AERO 2014 in Review

Posted: June 29, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Brooklyn Free School, General Interest | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

There are moments in life, where a series of events converge, to put one in a position that questions the core of our very existence. This may be one of those moments for me. It is one of those times I have to ask, why I am where I am, without the wish for a ready explanation. It is this kind of questioning, which needs to go deep, that there is a flash of  great wisdom—one in which a vision on how everything is connected. If I were a better mathematician, I would be able to write an algorithm that would explain not only all of nature, the stars and the galaxies, but how those realities are connected to my struggles with money, the illnesses of loved ones, the seemingly chance encounters with new strangers and the opportunity to express myself in front of different groups of people.

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CW Post Auditorium

It was with a sense of abandon that I agreed to spend a day at the Alternative Education Resource Organization Conference (AERO) which has been going on for the last few days at Long Island University’s CW Post campus. I will justify my first paragraph in a bit, but I wanted to give a brief recap of the day and why my sense of universal connectedness is especially strong this morning. My daughter and I left here early in the morning to catch the trains out to Westbury. We were met by taxi and en route, the driver picked up another attendee. We quickly exchanged introductions and before we even reached the campus, I was already engaged in discussions about the school, where this person came from and by the end of the ride we quickly delved into philosophical territory about why we care so much about the education of children. It set the tone for the day. Not having a clue or an agenda, I randomly picked which workshops I would attend. My method was akin to throwing a set of dice or going “eeny meeny miny moe.”

I saw the workshop  “Experiencing Awareness Through the Body” by Margo W. MacLeod.  Margo and her assistant were the first people I met at the table in the morning. I was unsure if I would attend. I spend my year engaged in activities centered around self awareness. Being a bit of snob I saw myself rejecting another approach. But looking around at the other topics, and my daughters enthusiasm, I followed the invisible thread that led me into the room.

I was pleasantly surprised with the gentleness and unpretentiousness in the way the workshop was conducted. We were led in a very simple sitting, which covered familiar territory for me. It established a quiet in my body and deepened breath which supports a state of calm. Next we were asked to stand and with eyes closed, to slowly and carefully walk around the room with this same sense of awareness. When we came  into contact with another person, we were to stop and take an impression of what we felt the moment before we made contact. For me, there was a sense of the subtle body heat of another. The second part of the exercise was when making contact with another person, we were to stop and slowly stand back to back with that person. Then sit down on the floor with our backs together. Keep in mind that I did not know any one except my own daughter so there is a huge element of trust here. As we sat, the presenter placed an object into our hands. With eyes closed, I tried to sense what it was. At first I thought it was an artificial flower but then realized it was simply a balloon. We were asked to try to feel the color and texture (interestingly, I sensed it to be red and when I opened my eyes, I was shocked to see that I was correct.) We then followed with a number of games involving the balloon.

I left the workshop feeling very refreshed and awake. This particular approach to quiet work was not presented without reason. It is a method of creating self knowledge in children as well as adults. It originates from a school in India and you can find out more about it at their website. The video is of particular interest and was shown at the beginning of our workshop.

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Next we went to the auditorium to witness the two keynote speakers of the morning. Ramchandra Das who runs 3 ashram schools in Nepal, and Skyping from England, Zoë Neill Readhead, daughter of A. S. Neill and now Principal of Summerhill, the oldest democratic free school in the world.

After lunch we attended “Bringing Democratic Education to More Communities” with ​​Nikhil Goyal. This is where it became interesting for me. Nikhil is a very engaging and intelligent speaker. He is also very young (19.) The discussion went around the topic of why we have such a difficult time getting others to accept this seemingly successful mode of education. Nikhil said that when he visited Brooklyn Free School, his first reaction was “where were the metal detectors? Where were the guards? Where were the unhappy children?” But here is where I saw the opportunity to bring a certain level of understanding which has come from experience. I said (in essence), “what you are asking for is a huge paradigm shift. The world, at least to my eyes is extremely messed up. A situation that has in truth, been created by us adults. And we are asking that our youth take possession of this f**ked up situation, and fix it. Then the education system that created this mess wants to tell the children what they need to know in order to have the skill, knowledge and desire to correct the woes of humanity. What we in the democratic movement are suggesting is that EVERYONE drop their attachment to how they understand things, and trust children to find their own path to knowledge and actualization. But most human beings, including those sitting in this room, are unable to do that completely. Talking about it does not really help because we are asking people to “imagine” what this form of education can do. Until one actually experiences it and is directly affected by it, over a period of time you begin to absorb the fact that Democratic Education is actually another dimension of learning which is completely unfamiliar to the average person. To change how people receive this is paramount to trying to change the whole of the planet.”

