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Little River Community School is accepting applications for a Middles teacher for the 2019/2020 school year

Little River Community School, founded in 1999, is a K-12 democratic school with forty students (22 full-time, 18 part-time) located on Birdsfoot Farm in Canton, New York. For next year, there are three full-time teachers and two part-time, Aubree Keese (Youngers), Leon Sawyko (science and Olders), Steve Molnar (Olders and special classes), Cathy Giglio (Middles math and special needs), and Ola Aldous (Olders art). We are seeking a full-time teacher to work with us in our Middles program. We currently have fourteen students (8 full-time, 6 part-
time) in the Middle's program in grades 3-6.

We are looking for a teacher with at least several years of experience working with children and an interest in democratic education. In addition to teaching basic academic and social skills to the Middles, the Middles teacher may be asked to share special interests like art, music, other languages, or computer science with students in the Youngers or Olders rooms. It is important to be comfortable with all ages, K-12, though this position is primarily working with the Middles. Teacher certification is not required.

Our ideal candidate would plan to stay with the school for several years or longer. Qualities we are looking for include: a passion for working with children, flexibility, patience, ability to think on your feet, long term interest in teaching, problem-solving abilities, strong communication skills, reliability, behavior management skills, a sense of humor, confidence, and self-motivation.

Little River provides a unique environment where students are trusted and seen as inherently self-motivated to learn about their world. Our teachers facilitate and support the students; quest for knowledge and understanding. Little River has multi-age classrooms where students learn together in cooperation and are grouped by their ability and interests. Little River provides strong academic classes in a small group setting. Some academic and special classes may have all the Middles, and others only three or four. The teachers need to generate excitement and interest with the students. Special emphasis is put on problem solving skills and hands-on experiences. All of the students and teachers come together several times a week in a morning meeting, facilitated by the students, for discussion, to make plans, and solve problems. Middles have two breaks each day for unstructured play. Many of those sessions are spent outside. Each student has an individualized curriculum developed by the student, teachers, and parents. Visit us on the web at www.littleriverschool.org for more information about the school.

Teachers are on-site from 7:30 am – 2:30 pm. After school hours, the teachers have a weekly staff meeting, do class preparations, and complete some administrative tasks. In the fall, we have conferences with each family to make an individualized curriculum for each student. There are all-school meetings every six weeks with the students, parents, and teachers.

Little River follows the local school district's calendar for holidays and snow days. Our final day is just before Memorial Day weekend. There are no classes during the summer months. Staff shares some minimal responsibilities in June and July and we use the month of August for training, preparation, and team building. The starting date is August 6th.

The teacher salary is $27,000- $30,000 a year (first year) with benefits including free tuition for a teacher’s child, a small health fund, and a supportive environment with a lot of academic freedom.

If this sounds like the job for you, please complete an application. You can find the application at www.littleriverschool.org.

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Jerry’s Response to John Merrow’s Article “I Was Just Following Orders”

See John Merrow’s Article Here.

Well, maybe, John!

It reminds me of when I was talking to a student at Sudbury Valley School. He said, “I’d rather be in an authoritarian military school than in a school in which the teachers let you help decide some of the rules, with them leading the process. I’d rather know who my enemies are!”

So I believe very strongly in real democratic process. In that process I fully expect that the meeting WON’T come up with the same decisions the staff might have made. I believe in my bones (and from experience) that the meeting will come up with BETTER decisions than authority figures or students would make by themselves.

And indeed, yes, our culture has come to crave authority because those students grew up in an authoritarian system. This is much like the Russian public got so used to dictatorship that they had trouble with freedom and gravitated back to having an authoritarian leader to tell them what to do.

One of my staff members did some research and discovered that voting participation in the United States began to drop as the public school system grew, and it didn’t really correlate with anything else.

I once did a consultation with a school that wanted me to demonstrate democratic process. On the way over I realized that the oldest student was 5 years old! I thought that I would have to create the agenda for them. It was my public school roots speaking to me. When I started the process and explained that a democratic meeting should talk about “what might be a problem in the school, or what might be a good idea for the school” every hand went up and the agenda was instantly made. Among other things they decided that nobody should eat chocolate after the morning because it had a caffeine-like substance in it–this was brought up by a 4 year old. Another 4 year old brought up that he thought that is someone had a cold they shouldn’t go out in the cold. This was passed. I have a video of the whole consultation, called “Pre-School Democracy.“

So. I feel you went some of the distance but not all the way there.

Jerry

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APDEC 2019 Is July 15-20 In Sydney, Australia!

