Dear Friends,
It is with immense sadness that we write to tell you of our Board of Director’s decision to discontinue our efforts to build the Karuna School. Over the past few months, we have worked diligently to raise sufficient funds to take the leap from vision into reality. As you know, we hired an extraordinary Head of School, Adrienne Miller, who so brilliantly embodied our vision and was ready to build the team that opening a new school requires. Yet, the economic downturn we have all been experiencing made it more and more difficult to raise the money necessary to take our next steps. We finally realized after much soul searching that our time had run out and that we needed to let go of manifesting our dream in this form.
We feel honored to have been joined in our efforts by so many extraordinary people over the past four years since we incorporated. We want to thank each of you who contributed in so many ways to the Karuna School. You have dreamed with us and cheered us on, many of you devoting time and energy to share your skills and experience with us. We have been deeply inspired by you and will always be grateful for your faith in us and in the dream of the Karuna School.
We are very clear that an idea like a high school for peace can never die. The Karuna School will live on like a seed in each of us and blossom in myriad ways that we could never have imagined. We can all look forward to seeing how this seed will manifest and to watering it in the days to come. Recently we received an unexpected email from Karma Chungdak, the director of the Sambota Tibetan schools in India, who wrote, “I often visit your website to draw inspiration and ideas.” It has been so gratifying to know that people across the world are taking inspiration from our vision.
Yet, as you can imagine, we are heartbroken to have to let the Karuna School go. It is very painful to know that Adrienne Miller will not be creating the Karuna School community of learning that she was so well-prepared to create. We want you to know that, in accordance with our original commitment to Adrienne, Karuna School, Inc. will support Adrienne until she finds her next position. We are confident that she will take the vision of the Karuna School wherever she goes.
Another difficult thing to let go of is the very clear image that we have had from the beginning of the students whom we would have welcomed, nurtured and learned from. We have envisioned these same young people leaving the Karuna School community at nineteen, self-aware, confident, and compassionate, ready to share their gifts with the world. Please join us in praying that others will continue to take up the call to offer young people a new kind of education that is devoted to both the mind and the heart.
We thank you again for all of your love and support. It is our hope that our circle of friendship will continue to flourish in new ways in the months and years ahead. For those of you who can come, we plan to have a celebration of our work together sometime in November.
With love and gratitude,
Prajna and Ted Hallstrom
phallstrom@karunaschool.org
thallstrom@karunaschool.org
Click here to see Head of School Address
Read Founder's "Case for The Karuna School"
Read the letter His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote to the Karuna School