By Julie Ristau
My son brought home a great looking comic book today that he created in his options class, and I found myself thinking back on some of the other projects and stories I have heard coming out of his options experience. There was the antique airplane drawing class, the energy movement group, and the beginner’s chess to name just a few.
Have you ever wondered how this remarkable Barton program keeps rolling? Just imagine the task of collecting, organizing, and supporting all of those wonderfully diverse ideas that come home twice a year in your kids’ backpacks. (45-50 classes offered in each session)
Well, meet Rus Thomas. The incredible man behind the curtain of Barton’s options program.
I had the pleasure of chatting with him a few weeks back, and came away from his little nest on the first floor smiling with wonderment again at the talent and passion so evident in the Barton teaching community. Rus devotes 20 hours a week to Barton’s Options Program and handles everything from recruiting new ideas for classes to organizing and assigning all of the options that are presented each of the three six week sessions. Not to mention the tireless attention he gives to every student (and parent) who needs encouragement, ideas for how to teach their class or just a dose of plain old “can-do attitude”.
The morning I was visiting him, I found him in the middle of coaching young girl through a challenge she was encountering with teaching a guinea pig class. Rus took all the time she needed to give the student moral support, assuring her of who was signed up and making suggestions for the curriculum. When she skipped away, troubles lifted, Rus turned to me and said, “that is why I love this work”.
Rus is a studio artist by trade, and he brings that sensibility to the puzzle that is the Options Program. His keen understanding of how the program grows from and reflects the Open school philosophy is evident. The program depends upon parental and community involvement, incorporating Barton families into school programming in a meaningful way. Rus directs the program with craftsman like quality—understanding the importance of every moving part while imagining the whole.
Next time your child brings home the call for options, consider the role that it plays in the school, the joy of children teaching children, parents involved alongside staff, and enter into the wave that is the Barton Options Program. And if you have a question about how it works, or what it is like, Rus is just a phone call away.
Click here for more photos from Options offerings.
Click here for a short description of the Options program (go to page 9).
Barton violin, viola and cello musicians, under the direction of Toyo Lang, gave magnificent performances for the student body and the Barton community on May 18th and 19th. The concerts were the culmination of nine months of hard work by Toyo and 53 Barton students from grades three through eight. Toyo met with the students just one day each week during the school year. The beginning String Group, Varsity Strings and the Chamber Orchestra performed classical, popular and folk music. Maddie Austin gave a brilliant solo performance of the first movement of Joseph Haydn’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Major. Jan Ulvin was the accompanist. 
School Board member Dennis Shapiro will join the Barton Leadership Council for its regular meeting this Thursday, May 13. Shapiro will be available to hear the Barton community's concerns about district-wide issues, the status of the Board's current 
