Erase your Life!

Providence story:

Gerard MacIntosh admitted to several bizarre incidents of professional misconduct while teaching Grade 8 students at Vancouver Waldorf School in North Van during the 2013-14 year, according to a Teacher Regulation Branch discipline agreement. The branch’s disclosure of the deal didn’t identify the school, however, The Province confirmed the incidents with school administrators took place there.
In one incident, according to the agreement, MacIntosh admitted he badly upset a girl who had been diagnosed with autism when she asked him for an eraser in class.
He held out a pocket knife in front of a group of students and told the girl, “Here, use this to erase your life.”

Vancouver Sun Story

A former North Vancouver elementary school teacher and principal was suspended this week after he told one student to erase her life with a pocket knife and told others he had dressed for Halloween as a pedophile.  Gerard MacIntosh taught at an independent school where he made the comments during the 2013-14 year, according to a discipline agreement released this week by the province's Teacher Regulation Branch.MacIntosh had been teaching grade eight students in early 2014, when a student asked him for an eraser, according to the agreement.  In front of other students, MacIntosh held out a pocket knife and told the student – who had been diagnosed with autism - “here, use this to erase your life,” according to the agreement.  In a separate incident, a student asked the teacher if he was going to wear a costume at a Halloween party for grade seven and eight pupils.  “MacIntosh replied that he was already in costume, as he was dressed up as a pedophile,” read the agreement.  MacIntosh was also reprimanded for a third incident that happened when his grade eight students were to visit a grade 11 class. According to the agreement, he told the elder pupils he would bet money that a particular grade eight student would "say something stupid like ‘how do you get laid in Grade 9’?” - or words to that effect.  The school placed MacIntosh on paid leave in May.  He told some parents he was on leave because of some of his students.  And he told some of his students that he was on leave because of the pupil to whom he had held out the pocket knife, according to the agreement.
MacIntosh was teaching at the Vancouver Waldorf School at the time the incidents happened, confirmed Victoria Restrepo, a business manager for the Vancouver Waldorf School.  "We immediately began an internal investigation and reported it to the BC Teacher Regulation Branch Review Board,” said Restrepo in a written statement. "Our first priority is, and always will be, the health and safety of the children at our school."

Apparently the health and safety of the children wasn't the school's priority as there were three separate incidents with this person.

Another paper covers the story here:
And here:

Here's Zoom Info placing him at Vancouver Waldorf School.
And AWSNA's financial report lists him in several places.

Pasadena Waldorf School... having a melt-down?

Is Pasadena Waldorf School... having a melt-down?  Chasing families off their campus... lying to newspapers?  Attached are the most recent reviews from parents about Pasadena Waldorf school.  I've seen Waldorf administrators stuffing the ballot box but I've never seen so many parent reviews all on the same day.  This must have been right after another school crisis.

http://www.greatschools.org/…/9839-Pasadena-Waldor…/reviews/

Posted July 15, 2015 - a parent
Most teachers are great and do care about the children. There have been a few instances, a recent one included, where the teacher was horrible and families were leaving because of this and it took a long time to let that teacher go.

Posted July 15, 2015 - a parent
Many of the children are very well-behaved. Spoiled but generally pretty good. There have been issues where some kids were bullies and they weren't dealt with because their parents contribute too much money. Some kids have left the school because of being bullied.

Posted July 15, 2015 - a parent
I feel that many of the students are from very wealthy families and are very spoiled. They go on all kinds of trips and have lots of stuff. Giving back is not as emphasized as I feel from such a batch of privileged students and families.

Posted July 15, 2015 - a parent (4 stars)
We are leaving this school after 5 years because it has become financially prohibitive. The tuition is $19,000/year with a 5% increase each year in part to fund a high school that has maybe 15 kids in each grade. Leaving with a sad heart because I love the arts incorporated into the schooling BUT there is not much science and there are definitely hardly any boys at the school. The vibe feels very old school where the traditional family is the norm. Dad works, mom is stay at home. There is also a rich hippie/trust fund vibe because at this point, only the wealthy can afford to go here. Seriously, as I'm rushing off to work so I can pay the tuition, adults are hanging around, drinking coffee, knitting, not working. Sadly, that wasn't Steiner's idea. His school was first created for factory workers' children. So if you're very wealthy and money isn't an issue, this is a very pleasant school for your children.

