Laura Ferris - truthfully LYING about Waldorf

http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1006191/what-is-a-waldorf-preschool

"They were teaching them things, but in such a way that the kids didn't even know they were learning."

Pete Karaiskos SEPTEMBER 07, 2013 | 5:37 AM

My comment: Pete Karaiskos SEPTEMBER 02, 2013 | 7:17 AM I know Waldorf... I know Ms Ferris and Highland Hall quite well. "They were teaching them things, but in such a way that the kids didn't even know they were learning." This doesn't even begin to say it all! Waldorf is the missionary arm of Anthroposophy - something this article doesn't seem to mention. The "Waldorf method" IS teaching Anthroposophy to children covertly - so they don't realize they're learning it. And you know who else doesn't realize they're getting Anthroposophy? Parents! Parents buy into the "Waldorf" appearance, and admittedly, some Waldorf ideas sound great - like no computers in the classroom... until you realize the reasons for this have nothing to do with education and everything to do with Anthroposophy. The devil of all things mechanical is Ahriman. Children become "Ahrimanic" when they enjoy mechanical things or or (get this) too intellectual. If this sounds like a good system to you... if putting your child with people who can't be honest about why they do what they do sounds right... then Waldorf may be a good fit. Please read The Waldorf Review for the insights of parents who tried Waldorf only to find out what I have said is true.

Margaret Sachs SEPTEMBER 02, 2013 | 12:31 PM

Despite the fact that I like Laura Ferris as a person, I can't keep quiet about the fact that her article is a puff piece written by an Anthroposophist about Anthroposophy schools. When my husband and I enrolled our first child at Highland Hall, I was told Anthroposophy is not a religion and is neither in the curriculum nor in the classroom. So what a surprise I had when I was invited to join my second child's kindergarten birthday celebration to see my child as the centerpiece of a reincarnation ritual. Oh well, I thought, it's harmless, and I've always been open to the possibility of incarnation. We saw a lot of odd things over the many years our children were at Highland Hall, but there always seemed to be some sort of acceptable explanation for them. Parents who pulled their children out in anger over one thing or another were, I thought, failing to communicate properly with the Anthroposophists who run the school. Then, one of our children had a horrible experience that made us realize other parents who had left the school in anger probably had good reason for it and, if their experiences were anything like ours, a breakdown in communication with the Anthroposophical faculty was not the fault of those parents as I had previously thought. By then, the Internet was part of our lives. We went online and discovered that Rudolf Steiner was a crackpot occultist and not a scientist as was touted. He designed Waldorf schools to spread Anthroposophy and instructed Waldorf teachers to deceive parents about the role of Anthroposophy in the classroom. We learned the ridiculous occult reasons behind so much of what went on in the classrooms. We realized the real reason there were no textbooks. We realized what we perceived as weakness in the academics was no accident. We realized how many red flags we had ignored. We learned that huge numbers of people in other parts of the U.S. and in other countries shared experiences like ours and had discovered the deception of Waldorf PR.

Green Meadow Waldorf School Teacher groped student.

Green Meadow Waldorf School

http://www.lohud.com/article/20130907/NEWS03/309070063/Author-Kate-Christensen-Teacher-groped-her-while-she-Green-Meadow?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cs&nclick_check=1

The high school math teacher’s pretense for the regular after dinner walks, Kate Christensen wrote, was so he could lend guidance and support to her, a vulnerable young student far from home.

But the 16-year-old’s reality was much darker. The walks, she said, led to terrifying episodes in a deserted field where he kissed her and pinned her to his belly, grinding himself against her and laughing at her attempts to flee.
...
But 35 years later, the PEN/Faulkner award-winning author has written a memoir that exposes those disturbing encounters and the revelations have set off an aggressive investigation by the progressive private school into other wrongdoings that may have gone on decades ago.
...
Her former teacher, identified by the Green Meadow school as John Alexandra, is a 71-year-old father with grown children. He lives with his wife in Spring Valley, a couple miles from the campus.
...
One student, Craig Gordon, spent 12 years at Green Meadow and left in 1979 without graduating. He didn’t know Christensen, but heard her being interviewed about the book July 10 on National Public Radio. At that point, he didn’t realize that they went to the same school.

