BLOOM LEADERSHIP
The Bloom Community School Board of Directors grew out of a founding core leadership team including Dr. Laura Kalmes, Karin McDowell, Rachel Lapp Whitt, and Grace Sheese, and has grown into a group bringing diverse vocational, organizational, and parenting experiences. This team is committed to creating an independent, progressive school serving the Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, area with a uniquely innovative mission: To cultivate joyful, independent learners in an educational environment that nurtures individual development by integrating high academic standards and community engagement. This mission is served by the learners, teachers, parents, and collaborators of Bloom who are interconnected with our community and its diverse, vibrant organizations, businesses, and institutions.
Board President
Gary Weilbacher
Gary Weilbacher’s educational career began in Wales, Wisconsin, at Ethan Alan School for Boys during the mid-1980s. He taught students with special needs while working in a program for juvenile sex offenders for four years. He then moved to Madison and spent the next nine years serving with the Madison Metropolitan School District as a special (Marquette Middle School) and regular education (Sherman Middle School) teacher.
Gary’s work and continuing post-graduate program in education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison changed his life, as most of those years were spent working with Barbara Brodhagen and James Beane using an integrative curriculum. Upon receiving a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University, Gary and his family moved to Bloomington, where Gary began his work at Illinois State University, where he currently serves as an Associate Professor in the College of Education in Teaching and Learning. For the past 20 years he has worked with “pre-service” teachers – people who want to become middle school teachers. He has published research, perspectives, and other articles in a range of educational journals and magazines.
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Gary’s interest in Bloom Community School stems from his work in Madison, as the integrative curriculum is a democratic, student-led approach to learning that takes seriously the needs, questions, and concerns of students. He spent his most recent semester-long academic sabbatical with Bloom Community School, focusing on the Blossoms Class and also spending time with the Sprouts and Pods classrooms.
Board Vice President
Rachel Lapp Whitt
Rachel Lapp Whitt works as a writer/editor, graphic designer, and strategist. A founder of Bloom Community School, she brings a dedication to inspiring, equitable environments that nurture children as creative, able learners. She began career life in public radio and print journalism, then moved into public relations and teaching, and now works as a designer and contributor at Art Class Curator, whose mission is to support art educators in providing meaningful art engagement experiences for students of all ages. In 20+ years of freelancing, Rachel has focused on supporting artists, nonprofits, schools, and small businesses.
Rachel earned a master’s degree in Multicultural Communication at DePaul University during the same year she and her co-author and mother, Anita Stalter, published an all-ages book on Indiana women in history. Her writing and editorial work has also been featured in publications and online journals as well as on public radio.
For nearly 7 years, Rachel directed the public relations department at Goshen College in wide-ranging strategic relations, print, online, video, advertising, event support, and media relations efforts. She has also worked for several boutique marketing and design firms in the Midwest. Rachel then joined the faculty of GC’s Communication Department, teaching courses in public speaking, intercultural communication, PR, mass media, comm research, expository and feature writing, film, and women in media representation. She and a colleague led Peace and Justice Journalism trips with small groups of students to to study issues of global significance like HIV/AIDS, economic markets, and migration.
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At the heart of her contributions to founding and sustaining Bloom is her relationship with her child, whose imagination is a constant reminder to Rachel and her spouse of the opportunity to nurture creativity and possibility. They live in Bloomington and are advocates for childhood cancer research.
Board Secretary
Julie Fraser-Lindsey
Julie Fraser-Lindsey discovered Bloom Community School as a result of her increasing desire to teach and learn in a progressive, compassionate, and intentional environment. She has a master’s degree in English Studies from Illinois State University and has taught composition and children’s literature at Heartland Community College for over 20 years. During that time she has sought out opportunities to teach writing to younger kids through ISU’s Writing Project and Heartland’s Youth Enrichment Program.
Julie became Capstone Coordinator in Fall of 2020 and joined the board shortly thereafter.