have demonstrated a great loving commitment to our WSSB children and community, and we couldn't be happier.

Relatedly, the first day of school for Early Childhood is Wednesday, August 25th; and the first day of school for Grades is Wednesday, September 1st. Please mark your calendars!

Otherwise, we had our Pentathlon yesterday, a festival of games for Grades 5 and 6 (with some of Ms. Nelson's older kids crucially helping). How moving it was to see the children outside on the grass on a windy colorful day, running the relay and hurling the javelin; wrestling, sprinting, and throwing the discus, and doing the long jump. One parent said that "time stopped" for the afternoon and that she was so happy to have a total reprieve from all the adult concerns of the day. The great poet of Greece, Pindar, famous for his tributes to the original Olympics, comes to mind:

Creatures for a day! What is a man?
What is he not? A dream of a shadow
Is our mortal being. But when there comes to men
A gleam of splendour given of heaven,
Then rests on them a light of glory
And blessed are their days.

We thank all the teachers; Laura Macker; and Zeus (Johnny Gill) and Athena (Heather Bond). Zeus and Athena were awesomely resplendent, true immortals (even though Zeus was suffering from a bout of hay fever). And we thank Cass Cornish and Monica Bond for helping prepare the Greek meal; and Sefton Graham, Spencer Weiner, Monica Bond, and Heather Bond for helping prepare the space for the respective events. And we thank Jeff Burt for wearing a toga with so much elan!

Important Update

* Yearbook order forms will be distributed to the students next week.

* Monday, May 31st is Memorial Day (no school).

In gratitude,

The WSSB Admin Team