“I literally had to pull my car over and stop and catch my breath,” he said. “And I thought, ‘Oh my God, did that crazy stuff happen at another Waldorf school like it did at mine?’ ”
...
Gordon said this ideology, taken piecemeal, can be positive. But when “organized in a dogmatic way, it gets dark,” he said, referring to Christensen’s revelations about her old teacher.

He said it was common knowledge at Green Meadow that some teachers and students carried on affairs in those days.
...
“Naturally it didn’t take long for him to suss me out as vulnerable prey: a fatherless girl, far from home,” she wrote.

She eventually told her mother, but nothing happened when her mother complained to the school and confronted the teacher, Christensen contends.

UPDATE:

http://www.elle.com/life-love/society-career/kate-christensen-personal-essay-on-abuse

“He was the Green Meadow Molester,” a schoolmate e-mailed me the day after I wrote to tell him how the interview had gone. “You blew the lid off the silence. You were the only one who spoke up.”

“I didn’t blow the lid off on purpose,” I wrote back. “Dave Davies made me!”

“You’ve done a good thing for so many people. You’re heroic,” he shot back.

But I wasn’t heroic—I was a victim, though by making public what happened, I ceased to be only a victim.

UPDATE2:
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/2014/07/11/green-meadow-probe-details-sex-abuse-history/12539465/

Decades of sex abuse: Waldorf school probe cites multiple teachers; failure to act

An investigation launched last year after the Green Meadow Waldorf School alumna accused a former teacher of molesting her alleges that he sexually assaulted her, 11 other girls and a woman during his decades-long tenure there.

The findings, revealed in a damning report by a private investigative firm hired by Green Meadow, also accuse two other teachers of sex crimes — one of possessing child porn and another of assaulting a girl on a school-sponsored trip. It says the school failed to act when complaints of teachers' alleged criminal behavior surfaced.

Read the report here: http://data.lohud.com/documents/green-meadow-case.html

In the case of John Alexandra, the alleged serial offender, the school's lack of response enabled his predatory behavior, the report finds.

"Allowing Mr. Alexandra to freely roam Threefold property resulted in giving him essentially unrestricted access to students and faculty members, and thereby enabled him to continue to victimize others," investigators said.

Many of the alleged victims didn't report what happened at the time, for fear they wouldn't be believed, investigators said. In some cases, they found, Alexandra's alleged victims felt that other adults at Green Meadow were complicit in his behavior because they observed it yet encouraged students to maintain relationships with him, an esteemed member of the community.

Investigators say Alexandra committed "a multitude of crimes" over his decades at the school. They also accuse him of stalking, harassment and child endangerment.

UPDATE 3: 
http://thewaldorfreview.blogspot.com/2014/07/green-meadow-waldorf-school-sex.html
http://thewaldorfreview.blogspot.com/2014/07/green-meadow-waldorf-school-sex-scandal.html

Highland Hall - Raising Killer Bees on Campus

Where the bees SHOULDN'T BE!

Highland Hall has employed someone on campus to raise bees...
http://www.timesofisrael.com/how-to-catch-a-spiritual-buzz/
Not honey bees... African bees!  While I'm certain this man is well-meaning, anyone who has read my blog knows that idiots are abundant in Waldorf environments.  From the article linked above:

“These honey bees have African genes, which means they’ll swarm to defend themselves if they feel in danger. You have to approach the hives calmly and carefully,” he explains softly as he sprays smoke into several wooden boxes before peeking inside. “I inspect the hives every few weeks to make sure they are ok.”

Notice, the guy is wearing a protective suit... head to toe with head gear, gloves and so forth.  Safety first.  I happen to know Highland Hall... and I can tell you the lower school playground (1st - 3rd grade) is on the other side of the wooden fence where the bee hives are.  

http://www.webpronews.com/30000-killer-bees-attack-couple-kill-horses-2013-07  "A Texas couple was attacked by what is being described as a swarm of 30,000 killer bees. "  July 29, 2013

http://planetsave.com/2013/07/30/bee-attack-africanized-killer-bees-attack-people-in-texas-kill-their-horses/
Two dead horses, five dead hens, and their owner with a couple hundred bee stings — that’s the end result of a recent bee attack in Texas. The bees in question initiated the attack on Kristen Beauregard and her animals shortly after she had finished exercising the two horses on Wednesday afternoon — according to Beauregard, the attack was completely unprovoked, her and her animals were nowhere near the hive at the time.

http://houston.culturemap.com/news/city_life/08-06-13-summer-of-killer-bees-aggressive-swarms-plague-texas-leaving-one-dead-and-many-others-injured/

Texas has been making national headlines since early June, when a 62-year-old farmer from the Waco area was fatally attacked by a swarm of 40,000 killer bees after he disrupted a hive near an old chicken coop. The expert charged with removing the nest told area reporters that although the sub-species is still rare, he had spotted at least fives hives in the last month.