Posted June 13, 2015 - a community member
An orthodox Waldorf school that is rigid and dogmatic in its adherence to anthroposophy. They hold children very tightly with a "spare the rod spoil the child" mentality towards discipline. There's only one acceptable way to learn and if that's not a fit for your child watch out. Even if it is a fit with your child, he/she will suffer through witnessing other children getting shamed and humiliated by teachers. An especially bad place for boys. Many of the older grades have 3:1 or greater ratios of girls to boys. The recently graduated eighth grade had only 4 boys out of 17 students in the class.

Posted May 22, 2015 - a community member
This is a safe place to share your honest opinions of a school, whether good or bad they yell at the kids

Posted May 07, 2015 - a parent
We feel robbed of time and money by Pasadena Waldorf School. The volunteer demands are punishing and they seem like a distraction. The request for money is constant yet their financial transparency is non-existent. The parents are treated with no respect. There is so much mind control, time control and manipulation used at that school. The most frightening thing of all is that PWS has NO WRITTEN POLICY ON BULLYING. Beware!

Posted April 23, 2015 - a parent
Here's what I wish I had known before I enrolled my children at PWS: as soon as you start feeling nervous or scared to speak out about a concern, as soon as a teacher starts to "wonder" about your child, as soon as you begin to feel slightly uncomfortable -- it's time to get out. It's hard to believe this is an actual school that purports to take care of children. It is an ideology taking care of itself. Be careful.

Pasadena Waldorf School Bullies Yuge Family

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/lifestyle/20150601/yuge-family-still-packing-as-deadline-hits-to-move-from-historic-altadena-property

First some background from the article:

ALTADENA >> The June 1 deadline came and went Monday for the Yuge sisters, who are still working to pack up nearly a century’s worth of family history from a historic area home.
That home is the gardener’s cottage where the Yuge family has lived on the former Scripps estate in Altadena since the 1920s, when the late patriarch Takeo Yuge became a caretaker for the property.
The cottage, built by Takeo’s uncle Hanjiro, was intended for the family to stay in as long as they liked, but when the Pasadena Waldorf School purchased the Scripps estate in 1986, a new agreement was drafted: Approximately six months after the last parent dies, the property must be returned to the school.

So, in essence, Pasadena Waldorf School is choosing to foreclose on a family that has lived on the property all their lives... You might ask why?

Although an attorney sent a letter on behalf of Pasadena Waldorf stating that on June 1, officials could have all their belongings removed and placed in storage at the family’s expense, trustee William Birney said it was unlikely the school would take any “dramatic” action just yet.
“The fact that they haven’t moved by the time they said they were going to is potentially harming the school and its construction attempts,” said Birney, who is also chair of the PWS Board of Directors. “But, no trucks are going to be pulled up by Pasadena Waldorf forcing the clearing out of the property. Not at this point.” 

Ah... so there is a construction project that needs to get started right away.  Let's find out more, shall we?

Administrators said they needed access to the property beginning June 1 to start staging construction to rebuild two classrooms that burned down in an electrical fire in 2014. In an interview last week, Puls said the school had not yet finalized design plans or applied for a building permit from the county. 

OK... they need the property to rebuild two buildings that were burned down in an electrical fire... and apparently the two buildings cannot be rebuilt on that site.  No explanation as to why.  No permit has been applied for... that will take weeks... and the new buildings are still in the design stages.  So... what's the rush one might reasonably ask?

Although school officials are not sure what will be done with the 1-acre parcel containing the home and remnants of the nursery and gardens Takeo tended, a conceptual master site plan was presented to the Yuge sisters earlier this year, which included a parking lot and a long driveway. Officials have since said it was merely “conceptual” and was created without assessing the property.

So wait... do they need to kick these people out to replace classrooms or for a driveway?  Somebody is not being honest here...

The sisters had doubts when the school initially refused a request to nominate the 86-year-old Torrey pine for Altadena’s inaugural tree of the year contest but Waldorf administrator Douglas Garrett said they later agreed to nominate the tree, therefore making a public commitment to preserve it. Altadena Heritage presented the award to Waldorf officials Sunday at its annual Golden Poppy Awards.