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NIKHIL GOYAL

We all eventually agreed that the process needs to be through osmosis. There are many more Free Schools now then there were ten years ago. But there needs to be a bigger understanding about how these schools will survive past a decade or so. One elder gentlemen brought this out very clearly. He said that we need to become familiar with the word abjure (def: solemnly renounce.) This is a huge leap for most of us, including this writer. It requires a willingness for me to give up my false sense of authority. But in doing so, it allows me to realize that in truth, I am not in control of my life. I would like to think I am, but as I approach my 59th birthday, I am beginning to accept that I am not. And I am okay with that. Because it gives me the opportunity to study my condition in a whole new way. There is a sense in me that everything is connected and that my own condition has brought me to the unique understanding that is beginning to unfold in me. I am still thankfully in a process of learning and growing.

This sense of “being-connectedness” draws me out of any self pity for things not always being easy—for events converging in a way to make me feel the truth of my own discomfort. It is because I have a wish for something more. A wish to live a life that is truthful and meaningful. How that happens may not be entirely up to me. But there is something I can do. I can make myself available to this new understanding and not resist the truth of it. I am where I am because of where I have been. If I surrender my false sense of authority, it gives me a chance to find a real sense of authority. And that sense has much greater value in the real world. So by the end of this workshop, the fact that we had gotten out of bed in the wee hours began to make itself known. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. After the second afternoon workshop, where I worked with mind mapping, we headed home. But I am full of thoughts and feelings this morning about the strong sense that I am just one small point in a grand fabric. I am grateful for my one day experience for helping me back to that truth.

Testimonial on 10 years of Brooklyn Free School

Posted: May 16, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Brooklyn Free School | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

tumblr_n0dyp7ucU21slfteoo3_1280Last evening my wife and I attended the 6th annual Brooklyn Free School year end gala. It was held at The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture in Park Slope. It is the school’s biggest fundraiser and an opportunity for the community of parents, advisors, supporters, graduates and students to come together at one grand and festive event. It is also a milestone: the school is celebrating its’ 10th year of existence.

As part of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the school, the gala also surreptitiously included honoring several parents and others who helped get the school started over a decade ago. Yours truly is among that group and one of the last with a child still in attendance.

Since there were too many of us to get up on the microphone and give a speech, one has been rolling around in my head this morning, and I felt maybe it needs to exit my head and go out into the ether.

I would like to say how proud I am to be a part of this experiment in democratic education. I call it an experiment because at the very core of its’ mission, there is a process of understanding children and how they learn. It must forever be reevaluated and adjusted. So it is here that I will interject my own story on how it began from my particular vantage point.

Back in 2002 Sheryll, Noah and I were on our yearly Memorial weekend retreat in Phoenicia, NY. One day, while visiting a yard sale, we got to talking with the home owner about education and such. In the course of our discussion it came up that a Sudbury school was in the planning stages of opening in Woodstock. This got our mental wheels rolling, and from that point on all we could think about was how to move our lives up to Hudson Valley.

You see, there was no way I was going to put my son through what I went through in public school. On top of that, I had already dealt with the public school system with my older daughters during their early years. I was not ready to fight those battles again.

Fast forward a few months, Sheryll shows me an article in the Park Slope Food Coop Linewaiters Gazette by Alan Berger. In the article, Alan outlined his interest in starting a school based on the principles of Summerhill. In that article, Alan posed a number of questions:

• Are you tired of federal, state, city, and “certified experts,” and bureaucrats telling you what your children should learn in school and when they should learn it?

• Have you had enough of high stakes, standardized testing and federal and state “standards” determining what our children should know and how they are measured and ranked?

• Are you unhappy with the fact that children, unlike the rest of society, are forced to learn particular subjects at particular times, and only with children their own ages?

• Do you think that it is wrong that children are punished (failed, left back, labeled, etc.) when they don’t “learn” something (at least as far as their teachers and school can determine) within a specific period of time?

