Dear Colleagues,

We know we have been quite persistent (relentless?) in our outreach for our upcoming conferences: this week’s E-news is on that theme but, we hope, a bit more reflective. The sun is shining in Northern California, and I am thinking of all of you in your very varied locations, many preparing to travel to Los Angeles, others planning schedules and home responsibilities to free up space for the virtual conference. Public Waldorf is on the move!

Our Public Waldorf movement began in Milwaukee with the Milwaukee Urban Waldorf School in 1991, soon to be followed by a school in Sacramento, Northern California. These were both district schools and they formed a strong foundation for this work. In 1993, our first charter school opened, also in Northern California. Today, we stand at 60 member schools or initiatives spread across 15 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wisconsin. It is truly thrilling to report that we will have participants from every one of those states at our upcoming conferences! 

Imagine for a moment what this coming together represents. The varied landscapes alone are incredible: volcanoes, beaches, ice floes, snow, desert, coast, prairie, mountains. Beneath those varied landscapes, vast variations in geography: the impact of glaciers, powerful tectonic forces, granite, limestone, alluvial soil, sand, all impacting how people live. Waterways run through our landscapes: rivers, creeks, streams, ponds, lakes, and the mighty oceans - Atlantic and Pacific. We can truthfully say that the sun rises and sets each day on our schools! Now add the impact of people over time as they have adapted to these varying landscapes and left their imprint on them. Our schools recognize and draw from the wisdom of many different Indigenous or “First“ peoples. People have arrived, moved through, departed, forming the local communities that are homes to our schools and families. Each school is thereby unique, responding to what is beneath our feet, on the earth, in the sky, and created by people through culture and community. We will conduct our beloved “roll call” early in the in-person conference and will add the names of schools attending the virtual conference so we can all see and marvel at this amazing tapestry of place, people, and schools. 

Now we have an opportunity to greet one another, to gain a glimpse of what is unique and what is shared, to strengthen, deepen, and affirm our work in bringing Public Waldorf education to life in this great array of settings. We know that, with the in-person conference, we will travel, come together and meet, within the scheduled program and beyond. We also know that our carefully created virtual conference will provide the same opportunity to meet, connect, deepen, and inspire. We are confident that ripples will travel out from this coming together in connection and community. Shared and individual experience will inform faculty meetings, classrooms, and personal journeys. We need the company of others in these deeply challenging times, a sense of shared mission and meaning, and our chance to touch the future in positive ways. 

We can’t wait to see you, to gather together in person and online, and share stories, and to feel the power of connection and community. I would be remiss if I didn’t add that it is still possible to register and to join us!

Warm wishes to all,

Liz Beaven

Executive Director

You can still register - we look forward to seeing you! 

Conference Compass Websites

To explore keynote presenters, workshops, and schedules for both the in-person and virtual conferences, visit our Conference Compass Websites:

For more information:

Liz Beaven, Executive Director 

Carly Fedor, Administrative Assistant

Alliance for Public Waldorf Education

40 4th St., # 274

Petaluma, CA 94952

Public Waldorf is a service mark of the Association of Waldorf Schools

of North America and is used pursuant to a license.

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