And the strange bee incidents keep coming:

• A woman in Pasadena nearly died on June 18 after bumping into a hive while mowing her lawn,
• In Arlington, a couple was severely injured on July 27 as they unsuccessfully attempted to save their two miniature horses from roughly 30,000 killer bees,
• A Cypress family discovered mores than 100,000 honey bees living in a front yard tree,
• In north Houston on Aug. 1, a dog named Ace was killed by a swarm while an elderly person was sent to the hospital. Days later, hundreds of thousands of bees were removed from a nearby oak tree, along with 250 pounds of honey.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/huge-swarm-killer-bees-attack-texas-man-3000/story?id=19314956
The family of a Texas man attacked and killed by a huge swarm of Africanized killer bees said Larry Goodwin suffered more than 3,000 stings and collapsed as he was apparently trying to reach a hydrant to wash off the bees.

http://www.kgun9.com/news/local/162318866.html
Bees were attacking workers near discarded trailers and trucks at the scrapyard. It all started when 75-year-old Ramon Figueroa Rascon was helping to clean up trash and debris. Little did he know when he moved an old tire, he would disturb a bee hive underneath.

Nogales Fire Dept. Division Chief Gerry Castro said, "We received a call that several people were being attacked by bees."
 
But firefighters had a battle on their hands because these were not just any ordinary bees -- they were Africanized "killer" bees.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/09/bees-sting-man_n_1759824.html
PFLUGERVILLE, Texas -- A 40-year-old warehouse worker has been stung more than 300 times after accidentally disturbing a massive colony of Africanized bees in Central Texas.

http://www.westernfreepress.com/2012/08/02/more-killer-bee-attacks-in-phoenix/
Some experts don’t like the term “killer bees,” as it evokes B-horror movies about giant ants, marauding tomatoes, or blobs that ate things. But honestly, what else does one call the africanized honeybee? After all, they swarm and kill.

I'm certain Highland Hall's irresponsibility with regard to the safety of children comes as no big surprise to many of us.  Sure, the world needs bees... but there's a place for everything.  Raising African "killer" bees has its place.  But no reasonable person would suggest that place is on a campus full of children.  The articles above show these bees can attack without provocation or warning.  With the playground just over the wall, it's amazing there hasn't been news of an attack yet.  Clearly, it's only a matter of time before a child or group of children are harmed.  

Whidbey Island Waldorf School

http://www.yelp.com/biz/whidbey-island-waldorf-school-clinton

• Parent D.
• Mercer Island, WA

8/15/2013
This school is pretty much a disaster. We were there for 7 years, fortunately mostly in early childhood. Despite what looks like a beautiful and caring environment to send your children, underneath the appearances it is plagued by dysfunction. Apart from the substandard academics, and they are substandard, the weird teachings of Rudolph Steiner are the foundation of the school. These teachings result in all kind of hurtful dysfunctional behavior. Please educate yourself thoroughly on what anthroposophy is and how waldorf school teachings are based on it. This is not explained or even disclosed when you apply to the school. This may not seem that relevant at first, particularly if you like the spiritual beliefs on the surface and are enticed by the beautiful pictures on the wall. However, what you will find is that parents are often kept out of the loop of what is happening with their children, that there is poor or nonexistent supervision of teachers (bad teachers are allowed the play out their "karma" at your child's expense). Research, research , research! there are hundreds of parent blogs detailing consistent bad behavior and patterns that exist on a global level at Waldorf-Steiner schools. Despite the temptation to escape mainstream media driven culture, the Waldorf Schools are not a healthy alternative for children, look elsewhere.

Norwich Steiner School

http://norwichalternativeeducation.co.uk/

Threatened Family Leaves Norwich Steiner School

The toxic management culture within Norwich Steiner School has once again led to serious parental complaints being met with outright abusive, threatening behaviour - with no attempt to address issues. The parents involved have been forced from the school, but not without circulating an e-mail to existing parents with a devastating assessment of their treatment (reproduced below with permission from the author).

