{"id":8874,"date":"2016-09-23T18:59:30","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T18:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsunmedia.com\/?p=8874"},"modified":"2016-09-23T18:59:30","modified_gmt":"2016-09-23T18:59:30","slug":"syringa-starts-school-year-with-record-enrollment-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/23\/syringa-starts-school-year-with-record-enrollment-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Syringa Starts School Year With Record Enrollment Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jeff Bacon<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Syringa
Syringa Mountain School first-year principal Christine Fonner stands in the halls at the school in south Hailey. Photo by The Chamber<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First-year principal Christine Fonner has her hands full running the county\u2019s only free, public charter school, Syringa Mountain School, in Hailey. While the school boasts nearly 150 students this year, which marks its highest enrollment ever, it\u2019s the education of the general public that Christine is most concerned about.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many years now, Syringa Mountain School has had high aspirations in regards to the programs it offers for children in grades K-6,\u201d Christine noted during a recent interview. \u201cUnfortunately, those weren\u2019t always actualized aspirations and we\u2019re finding ourselves at a bit of a crossroads in regards to the public\u2019s perception of the school versus the actual programs that are running well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christine\u2019s background has included stints in the largest school districts in the country, New York and Los Angeles, and corporate management positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people hear I\u2019ve worked for some of the largest school districts in the country, they usually ask what the biggest differences are in regards to school culture,\u201d Christine adds. \u201cRegardless of class size, the size of the community or the number of programs a district offers, there is always one truth that trumps them all: good teaching is good teaching. It\u2019s imperative that we give our teachers the best environment possible to put their good teaching to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Syringa Mountain School touts that it uses the Core Principles of Public Waldorf Education, which incorporates sustainable living practices and experiential learning into a student\u2019s day-to-day curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the great things about a Waldorf school is its ability to access a student\u2019s best process for learning,\u201d Christine notes. \u201cWhether you learn better through visual, physical, oral or any number of other ways, a Waldorf school\u2019s approach to the way a student learns will help the teacher better guide that student through the day\u2019s lesson plan. Also, by incorporating an outdoor or nature-based program in our lessons, we are teaching our kids to be aware of their connection with nature on a fundamental level.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as the county\u2019s only free, public charter school, Syringa Mountain School has unique challenges when it comes to the way each school year is funded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work with some very generous donors to help raise monies for the programs we offer, but that only gets us so far,\u201d Christine explains. \u201cA big part of our annual budget is raised through the events we hold and our biggest is the Harvest Gala Fundraiser on Oct. 14. We\u2019re excited to be able to offer a great dinner with live music, a DJ and an auction with some great prizes.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in learning more about Syringa Mountain School or their Harvest Gala Fundraiser, visit their website at www.SyringaMountainSchool.org.<\/p>\n

Jeff Bacon is The Chamber\u2019s membership director. For more information, visit www.haileyidaho.com or call The Chamber at (208) 788-3484.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jeff Bacon First-year principal Christine Fonner has her hands full running the county\u2019s only free, public charter school, Syringa Mountain School, in Hailey. While the school boasts nearly 150 students this year, which marks its highest enrollment ever, it\u2019s the education of the general public that Christine is most concerned about. \u201cFor many years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,38],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chamber-corner","8":"category-sponsored"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}