Sarah Arnold - Director of School Development and Membership

Sarah Arnold is a life-long educator. She has an undergraduate degree from Harvard in French Language and Civilization and a Master’s in Elementary Education from Lesley University. Sarah has taught in public schools in the elementary grades in Massachusetts and Nevada. She was drawn to Waldorf education through seeking a developmentally aware early childhood program for her own children. This yearning led to her participation in the founding of Evergreen Garden Playschool (EGP). Sarah completed her Waldorf Early Childhood teacher training at Sunbridge Institute, becoming a teacher and later the Director of EGP.

Through a desire to bridge the worlds of Waldorf education and public education, Sarah became active in the work of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, eventually joining the Board and becoming the Public Policy and Outreach Coordinator for WECAN. Sarah began work on a relationship between WECAN and the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education. Sarah was active in this work from 2015-2020. In this role, Sarah became a member of the Ideal Learning Round Table (sponsored by the Trust for Learning) in 2017. The work with WECAN, the Ideal Learning Round Table, and the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education, lead to the founding of the Waldorf Associations Working Group, which is a forum for communication across the three North American Waldorf Associations: WECAN, the Alliance, and AWSNA.

This same desire led to Sarah enrolling at Boston University in a Doctor of Education program in Language and Literacy in 2015. The onset of COVID in Spring of 2020 brought many changes to Sarah’s life. Sarah’s dissertation research was put on hold by the closing of schools, and the opportunity to join Northeast Woodland Chartered Public School in Conway, NH as the initial Head of School arose.

Sarah worked with the founding board of Northeast Woodland to successfully open the school in the Fall of 2020. The school welcomed 130 students at the opening, meeting its initial enrollment goal. Sarah left Northeast Woodland at the end of June. During her tenure, through the work of many partners, the school grew to an enrollment of 200 students, acquired a 25,000 square foot building and a 12- acre campus, and formed a warm community of staff, parents, and students, while keeping a core focus on the development of the school’s joint Waldorf and Outdoor Education program.

I am thrilled at the opportunity to join the Alliance in this exciting moment for Public Waldorf Education. I can’t wait to begin my work supporting all our schools on their developmental paths, and assisting new groups as they work to write and implement new charters or develop new district programs.