After repeated occurences of remarkably similar incidents - all centred around complaints related to child safety - the question that surely now needs to be asked is whether the School’s leader - Sandie Tolhurst - can continue to be considered a fit and proper person to be running a school.

From: Jon HeedsSubject: My Experience & Concerns
5th April 2013

On the 4th December 2012 I received an email after school closing hours which I found very disturbing. It was from the school to inform me that after a complaint from another parent regarding my daughters interactions with her child (her attempts to engage him in play) that the school had decided to implement a new policy. This policy had been developed overnight and was to put it politely deplorable, if enacted it would certainly have caused distress to my daughter and I was horrified to be reading it. This new policy, which was to be started the very next morning and without any form of discussion with Rachel or myself stated that if she were to even speak to the other child it would be viewed as an act equal to hitting him and she would be sent home. Obviously this was completely unacceptable so I wrote an in depth reply outlining most of my many objections to it and absolutely forbidding any action to be taken or any mention of it made to my daughter. I received no direct response to this and the first opportunity I had to raise this issue with anyone was the next morning as I dropped my children off at school where I initially attempted to speak to Ms Scaife and get some confirmation that no member of staff would proceed with any such silly actions as outlined in the e-mail from the school. Ms Scaife was unable to speak to me and directed me to speak to Sandie Tolhurst which I did immediately.

At this point I was hoping that the school would apologise for acting so rashly and without thought and reassure me that until we could meet for a sensible discussion no action would be taken. Sadly I was wrong as the very first thing I was told by Sandie was that she had not bothered to read my concerns as listed the email, which I sent the previous evening, because she felt it was an overreaction. This was a huge issue to me as this meant not only were they willing to act in such a thoughtless and potentially damaging manner but they were willing to completely dismiss my parental concerns. Undeterred by this I insisted I had valid points that needed addressing and went on to explain, unfortunately every point I raised was met by the same response from Sandie of denying that the email said what it very clearly did. Again and again I was confronted with blanket denials and a refusal to accept any of my concerns. In order to make any headway I had to insist that she access the email in question and I quoted it directly whilst running my finger across the words. However, Sandie still just dismissed me summarily and refused to accept that there was any issue to be dealt with at all, using phrases like “I am sorry if that is what you have read into it”. At one point she also tried to escape any responsibility by saying “I didn’t write it” and I was forced to remind her in this instance she was the school’s representative. I found this evasive and cowardly attitude extremely frustrating and upsetting to deal with and already late for work I demanded a meeting to discuss the whole debacle and had to leave without any reassurance and hope for the best.
Eventually I was able to get her to agree that to treat speaking to someone as being equal to physically assaulting them was ridiculous. I also had to point out to her that on many other occasions when concerns were raised regarding either of my children I had come in and discussed the issues with them; I had helped develop strategies to deal with those issues that had been successful, therefore she should have asked me to come in and discuss this issue as well. I should not have to be informing you of your own policies that you are seemingly unable to act upon. I demanded that we arrange a suitable time to have a meeting under conditions to be set out by [redacted child]’s mother. I expressed my disappointment and anger at the situation and left.
During the course of that same day whilst I was at work I did receive notification of a date and time to meet and resolve the issue. However at the end of the school day as I picked the children up I was handed 2 letters from the school, the first was a mere 7 lines long apologising specifically for sending me the e-mail and nothing else, it was as apologies go lacklustre. Much more effort had been put into the second letter which was 27 lines long attacking my behaviour and accusing me of conducting myself in a threatening and aggressive manner during my talk with Sandie. This letter also imposed upon me severe restrictions on communicating with staff at the school.
Now at this point I am extremely concerned, the erratic behaviour of the school has been followed by a total refusal to acknowledge this and then a personal attack on my character combined with an attempt to gag me. There was a serious issue here (it is important to note that with just a little cooperation from the school it could have easily and quickly been resolved) and the schools only reaction was to cover it up by all means necessary.
So a few days later came the aforementioned meeting and another chance to put things right. Unfortunately even after a few days to think of sensible solutions to the original issue the school had failed to come up with any sensible suggestions. I had a few suggestions which they agreed to consider and feed back to me afterwards. I expressed my displeasure at the way the school had handled both the initial problem and my complaint but for a brief minute felt we were getting somewhere. Then at the end of this meeting I was informed that the school had raised a child protection issue against me concerning improper sexual conduct with my daughter. I don’t think I either need to or even could accurately describe how I felt upon hearing this. I still now even weeks later cannot truly believe that an organisation that deems itself fit to look after children could stoop to such disgustingly low standards. I demanded all the details of this allegation be sent to me and left in a highly disturbed state.