• Are you turned off by the institutional nature of school; the bells, buzzers, announcements, overzealous security, large classes, overcrowded buildings, poor food, bars on the windows?

• Are you concerned that your children are not interested in much of what they are “learning” at school?

• Are you worried about the ever-increasing competitiveness and workload in school and the pressure and stress that children are experiencing because of it?

This set off bells for Sheryll and I. Everything we wanted for our sons’ future, was suggested by these questions.

We had a wish for our child to be unencumbered by the same nonsense that seemed to stand as a burden for us. My own schooling was not one that I would wished to impose on my young son. My 13 years in the public school system of NYC was not a road well travelled. It was a process of overcoming ignorant and oppressive attitudes. As a child, my main interest was to be able to work on my drawings as much as possible. This tendency was noticed by teachers as a distraction from what they were doing at the front of the room. They would often call on me while I was deeply immersed in some complex doodle in my notebook. Of course, my response was always bewilderment and disinterest. In the realm of ordinary schooling, this was not acceptable, and I paid dearly for it.

And today the situation is far worse with the conditions of standardized testing, massive amounts of homework, school security and burned out and disillusioned teachers. Schools have become like factory training floors gone nuts.

So you might understand why I was tickled pink to see Alan’s questions. My answer was yes on every point. And our response to this was to join others in the process of making something that had not previously existed for a long time in NYC, let alone Brooklyn—a democratic free school! We joined meetings that started with 15-20 people and sometimes would have as many as 50-60 in the room. There were many who felt as we did that in order for something like this to take place, we were going to have to be active in the formation of it.

One needs to realize that as adults we make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. I would go so far as to say that for the most part, most of my life’s’ decisions have not been good ones. It could be said that “I” did not even make these decisions, but that because of the path I have been propelled along, decisions got made as a kind of default way of life. Fortunately I have learned a few things along the way. And one of the truly rightful decisions (other than my current wife as a life partner), Brooklyn Free School stands as one of the great decisions in my life. It is a great thing because it is not only for me or my son. It is not only for the children of our school. I see it as a pebble thrown into a pond. You are called to observe the ripples the pebble has made. Those ripples potentially form a wave starting on the other side of planet.

BFS has shown me that when we take our own self righteousness out of the equation, miracles are possible. It is possible for a higher understanding to reach us through our children, because they have been set free from a very specific shackle—the assumption that “I know.” Their process invites me to partake. The path of self discovery is always unfolding. Their freedom is my freedom. And it would seem that the potential exists, that this innocence mixed with empathy and inquisitiveness, can be turned back on the world as a force of good. A positive action. An intention to be better.

The formation of the school back in a church basement in 2004, eventually encouraged others to try to start their own schools. Manhattan Free School, Longview School in Brewster, NY, Village Free School in Portland and others soon followed around the country.

That is why I am honored to be part of the ongoing experiment called Brooklyn Free School. As my wife said to me last night, we have helped to create a community that we truly love.

¨We do not mould children in any way, we do not try to convert them to anything. If there is such a thing as sin it is the propensity of adults to tell the young how to live, a preposterous propensity seeing that adults do not know themselves how to live¨ — A.S. Neill

 

In Defense of An Idea

Posted: June 24, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Brooklyn Free School | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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It seems that everywhere I go these days, I am always steering the conversation toward democratic education. Other than spiritual questions that cover the purpose of existence, and why I am on this planet, the process of the Free School approach is number one on my mind. Apparently, it is also number one off the edge of my tongue.

This of course puts me frequently into the position of having to defend my beliefs. I must preface to say that my opinions are not just born of a stubborn attitude, although that is absolutely true of me, and my critics have a fair point of accusing me of being so. But I have watched the children play in the Free School environment now for almost a decade. I have watched some of my own fears and beliefs melt away in face of recognizing that something mysterious takes place when children are allowed to be themselves, and act from an organic place. I have seen miracles. Children who, if having remained in a standard public school environment, would be depressed, angry, and of no good use to anyone, transform into empathetic caring school leaders.

I have heard through the grapevine that this is even true of children, who for whatever reason, had to be moved from a democratic free school, usually because of some behavioral issue that BFS was not equipped to handle, or an impatient parent who wanted to see a specific result in their child. A common scenario that occurs is that one parent feels strongly in favor of democratic education for their child, while the other spouse does not. Eventually one of them wins out.

