When Kary Bennett and Rebecca LaScolea realized the type of education program they wanted for their children didn’t exist locally, they decided to create one.
The Mountain River School, a nonprofit independent school, will open this fall on Mountain Road in Stowe, in the same building as Phoenix Table and Bar.
It will serve about a dozen students in kindergarten and grade one; the women hope to expand it to a K-12 school over time.
LaScolea, a Stowe resident, has a 5-year old son. Bennett, who lives in Morristown, has a 4-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
Both women want their children to attend a school with an outdoor classroom and a holistic curriculum that nurtures social and emotional development, rather than focusing on only intellectual growth.
They point to studies showing that children reap physical and mental-health benefits from spending large amounts of time outdoors.
They are committed to making sure that, when it comes to learning, Mountain River School will embrace students’ unique passions.
“We both wanted to create something that provided that,” LaScolea said.
For instance, students at the school will work on “extended projects,” allowing them to explore a topic of their choosing for an extended length of time.
“We’re not trying to replicate public school, but hoping to offer a new alternative for the greater Lamoille Region,” LaScolea said.
“I feel it’s so important for every person to have a means to explore who they are individually as well as their connection to other people and the Earth,” Bennett said. “It speaks to my heart.”
Before she teamed up with Bennett, LaScolea and her husband had considered moving back to her home state of Colorado, where schools with holistic curriculums are more common, “but we love Vermont and we love Stowe so we said, ‘Let’s just create it ourselves.’”
Earlier this year, Bennett and LaScolea conducted online surveys to gauge local interest in an independent school and to find out the qualities parents would like to see in such a school.
They received close to 100 completed surveys showing there is considerable interest in a school that has a strong experience-based learning environment coupled with a curriculum focus on outdoor education.
The completed surveys came from as far north as Cambridge and as far south as Richmond.
Bennett and LaScolea are inspired by a number of different philosophical approaches to education, which they plan to incorporate into the school’s curriculum.
"By blending both outdoor education and holistic education, along with elements of Montessori, Waldorf and Reggio, we will strive to create a unique approach that fosters our children’s innate passions for learning," LaScolea said.
They expect to draw students from throughout Lamoille County and Waterbury and will raise money to keep tuition rates reasonable.
“One of our goals is to offer a school that children from different socioeconomic backgrounds could attend,” LaScolea said. “We want to it to be affordable.”
They chose the school’s location, in part, because it’s easily accessible from points north and south of Stowe.
The building sits along the Stowe Recreation Path, which will serve as an outdoor classroom, allowing lessons ranging from how to stay safe in the woods to weather patterns to trail conservation.
There’s also a large area that will be turned into a fenced-in natural play space.
Bennett and LaScolea will hire two teachers at first and have begun to advertise the positions.
“We’re not surprised that we’ve gotten a lot of interest,” LaScolea said. “There are some really strong candidates.”
They’re working with holistic education experts who will be mentors for the teachers and help design the curriculum and outdoor components of the program. They’re also working with the Vermont Agency of Education.
“It’s not easy to venture into unknown land and create something new,” LaScolea said.
Bennett and LaScolea will host an informational meeting Tuesday, May 26, at 7:30 p.m. outside Phoenix Table and Bar.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexual language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be proactive. Use the "Report" link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.