Shining Mountain is sustained by its invaluable partnerships with parents, both new and returning. Parents join committees, create and support festivals, fundraisers, and events, and offer their time, energy, expertise, and financial resources to contribute to a healthy school life.

Parent Council
At the hub of parent activities is the Parent Council, open to any parent in the school. Meeting monthly, the Parent Council:

• Provides a forum for dialogue regarding parents’ needs and concerns and makes recommendations to other school bodies;
• Serves as a source of information to help parents understand school policies;
• Promotes parent education opportunities;
• Reaches out to families in need of support;
• Creates and supports all-school festivals, events, and “town meetings”;
• Encourages parents’ participation in school life;
• Links with each grade through two Parent Council representatives.

In addition to serving as a PC representative, parents have the opportunity become a Room Parent (who works closely with the classroom teacher, K – 8) or a Festival Coordinator (who links parent volunteers to each festival).

Volunteering
We are deeply grateful for the many contributions that parents make with their skills, time, energy, and financial resources to support this education for their children. The possibilities for volunteering are innumerable: in the classroom, field trips, festivals, campus clean-up, play productions, administrative committees, fundraising, athletics, boys and girls clubs, gardening, and community service.

Committees
Parents with expertise in certain areas are encouraged to share their skills and join any of the following committees or administrative bodies:

• Parent Council
• Board of Trustees, Finance Committee
• Outreach and Enrollment Committee, Strategic Marketing Committee
• Fund Development, Annual Fund, Auction
• Festivals: Michaelmas, Halloween Journey, Winter Faire, May Faire
• Governance Task Force, Long Range Planning
• Buildings and Grounds, Gardening

New Family Host Program
Each new family is matched with a host family who shares its knowledge and experience of SMWS with the incoming family. Through personal connection, a host offers support and assists the new family in the transition into SMWS.

What every parent would wish as the best for his or her children, Waldorf education provides. The fullest development of intelligent, imaginative, self-confident and caring persons is the aim of Waldorf education. This aim is solidly grounded in a comprehensive view of human development, in an intellectually and culturally rich curriculum, and in the presence of knowledgeable, caring human beings at every stage of the child’s education.

Douglas Sloan, Professor, Columbia University