In one instance, a child who had been a constant challenge for the staff, with tantrums, sugar issues, was moved out of the school (much to my own fears for his welfare,) became an empathetic leader helping children in his new surroundings who had similar problems to him. Leaving the democratic environment actually showed that he had been absorbing what was going on around him the previous years, and immediately put it to work for him and his new friends.

What I find in having to defend my feelings on these issues, is the lack of understanding on my part as to why people continue to defend the methods of public education. Even in the face of what seems to be failure on a grand scale.

Pedro Noguera, an advocate for public education, spoke at The Democratic Education Symposium sponsored by our school 2 years ago at Medger Evers College. He feels strongly that public education needs to remain accessible for all. I agree. But I think what is being offered as “education” these days needs to be looked at and restructured. Yes it needs to be free for all. But if we were to have a banquet in which EVERYONE was invited, but the food was absolutely terrible and would make almost anyone who ate it sick, would that be considered a good deal? Mr Noguera’s  points need to be put in perspective though. He is speaking on behalf of a large underclass in America. A class that is growing in the face of economic changes in the world and an economic divide that grows ever wider.

Research never suggests that poor children are incapable of learning or that poverty itself should be regarded as a learning disability. Rather, research suggests that poor children encounter obstacles that often adversely affect their development and learning outcomes.

To ignore this reality and make bold assertions that all children can achieve while doing nothing to address the outside-of-school challenges they face is neither fair nor a sound basis for developing public policy. – Pedro Noguera

If you follow up and read some of Mr. Noguera’s ideas on how to change public education, you will understand that there is a place for some alternative thinking. I usually advocate for the tearing down of the current curriculums which support heavy emphasis on reading and math, and then test, test, test. Noguera points out that poverty remains an obstacle to hundreds of thousands of children as the current conditions prevail.

But why I argue on behalf of democratic learning is because of something far more subtle. Watching the social interactions of children is an incredibly mystical event. Learning is going on all the time. From the democratic meetings in which everyone is required to participate to the ability to call a mediation on one’s own behalf. To spend the day engaged in what is particularly interesting to oneself, or work as a group to figure out how to spend the day, even if that means playing around all day. Learning is happening at so many levels, that it is hard to tally it up in one breath.

What I have observed is that when children are taken from the school too soon, they soon realize that there is a quality of self-determination that has been removed from their life. A sense of purpose and confidence in becoming interested in just who I am, and discovering the reason for me to be on this planet. Public education, in its’ current form crushes that. There is no space for self discovery. It is “run with the pack or get cast out.” I have personal experience with this attitude as it was prevalent even in my day. This is why I have become so vocal on behalf of Free Schools in my middle age.

It is not always possible to articulate every thought when having a discussion in the park on a sunny day. Conversations tend to be complicated events. Everyone is waiting to express their point of view. There is very little listening going on and most times we leave the table unsatisfied. Blogs are a wonderful invention. It allows one to ponder what did not get said in that conversation, and then express one’s feelings in a reasonable forum. It is not that I wish to dismiss the point of view of the other, but rather to deepen the picture that I wish to draw. Expand the view a bit. It is not simply an argument between yes and no, but rather an attention that needs to be paid to subtleties. There are things that cannot be measured by grades or test scores. This can only be seen in the growing humanity of individuals who come out of the free school environment. Many times, the results cannot be seen until years after graduation, when the adult is becoming fully formed.

We have a world crisis in our environment. We have a world crisis in the economy. Corporations are threatening every aspect of our existence from pollution of our water, our food chain, destruction of our forests and a garbage problem that is a direct result of massive consumerism. We have massive upheaval, war, economic inequality, housing issues, and a need for a reevaluation of how we occupy the planet. We must see that education lies dead center of the very SAME crisis. And taking that into consideration, there is no defending any of the current policies. They need to be seen as destructive as an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or a the melting of the ice caps. The continuation of the policies of testing, lack of play, demonizing of kids as criminals, overload of homework, longer school days and just the plain, all out destruction of childhood as a disaster that threatens our immediate futures.

Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery:  He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul but his life.  —G.K. Chesterton

Northeast Association Democratic Education Conference 2012 at Longview School

Posted: April 9, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Brooklyn Free School | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

BROOKLYN FREE SCHOOL is pleased to announce it is co-sponsoring this years Northeast Democratic Education Conference at Longview School from May 4 – May 6!

The primary focus of the Northeast Democratic Education Conference is to celebrate democratic education and facilitate the sharing of tools and ideas to improve democratic, self-directed learning environments. The NADEC conference aims to build a stronger and more cohesive community of democratic schools and programs across the northeast United States. This is a conference for anyone looking to be intimately involved in democratic education; including teachers, mentors, students, parents, administrators and supporters. We hope for this conference to be practical, empowering, and inspiring to all forms of democratic education.
NADEC 2012

May 4th – May 6th
Longview School
83 Main Street, Brewster, NY 10509
845-259-8259
info@nadecconference.org
Workshops/Presentations
Student-Run Conflict Resolution

A Panel Discussion with Q & A at Longview School

The positive function of homework, memorization, and projects in free learning

Conference Speakers Include:
Mark Jacobs, Director, Longview School
Steven Cash, Mizzentop Day School
Donna Mikkelsen, Founder/Director/TeacherThe Garden Road
Mary Ann Baiyor, Tri-County Homeschoolers
Melissa Merkling, Founder, Housatonic Valley Waldorf School
For more information and to register for the conference, please click here to visit the NADEC 2012 site http://nadecconference.org

Photo Diary-Another Day at Brooklyn Free School

Posted: February 15, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Brooklyn Free School | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

So I spent a day at Brooklyn Free School. Essentially, I was asked to teach a class in the afternoon on Adobe InDesign, a program used for most of the designed layout you see in printed material everywhere. I used the opportunity to document some of the current happenings in the school. Key among them are the “intensives.” These consist of 4 specific classes that the students have agreed to attend daily for the past 3 weeks and which will terminate at the end of this week leading into winter recess.

Given that I had my camera with me, I used the occasion to document life at the school as it is. There has been a lot of development since the days BFS occupied 2 floors of an old church in Park Slope. We now reside in 4 floors of a sprawling brownstone in Clinton Hill. And it seems we are slowly out growing our space. There isn’t a place in the school without activity.

Oren and Noah start their day in the library communing on some game situation or other. There is a “no-screens” rule in effect during the morning hours. These two were circumventing the rule. Later in the morning, Noah taught a class in Animation to some of the boys from the lower school.

Jessica's house.

Ken's House

I got a peak in the art room at some of the current projects. Noah seemed impressed with them, so I had to have a look myself. Jessica. who is one of our newer students having come in from Brooklyn Friends, is a very shy and extremely intelligent young lady. She also shared with me her box of hand made earrings and pendants, all of which she made herself. I was impressed by the quality and commitment she shows to detail. Notice the scale accuracy of the furniture in her house.

Ken’s house shows a talent for architectural detail, and whimsical design.

The Intensives

These classes consist of four selections: Job Readiness, Casino Games, United Nations and Geography. The classes seem designed to allow the students to absorb a great deal of information in core subjects such as Math, History or Social Studies.

Alan Berger teaches “Job Readiness” The students had to come in dressed for an interview. The class was spent going through mock interviews.

Each student was at work either creating their own map of the United States, or going over the agricultural, economic and religions makeup of various regions.

 They spent the first weeks learning some of the rules that govern Casino games. Understanding the math involved in betting and then creating their own versions of the games. Noah created a hybrid of Craps and Roulette which inolves a complicated betting scheme. I need to copyright it ASAP.

In United Nations, each student represented one member country and would have to give a presentation about that country to the other panel members.

There were other activities during this whole process.

Nico practices for the upcoming talent show. The band was rocking out all day.

The Flash considers a wardrobe alternative.

Blu casts her spell.

Some dramatic play in the Gym with Sarah Mercogliano.

I felt it important to share this in order to give our community an idea as to how learning is going on in this school at an intensive and non-coercive level. The atmosphere has become much more focused. Students are being engaged at every level.

No Homework and Recess All Day

Posted: February 24, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Brooklyn Free School | Tags: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Just before the winter break I grabbed a few books off of the BFS shelf. I had forgotten that our friend and president of AERO, Jerry Mintz had written a book on Democratic Education. Being that I have been scheduled to give a presentation on this philosophy at the Park slope Food Coop in April, I thought it would be a good idea to bone up on some of the facts.