The basis of this was that I run an online adult shop and have done for the last 5 years, the school have been aware of this for the whole time and have accepted products from my shop as prizes in fund raising events previously but now 4 days after I make a complaint seem to think it is a child protection issue.
I also work for a community mental health team and so I have lots of involvement with vulnerable adults, adolescents and occasionally their children so I had to take action on this allegation. Firstly I called Social Services and informed them of what had happened and asked them to investigate me; I also called my line manager and informed him. He met with the human resources department and made them aware of the allegation so I was still clear to work. That same day I received a letter from the school confirming there was an allegation and saying it would be reported that day but with none of the details I had asked for. Just before 5pm Social Services contacted me and informed me the school had not reported anything to them and that after looking into it upon my request they had no concerns regarding myself with either of my children.
Okay so now things have taken a very sinister turn, either the school have a valid concern that a child is being sexually abused and have chosen to do nothing about it or they have made a spurious allegation in response to my complaint. Let me assure you it is not the former. To make an erroneous allegation of sexual abuse against me is a totally unforgivable act and could only be perpetrated by somebody with no moral standards of any description. How they feel they are suited to run a school when they are willing to sink to petulant, childish and downright repulsive behaviour I cannot fathom.
At this point I wrote many e-mails to the school demanding explanations and copies of documents which should have been kept according to the schools own policies in particular an explanation of why they had not reported to Social Services. I received nothing from the school other than being directed to take all further communications to Chris Mitchell who is a member of the trustees. Since then the school management team have said and done nothing to address this scandalous behaviour.
So all my hopes of a resolution now lay with this trustee Chris Mitchell whom Rachel and I met with alongside the new teacher Jeff. He promised that there would be an investigation into all our concerns conducted by Jeff and this evidence presented to a complaints meeting. He would then inform us of what actions the school need to implement as a result. By this time [my children] had been in limbo for too long and  Rachel and I decided that the bond of trust with the school had eroded too far, nothing was in place to prevent the same things happening again, so we took the sad decision to enrol our children in an alternative school.

The report came back and it was a sorry state of affairs. It repeatedly broke down issues into such tiny chunks that they appeared negligible or evaded the real issue and addressed something else instead. It is a catalogue of evasion and misdirection that leads to the conclusion that there were no issues with the school at all, only my behaviour and that of Miss Anka (both of whom are now gone conveniently) were called into question otherwise it gave the school a big thumbs up and a nice pat on the back. 
Well turns out I am not the only person that has been treated this way upon attempting to complain about a problem at the school. I have since this become aware of several other people who have been treated in a similar manner, people who have been ignored, had their characters attacked and been reported to Social Services by the school at the slightest hint of criticising the school. Also I have become aware of the details of a previous incident at the school in 2005 which also displays a lot of the same shortcomings by the school management team which resulted in both legal action being taken against the school and a large number of parents withdrawing their children and so a large amount of important revenue being lost.

The number of issues this raises is mind boggling, if you have a problem with the school this could happen to you. It has happened before and the school and governors have continually covered it over. There is nothing to stop it happening again and if it does you have no way of appealing as you can easily be ignored and dismissed at every level. This is unacceptable and I feel a duty to tell you this as being forewarned is the best defence you will have at the moment. There needs to be a way of holding the school to account for its decisions and since 2005 the open steering group which was the only parent participation has been closed down there is now no way of parents exerting any influence over any aspect of the school. This is not healthy. Nor is the board of governors resistance to dealing with issues, my experience and that of those before me is that they wilfully ignore your concerns and minimise, deflect and scapegoat in an attempt to whitewash the whole situation.

 I firmly believe that this also needs changing. Parents must have a powerful voice in the school and the management team needs good governance to keep it on track.