So, after being criticized for not saving a historical tree (imagine how other Waldorf Schools would feel about getting that kind of reputation), they receive an award for being shamed into doing the right thing.

In a letter sent to the PWS community, Garret said “Our hope is that this award will help build a bridge with the Yuges that can calm the waters and allow for a smooth transition as they leave our campus.”

What a guy!

But let's get back to whether the property is necessary for new classrooms - or are they planning a driveway that needs to run through this property immediately.  This is what the Yuge sisters saw at the master plan meeting.  This is a 30 YEAR MASTER PLAN by the way. 

It appears the 30 year master plan has a driveway running alongside the Yugo property.  I am told the classrooms that burned down are shown in their original locations on the master plan.  Did Pasadena Waldorf School representatives suddenly decide to move those two classrooms to the Yuge property and throw out the 30 year master plan?  Or did they misrepresent their intentions to the newspaper covering this story?  I see models in the picture above.  One doesn't spend that kind of money on a master plan and suddenly change it to relocate two classrooms. 

Let's have a look at the current school map from the parent handbook:

The Yuge home is at the bottom left of this map

The classrooms we are talking about are shown in black opposite the parking area - just as in the master plan.  It appears the school isn't being honest when it says it needs to relocate them to the Yuge property.  I invite comments from the school.

Pasadena Waldorf School Recovery Group

I have removed the previous content of this page.  I'm not afraid of Pasadena Waldorf School and they can expect to get a LOT more scrutiny from me from now on.  I've got a few stories of my own to tell about that school and some of the people there.  Let those miscreants try to bully me... if they dare to. 

Meanwhile, as long as we have a spot here... let's see some recent reviews of Pasadena Waldorf School:

http://www.greatschools.org/california/altadena/9839-Pasadena-Waldorf-School/reviews/

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Posted May 07, 2015

- a parent

We feel robbed of time and money by Pasadena Waldorf School. The volunteer demands are punishing and they seem like a distraction. The request for money is constant yet their financial transparency is non-existent. The parents are treated with no respect. There is so much mind control, time control and manipulation used at that school. The most frightening thing of all is that PWS has NO WRITTEN POLICY ON BULLYING. Beware!

---

Posted April 23, 2015

- a parent

Here's what I wish I had known before I enrolled my children at PWS: as soon as you start feeling nervous or scared to speak out about a concern, as soon as a teacher starts to "wonder" about your child, as soon as you begin to feel slightly uncomfortable -- it's time to get out. It's hard to believe this is an actual school that purports to take care of children. It is an ideology taking care of itself. Be careful.

---

Posted April 02, 2014
- a parent

I was highly disappointed with this school. I was seduced by the beautiful grounds healthy vegan 
snacks and gorgeous gift shop. But beyond the exterior I experienced an extraordinary rigidity. My 
daughter was told not to do yoga (unhealthy - do Steiner exercises instead) not to do family bed 
(encourages too much dependence - she was a toddler ) and to play with silk scarves instead of 
write letters or read (frowned upon before the age of 7). I also felt the practice of having only one 
class teacher for all the grades was fundamentally limiting. Most importantly I felt our teacher didn't 
have the skills to cope with either conflict resolution or bullying (which happened). I ended up taking 
my daughter out of the school.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/pasadena-waldorf-school-altadena-2

5/30/2015

  

• Clay C.
• Studio City, CA

• 14 friends
• 28 reviews

Great morals you are showing your Altadena neighbors.  Breaking promises made by a founder of Altadena that allowed a Japanese family who we're put in camps to live there and now having them removed.

THAT'S JUST WHAT I WANT MY KIDS TO LEARN,BREAK PROMISES AND SCREW OVER PEOPLE FOR MONEY,not.

Way to go once respected neighborhood school.

abc7.com/736571

• 5/25/2015

     Daniel P.

  • • Santa Clarita, CA

    • 2 friends
    • 29 reviews

  abc7.com/realestate/japa…Embarrassing when adults like this are trusted to educate children.