Jerry’s book No Homework and Recess All Day, is a very good introduction into the basic concepts that guide a Free School. His plain way of telling a story keeps you engaged while he lays out the positve results and experiences that take place as a result of this approach. He feels strongly that children need to be listened to, and how this can create some unexpected situations. He also makes it clear that when the balance of power shifts away from adults, the kids tend to step up and have some incredible solutions to daily problems.

One more point that I found unique to this book is that he he asks the question “Where do adults fit in?” This has been an interesting aspect of being involved with BFS over these years. It has had an affect on me as well as other parents. When a parent, whose child is enrolled with us, tells me that he/she still does not quite get it or trust it, my response to them is that they need to take the time to attend a democratic meeting. It is in this venue, as Jerry points out, that the most progress takes place. How children conduct themselves in the meetings. How it teaches them to listen to each other without interrupting (A feature in adults I find difficult to bare.) It builds confidence in a way that results in the students taking more responsibility for how their school is run.

The book is available at the AERO website. It is a quick read and lays out some of the many dimensions of a Free School. It lists many of the innovators who helped to build the education reform movement and lists many of the schools still in operation (as of 2003.) And the straight out story telling gives you a front seat into the adventures of the Shaker Mountain School which Jerry ran for 15 years in Burlington, Vermont. A must read for Free School afficianados.

So here it is

Posted: July 8, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Brooklyn Free School | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

wo weeks ago, I attended the NADEC (North American Democratic Education Conference) at the Crowne Plaza in Albany, NY. I signed up for this as a parent from Brooklyn Free School, which was also co-sponsor of this conference.

My wife and I were founding parents of this school, which began several years ago after the first IDEC (International Democratice Education Conference). We read an article in the Park Slope Food Coop Gazette by a former vice principle and now director of our school, Alan Berger. We attended meetings at peoples homes, while our son was still barely 3. The school formed 6 years ago and is going strong.

My intention for attending this conference? There is always an ulterior motive. I have been a graphic designer and art director for close to 30 years now. With the struggling economy, and my growing gray hairs, an urge buried deep in my belly has been emerging. I want what I do in life to mingle with my spiritual values and social understanding. The school represents many of these values. My attendance at the conference was motivated in finding a role to play for the school, for this type of education.

I hope that I am talking now to folks who are interested in the Free School philosophy so if you are not, and do not know what a Free School is, I direct you to look up A.S Neil or Summerhill School in Wikepedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerhill_School]. Though we are not 100 percent identical to Summerhill, we do use many of the same approaches.

One of the meetings we had in Albany was on How to Help Grow a National Movenment. The meeting got sidetracked into a long discussion on whether Facebook may be the answer to creating a network. For me, the point was not that, but why are we interested in this for our children to begin with. What is your story and how do we tell it so that people may listen?

Coming home from Albany, I kept thinking of a way to solve this. My brain was on full throttle and a thousand ideas were spinning through it. Something had to be done, and I was the man to do it. I spoke with Alan about creating a newsletter, something I have much experience in. I had produced a newsletter for NYU Downtown Hospital as well as our own art based newsletter which I also wrote (my wife edited). But to print a newsletter is costly, especially in this economic environment. Also, our school, BFS (Brooklyn Free School) is in the midst of creating a capital campaign in order to raise funds to buy its own building. A project that would help grow our school and allow for long term projects. Currently the school is in a church and must remain modular and collapsable as the church uses the same space we occupy. So now my priorities need to fall in line.

An online newsletter soon became an idea for a blog, and my wish to address the issues on a national level. I want this to be a forum where others in the Free School community can offer their voice, their stories. A place where the needs of the few can lead to the help of the many. Much of what makes up a blog is personal opinion, and excuse me if I use this place to do just that. But I also wish to be inclusive and will list appropriate submissions.

I will end my introduction here as I still have many things to learn about blogging, how to use this site to full advantage and to see if I can get a bunch of you talking, so that our 2nd NADEC will be a bigger splash than the first. the first was a blast for all of us; the kids, the teachers and parents. It is community building at its very core,and it is exciting to be part of such a process. It is something I wish for all us, even those who don’t agree.

More Later
Bruce Zeines