RSF Makes a Loan to the Pine Forest School
Dec 15 2014
RSF is pleased to announce a new loan to the Pine Forest School (PFS). RSF financing will help fund the acquisition and renovation of a new campus property that will increase the community’s access to education inspired by Waldorf principles.
Celebrating their 20th anniversary this school year, Pine Forest School is a publicly funded, Pre-8 grade school in Flagstaff, Arizona using a curriculum and methodology inspired by Waldorf Education. PFS was founded in 1995 as a K-4 public school, and was originally funded by the Arizona State Department of Education. Through collaborative efforts by interested Flagstaff families and enthusiastic, trained Waldorf educators and other teachers, education inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s ideas has become a reality in Northern Arizona. Over the following five years the school grew to be a complete K-8 program.
Michael Heffernan, PFS Executive Director, stands in front of the school’s new property. Photo courtesy of the Arizona Daily Sun.
The school currently operates on a 1.5 acre campus located in a light industrial park area of north Flagstaff. For the past several years the school has been focused on developing resources and community support for a move to a site offering an environment more suited to a school inspired by Waldorf principles, as well as the capacity to embrace a larger community. With the help of RSF financing the school was able to acquire a 3.5 acre property in Sunnyside, one of Flagstaff’s oldest neighborhoods. The school has plans for over $1.4 million in renovations, and hopes to open the new campus for the 2015-2016 school year.
“Pine Forest School and RSF Social Finance have known each other for many years,” says RSF Senior Lending Associate, Reed Mayfield. “I first visited the school in the spring of 2011 when they were seeking to build out new facilities – it was not the right time for a move. But now as the school and community have grown, we are proud to co-create a path to the new space. Talk about long-term relationships!”
The curriculum inspired by Waldorf Education that Pine Forest School follows uses a child development model that nurtures and embraces learning for the head, heart, and hands of each student. With nearly 250 students currently enrolled, PFS offers main lesson blocks intertwined with Southwestern culture, tradition, and history. Special classes and extra-curricular activities include German, Spanish, eurythmy, woodwork, handwork, art, archery, chess, basketball, and volleyball. The school is led by a passionate group of teachers and administrators, and seeks to facilitate strong family and community involvement through events, volunteer opportunities, and communication.
Pine Forest School is currently the only public charter school in Flagstaff inspired by Waldorf principles. PFS believes all children should have access to education inspired by Waldorf principles, regardless of their financial resources, and hope that the move to a new location will provide greater access to underserved children. The new site is more centrally located in Flagstaff, and is surrounded by several different neighborhoods and communities of people from varying ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
“I am very excited that PFS has been blessed with the opportunity to expand our enrollment and bring this form of education to more children and families, and move to a location which is in the heart of Flagstaff, surrounded by neighborhoods, other schools, public libraries, city parks and national forest,” says PFS Executive Director Michael Heffernan. “We will be able to build our program with the larger facilities and more acreage, and the possibilities for community collaboration are many. RSF is the perfect organization to partner with as their mission for social finance is aligned with our mission for excellence in education.”
Video courtesy of Pine Forest School:
About Pine Forest School
Founded in 1995, Pine Forest School (PFS) is the only public charter school in Flagstaff, Arizona using a curriculum and methodology inspired by Waldorf Education. PFS provides an education of the whole child, with a curriculum that is a truly comprehensive balance of academic, practical, and artistic activities. The school is dedicated to helping individuals achieve their full intellectual, emotional, and physical potential, in a sustainable and beautiful environment that reinforces integrity, understanding, respect, and trust. www.pineforestschool.org
