SDE Salad

A bit of What, Why and How.

When I was working at a Sudbury-inspired School we talked a lot about the differences between what we were doing and what an “original style” Sudbury would be doing. These were little details like having academic offerings, allowing parents to interact with the school, and doing a lot more strewing than the OG Sudbury. Other things were the same as the original Sudbury like the Judicial Committee, and although I was not always a fan of the execution I understood how it supported empowerment and accountability. My kids also gained some real life understanding of how “judicial systems” can feel unjust — the part that felt like policing, I could leave that. I also researched other models and brought some agile tools to that school. After we moved away from that Sudbury school, I did training in how Agile Learning Centers (ALCs) were run and helped run one for a term. There were parts of it I really loved and other parts that didn’t turn out as good in the execution as they did in the pitch. I thought the kanban boards would make youth more organized and amplify our day. However, the kids weren’t really into it, and it felt forced, like something I wanted more than they did. It could also be that this isn’t a tool that fits my facilitating style.

Models are run best by people passionate about whatever model it is. People inevitably create centers in unique ways. There may be some similarities between centers that share a model name like ALC’s, Sudbury, Democratic, but these are just words and what we really create are communities. SDE models are a set of structures and tools, it’s the people that make the community. The people who create the space add their unique perspective and focus to whatever model they choose. Now that the ideas are gaining more popularity I have seen schools that focus on meeting outdoors for instance or more structured programs that are loosely directed by the youth. I’m supportive of as many choices and ways to access SDE as possible. Having moved my family from one place to another and from one SDE model to other models I know how important it is to be able to access a school that works for you, and how hard it is when you can’t. And even then a center or model may sound great to you, but the experience may be that your kid doesn’t jive with it. You have to ask a lot of questions to understand how a community works, and in the end your kid will tell you if it lives up to their standard or personal preferences. So, no matter what I write out in the brochure, the kids will decide if we succeed in creating a liberated environment, not us. We won’t be the school for everyone, but we will be really clear about what we offer and passionate about what we do.

As we were laying out the structure of the Meraki School of Democracy we picked our favorite parts of all the models we are familiar with. It is an SDE salad. We want the youth to run the place in a concrete organized fashion, like a Sudbury. Meaning we have clear tools and processes to support them in running the school. We wanted to transform the judicial system of Sudbury, keeping the accessible processes like the write -up slip, but remaking them with restorative justice and accessibility in mind. Keeping the parts of the system that empower the youth and leaving behind the parallels to the punitive policing system. We want more explicit offerings and activities, like you would see at Liberated Learner centers or many ALCs, We want to expand our program with afterschool programs and camps, similar to what some democratic schools have done

One of the great things about building this is that collectively we have been in the SDE community for 20 years. We have a lot of experience and we have heard a lot of stories. Bria has supported and hosted many communities across the world in her work with The Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Currently, since we have no enrolled youth to check in with, we are running our ideas by our own families and communities, including: a 15-year-old unschooler who has attended a Sudbury School, a 19-year-old grown SDE kid, and our SDE grandma who is a staunch advocate after many years. Many of the decisions we made were based on the feedback we got from our interest form, including the days we are open and the offering of an enrichment program for homeschoolers that aren’t interested in the full time school. Our plan is the best mash up we could come up with — it’s also open to adjustment. In A.S. Neill’s book, Summerhill, he says (paraphrased) that he simply created a model that worked, but it might not be the best one, and he hoped future generations would evolve and create the happiest school ever. For us, the secret sauce for that is the youth authentically running the place. I already have a really great idea that I’m excited about, but I’m gonna save it for the community to decide if they want to do it or not. I can’t just assume. This isn’t really my school, it’s OURS

Ready to check it out?

www.merakischool.org

Reach out with any and all questions. A bi

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