Rainbow Mountain Historical Summary
Rainbow Through the Ages
In the autumn of 1977, three Asheville-area women with advanced degrees in education and child development decided to create a preschool for three- and four-year-olds that offered a truly child-centered, holistic education. Their motto was "excellence in educating the young child."
These founders built a unique educational program based on supporting the development of the whole child in five domains:
- Mental development of the skills and knowledge that are useful to the student as a lifelong learner
- Emotional development to assist the child in understanding and communicating in the world of feelings
- Moral/social development supporting ecological thinking about the connections between all creation
- Physical development and the care and respect of the physical body
- Spiritual development supporting the child's recognition and communication of his or her own truth
RMCS started with 15 families and rented the Sunday school rooms at All Soul's Episcopal Church in historic Biltmore Village. The new school was well received by the Asheville professional community and soon was considered an educational leader in the area.
During the early 1980s, the school added an elementary program that extended through the fourth grade. In 1986, the school acquired its current site at Haywood Road, earning an award for rescuing the historic building in vibrant West Asheville.
RMCS created the Omega Program in 1994 to serve middle-school children. John Johnson, director during this period, introduced two educational approaches to support the needs of older students: the Multiple Intelligences framework of Harvard Professor Howard Gardner and essential learning behaviors.
In 1997, senior teacher Jane Stanhope took over as director. Jane oversaw a dramatic overhaul of the school's campus that included the creation of a new classroom building, extensive remodeling of the historic schoolhouse, and a major reworking of the grounds.
John Shackelton assumed directorship of the school in 2004 after several years as the school's curriculum director. Under John’s tenure, RMCS restructured its program to support the school’s rapid growth. The school also revitalized and clarified its identity after involving the entire school community in an in-depth self-evaluation process.
During this period, RMCS underwent a spiritual rebirth with the reinvigoration of founding principles through intensive staff training, job-embedded professional development, cross-classroom teaching teams, and sustained community dialogue.
In 2007, RMCS welcomed its current director, Renee Owen. She previously founded and led a charter school in rural Colorado. Under her leadership, Paradox Valley School received national recognition for its excellence in arts and in closing the achievement gap. Renee brings to RMCS an innovative service-learning model she developed using Harvard research data; this model is presented in her book The Power of Project-based Learning.
Although she is early in her tenure, Renee has already helped facilitate the school board's transition to a policy governance model and has led the faculty in mapping and enhancing the curricular scope and sequence in all subjects from kindergarten through eighth grade. She also has made significant improvements in teacher salaries and professional development opportunities to ensure RMCS can continue to attract and retain the most talented holistic educators. |
