Sudbury Valley School
| The Sudbury Valley School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
 | |
2 Winch Street, Framingham, Massachusetts United States | |
| Information | |
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1968 |
| Chairperson | Jonah Connally |
| Faculty | 9 |
| Age range | 4 - 19 |
| Enrollment | 160 |
| Campus size | 10 acres (40,000 m2) |
| Campus type | suburban |
| Annual tuition | $8700 |
| Philosophy | Sudbury |
| Governance | School Meeting (democratic, vote by students and staff) |
| Website | http://www.sudburyvalley.org |
The Sudbury Valley School was founded in 1968 by Daniel Greenberg in Framingham, Massachusetts, United States. There are over 50 schools that claim to be based on the Sudbury Model in the United States, Belgium, Brasil, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Japan and Switzerland. The model has three basic tenets: educational freedom, democratic governance and personal responsibility. It is a private school, attended by children from the ages of 4 to 19.
Facilities
There are no traditional classrooms and no traditional classes; instead children are free to do what they wish with their time. This may or may not include formally exploring academia or speaking with staff members or other students about academic interests, as part of educating themselves.[1]
Curriculum
The school has no required academic activities, and no academic expectations for completion of one's time at the school. Students are free to spend their time as they wish.[2]
Government
Students are given complete responsibility for their own education and the school is run by a direct democracy in which students and staff are equals. The corporation is wholly owned and operated by the School Meeting, in which each student and each elected member of the staff has one vote.[3][4]
Staff
There is no tenure at Sudbury Valley School. The School Meeting, with each participant receiving one vote, hires staff, as part of its duties in running the school. Every year, in the spring, elections are held for next year's staff. School Meeting members (staff and students) may nominate people to the role of staff. The School Meeting debates the school's staff needs, and discusses each candidate in turn. There is an election with secret paper ballots which is open to all students and staff. Staff are who have received more yes votes than no votes in this election are eligible to receive contracts negotiated on the floor of the School Meeting.[3]
Alumni
Sudbury Valley School has published two studies of their alumni over the past forty years. There have, as yet, been no formal studies of graduates of other Sudbury schools, but anecdotally, they seem to have similar results.[5]
Notable Alumni
- Laura Poitras - Academy Award-winning American documentary film director and producer[6]
Officers of the Corporation
Officers of the Corporation are elected by the School Meeting, meeting as the corporation, at its annual meeting.[4]
- Chairperson: Jonah Connally, student
- Secretary: Mar Calvo, student
- Treasurer: Scott Gray, staff member
See also
References
- ^ Hara Estroff Marano: Psychology Today Magazine: Education: Class Dismissed. May/Jun 2006.
- ^ The Sudbury Valley School Handbook. September 2015.
- ^ a b How the School is Governed, from the school's web page
- ^ a b The By-Laws of the Sudbury Valley School, Inc.
- ^ Greenberg, D. (1996) "OUTCOMES." Retrieved on 2009-03-19 (see with Explorer).
- ^ Leon Neyfakh (October 27, 2014). "Filmmaker focuses on Edward Snowden, his leaks". The Boston Globe.
Further reading
- Items from the Sudbury Valley School Press
- Items from the Sudbury Valley School's Online Library
- Items from the Sudbury Valley School's Featured Essays
- Items from the Sudbury Valley School's Blog
External links
- Documentary including Sudbury Valley School, 2009, 30 minutes, www.teachers.tv
- The Sudbury Valley School's official page
- The Sudbury Valley School Press