Sorry to contact you all with such bad news but I feel there are some very important issues here which just cannot be ignored. Thanks, Jon Heeds.

0% Accountability Leads To Another Family Being Threatened and Leaving Norwich Steiner School

Norwich Steiner School reacted to a parent concern in late 2012 surrounding a bullied child by threatening to involve Children’s Services questioning their parenting. This is not the first example where the threat of Social Services has been used by the school’s management team as a means of silencing or removing parents who raise what appear to be legitimate complaints - particularly around bullying or child safety issues.

The family involved has now pulled out of the school (as of Feb 2013) after Trustees failed to get back to them following a meeting where they outlined their concerns.

We are requesting permission from the family concerned to publish more details.

Norwich Steiner Education - why Norwich Steiner School should not be granted Free School Status

Norwich Steiner School should not be granted free-school status with it’s current management, since they have proved unable to run a school in an ethical manner.

The current management team - led by parent Sandie Tolhurst - were responsible for the bullying of Whistleblowing teacher Miss Jo Sawfoot (see tribunal outcome) including unfairly misleading Social Services about her.

The overseeing body (the SWSF) have taken no action against the school, and indeed as a consequence of the case have suspended their own complaints procedure. This means that outside of going to court, parents have little ability to hold the school to account.

The Schools Inspection Service (SIS) is also not doing it’s job (or has been mislead by the school) since numerous serious parental complaints were ignored or not seen by them.

Furthermore, the trustees of the school have moved to make it more difficult for parents to hold the school to account by removing the automatic right of all parents  to call an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM). Parents are no longer automatically included as part of the school association and it seems only “approved" people will now be able to attend AGMs etc.

These factors should be taken into account by the New Schools Network if they do not wish to see highly embarrasing management failures at one of their free schoolssplashed across the news in future. Certainly, if I were Mr.Gove I would be demanding some serious changes at the top of the school before this is allowed to progress.

Ringwood Waldorf School - supervising self harm

Supervised Self harm at Ringwood Waldorf school:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/supervised-self-harm-art-lesson-2122731

Supervised self harm in art lesson at £6,000 a year school sees teacher quit

4 Aug 2013 08:28

The female teacher was suspended and later quit as bosses investigated the incident at Ringwood Waldorf school

Pupils cut themselves with blades in class under their teacher’s guidance as part of a bizarre history of art lesson.

The female teacher was suspended by the school and later quit as bosses investigated the incident.

The independent Ringwood Waldorf school in Ringwood, Hants now faces a child safety probe by education chiefs.

Nigel Revill, the school’s administrator,  said: “An incident took place during an art history lesson on March 19 during which a part-time teacher acted independently without our knowledge.

“The teacher concerned resigned during the disciplinary process, before a disciplinary hearing could take place. The teacher is no longer employed  by the school and we have no plans to re-instate her.

“This was an isolated incident.”

The fee-paying school, based on the principles of Rudolf Steiner, is privately run and describes itself as an “alternative independent school”.

Its website states: “By allowing an artistic and practical element to flow into all the lessons, children experience joy in their learning.”

Mulberry Farm School

http://www.yelp.com/biz/mulberry-farm-school-santa-rosa

• Stephanie D.

Sacramento, CA

6/6/2013
I am the product of the public school system in California. I am highly educated in my university education as well, including pedagogy research, and am happy with the education I have received. I understand that some people think the public school system is flawed and can find a better education for their children in the private sector. I say "Go for it if you can afford it!", but I would NEVER recommend Mulberry Farm School.

A child in my neighborhood attends Mulberry Farm. This child is very intelligent, uses advanced words in conversation, is outgoing, does not have a learning disability (or any disability for that matter), and would probably thrive in a non-Waldorf school. At Mulberry Farm, this child is in the 3rd grade and enjoys the animals and the art projects. However, this child STILL DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO READ. Why does this child not read? Because the child doesn't want to learn and is not being encouraged to do so because the school says the child "may not be ready". HUH? I believe the child may be the only one in the 3rd grade that does not read, but still. Where is the fundamental education??? I do believe the parents are playing a role in this failure, but the school is doing nothing to help.

It's one thing to provide students with activities and giving them options in their educational process, but I believe Mulberry Farm has failed the child I know and I would NEVER EVER send a child there. I cringe at what the future of this child may be if reading does not become a priority...and soon.