Dr. Rutherford, the principal of the Ideal Academy Charter School in Washington, DC, has a desire to see the TM program in schools everywhere, because it has been shown to improve the atmosphere in schools, student behavior, and academic achievement.

A courageous educator: Dr. Rutherford
from the Transcendental Meditation Magazine, Enjoy TM News
4 January 2017

“Why is Doc my hero?” asks Bob Roth, executive director of the David Lynch Foundation on the TM Blog. “Because for 45 years this great, courageous, noble man of tremendous integrity has put the love and welfare of his students above all else. And because, with great wisdom and persistence. . . and now hundreds of thousands of kids all over the world are benefiting from his work.”

Dr. Rutherford was one of the first public educators with the vision to see the tremendous potential of bringing the Transcendental Meditation program to under-served schools where levels of stress are exceedingly high. In the early 1990s, he was the principal of the Fletcher Johnson Educational Center, a school in one of the most dangerous areas of Washington, D.C.

In his mid-50s at the time, and suffering from high blood pressure, he started TM at the suggestion of his heart doctor, along with his wife and four children. His teachers at Fletcher Johnson noticed the dramatic changes for the better in their principal and said, “We want what you have!”

To find out more, he visited a school where all the students, faculty, and staff practice TM, the K-12 Maharishi School in Fairfield, Iowa, on the campus of Maharishi University of Management. Impressed by the positive learning environment and the extensive scientific research on TM, Dr. Rutherford brought TM to his own school. . . .

Soon, nearly everyone at Fletcher was practicing TM as part of the school’s daily routine. During a three-year trial, the improvements in the school’s atmosphere, student behavior, and academic achievement were dramatic, even miraculous.

Today, he is the beloved principal of Ideal Academy Public Charter School in the District of Columbia, a school founded in 1999. . . .

Educators and celebrities alike visit the Ideal Academy to see, firsthand, the profound effect this TM-based program has on students, staff, and faculty. As Dr. Rutherford said in a video, “Transcendental Meditation is the only transformational program that you can put in a public school that can change a whole community and give us a better quality of life.”

© Copyright 2017 Maharishi Foundation USA