detailed history of RDS
timeline
detailed history
1960s
In 1962, Mrs. Edward Wallis of Piedmont attended a lecture by Mae Carden and opens a school using the Carden materials and methods. The Mae Carden Center School opened in 1963 with 12 students at the Matilda Brown Home in Oakland.
1970s
By 1972 the school had grades Junior First through Sixth and, housed at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, was called St. Paul’s Carden School. Pressure from the church to make the curriculum a religious one resulted in the School’s moving to a new site and establishing its first Board of Trustees. The school—now called the Carden Redwood School—opened in September 1975, in a Lutheran church building on Redwood Road in the Oakland Hills
The Parent Association was started in 1979. Its by-laws stated that it would report all of its activities to the Board in order to ensure that the two were well informed about each other’s activities and could therefore work together as efficiently as possible. Hot Dog Days was the first fundraiser started by the Parent Association.
1980s
In 1983, the School, with its disciplined program and strict Carden structure, first sought a full accreditation by the CAIS (California Association of Independent Schools) and was turned down. At about this same time, the middle school was founded and a new head of school was hired. Mr. Ray Boring brought with him a wealth of experience acquired as Academic Dean and teacher at the Marin Academy.
In April of 1985, faced with rising rents, the School chose to move to Alameda. The new site promised to greatly enrich the program, but some Oakland families chose to pull their children out of the school in the face of the commute that would be required of them after the move.
In 1986, after the school became settled into its Alameda site, Ray Boring and the trustees began a complete review of the curriculum and the School began to move away from the Carden materials and program. The Carden Foundation administrators approved changes to math and science, but stated that any changes to the reading and language arts curriculum, the heart of the Carden system, were absolutely prohibited.
Based on the curriculum changes, Carden Redwood School received a provisional accreditation from CAIS in 1986.
In 1988, Joyce Evans, formerly of Marin County Day School and San Francisco Day School, was hired as Head of School. At the time, the School was plagued by low enrollment, a $40,000 operating deficit, cash flow problems, a movement to cancel the middle school program due to low enrollment, and three vacant faculty positions. Due to Evans’ hard work and enthusiasm, the school opened in September with 137 students, a fully enrolled new Kindergarten program, some refurbished space, and great expectations for the year to come.
By the fall of 1989, enrollment had risen to 160 students, the deficit had been cut by one third, a part-time business manager/math teacher was hired, curricular changes including a new reading program were being used, and a new name, Redwood Day School was adopted.
In 1989 the School received its first six-year accreditation from the CAIS along with membership in the National Association of Independent Schools. The Annual Giving Campaign was also begun in 1989, and the Auction was upgraded to a major fund-raiser. It was held at the Claremont Hotel, and raised an unprecedented $56,000.
1990s
In 1990, the first summer program concluded with a theatrical production entitled "Monkey King," and the PE program had evolved into one including competitive sports programs with other East Bay independent schools.
Joel Rosenberg became Head of School on July 1, 1993 and hired a curriculum development consultant, Kathy Duhl. Kathy began an in-depth evaluation of the materials, methods and teaching styles used by Redwood Day School faculty. She helped the faculty to develop a "scope and sequence" plan to map every students’ progress in math over the years. Later, Duhl tackled the language arts curriculum in the same manner.
In 1994, RDS bought the Oakland/Piedmont Jewish Community Center on Sheffield Avenue. The site had the acreage they longed for, an outdoor pool, a gymnasium, and housed a multi-purpose room with a stage. The buildings included classrooms, and the grounds featured off-street parking. In addition, it was located next to a city park and backed up to a reservoir.
Enrollment for the 1995-96 school year stood at 196 students. A decision was made to double the middle school by adding a second class section to seventh grade starting in 1995, with two eighth grades starting in 1996.
Rick Clarke became Head of School in 1996.
2000s
By 2001, the student population had grown to 275 students. Math and science classes were realigned according to gender in 1996. Boys learned math or science with other boys and girls with girls, based on the understanding that there are differences in the ways that the two genders approach learning and the acceptance they feel in the classroom. This program has continued for six years with wonderful results and positive learning experiences for both students and teachers.
The Middle School Advising Program has been developed more fully, with students being assigned a faculty advisor in a grade-level group of about 11 students. This group meets several times weekly to help support students in all areas of school life – academic, social and emotional.
The School increased its commitment to diversity and academic excellence. Support for educational choice for families of limited means has doubled, and the school is recognized as having a strong academic program that serves a balanced, multi-ethnic, socio-economic mix of families, reflective of the larger community of Oakland and the greater East Bay.
In the fall of 2001, RDS was granted a conditional use permit that allows RDS to grow to 387 students, the population that would result from the doubling of the Lower School to two sections per grade. In 2002 and 2003, RDS added 11,700 square feet of classroom and multi-use space to the Lower School and 4,800 square feet of classroom space to the Middle School, replacing aging portables.
In 2004, Mike Riera became Head of School. Under his leadership, RDS has come to be recognized as a premier independent school, both in terms of academic rigor and social-emotional development. These core values will be carried over to the Upper School that RDS is launching in the fall of 2010.