Dear APDEC2019 & Democratic Education Community, 

 
APDEC 2019 conference planning is well underway with the APDEC website operational and early bird tickets now available! www.apdec2019.org
 
We warmly invite you to attend the 4th APDEC,  in Sydney Australia from Monday, 15th July to Saturday, 20th July, 2019. The conference is being hosted by Currambena Primary School and Preschool in partnership with ADEC
 
With much excitement comes some daunting prospects. Due to venue requirements, we are expected to provide official numbers of staying attendees to the hosting venue, four months prior to the event. This means that we now need an indication about the number of guests attending. 
 
We have prepared a quick questionnaire which we would greatly appreciate you filling out. APDEC 2019 survey 
 
Could you please fill out the survey ASAP – Before Monday 4th of March!
 
APDEC 2019 in Sydney Australia will bring together the democratic education community to build on local, national and international knowledge and experience. 
 
We have no doubt that many members of our wider community are interested in attending, and we are seeking some information about how everyone is fairing with regards to expressions of interest and purchasing tickets and accommodation.
 
The theme of our conference is students’ voices- underpinning our values of mutual respect, equality and listening to others, most importantly young people, as learners, leaders and as change agents. 
 
As well as the presentations, there will be time and spaces for making art, craft, music, drama, games, bushwalks and experiencing the Australian environment. We also plan to spend a whole day at  Currambena and another at Kinma two democratic primary schools and preschools in Sydney.
 
We hope that you can attend the conference and look forward to connecting with you there! The planning team is very excited about the upcoming event and looking forward to seeing those attending there.
 
Warm regards, 
 
The APDEC 2019 Committee 

Contact: enquiries@apdec2019.org
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Longview School Seeks Math Teacher: High School & Middle School

 

Longview School – Brewster, NY

Open Position: Full-Time High School and Middle School Math Teacher

Dates of Employment: Could start immediately or could start at the end of August, 2019

Hours: 3 days per week from 8:15 AM to 3:15 PM, and 2 days per week from 8:15 AM to 4:30 PM

Compensation: $1,800 to $2,300 per month depending upon experience (see details below)

Who We Are

Longview School is like no other. While Longview School certainly has a rigorous pre-K through 12th grade academic program, what makes Longview unique is our supportive community where each student knows and is known by every teacher. In our small classes (2-10 students), teachers make the curriculum relevant by connecting their subjects to the students’ lives. This, combined with a hands-on educational approach, inspires students to love learning. Beyond academics, Longview empowers students to become independent and responsible as they participate in our democratically-governed school with a student-led judicial system. Longview’s focus on educating the whole child, academically and personally, gives our graduates an undeniable advantage as they transition to college.

The above is what we say about the school, but Longview is of course much more. It is a place created by teachers who often were successful in traditional academic settings, but who believe that education is not filling students’ heads with information. Rather, it is about learning to become successful adults. For us, success is measured first and foremost by being able to lead happy lives. Not the sort of happiness that comes with seeming perfection on the outside while there is endless turmoil on the inside. No, the kind of happiness that comes from people knowing themselves well enough to be able to guide their lives towards happiness. The kind of happiness that comes when people have learned the skills to have some control over themselves and their world, having tested their mettle in a safe, supportive environment so that they leave school ready to face what comes next. The kind of happiness possessed by people who have learned independence and responsibility, at the same time that they have learned how to form meaningful and supportive relationships with peers and teachers.

If this is the sort of school you want not only to be a part of, but to have an active role in helping to create, then maybe we have a place for you.

Longview combines aspects of the Sudbury School model with more traditional academic education. So how does that work?

We have 2 educational tracks: the Self-directed track and the Academic track. Each family–parents and kids together–chooses which track is right for the child. On the Academic track, students take classes in English, math, science, social studies, foreign language, and art, in addition to electives. On the Self-directed track, students are able to choose how to fill their time at school. They can take as many or as few classes as they choose, or help to create classes in areas of their special interests. Although the classes cover fairly traditional content, there is a constant focus on hands-on learning, inquiry-based instruction and making the material relevant to students’ lives.

Regardless of their track, all students participate in the other aspects of a Sudbury education, which include participation in:

  • a truly democratic school (run by School Meeting in which every student and each staff member get one vote);
  • a student-run judicial system to resolve conflicts among all community members;
  • a system of clerkship jobs in which students share in the real-world work of running and maintaining a school;
  • an internship system placing kids in real job settings;
  • a student-run chore system in which students take responsibility for keeping the school neat each day.

If you intend to apply for this position, then you will need to learn more about our school. You should definitely watch the videos in our Guided Introduction on our website: www.longviewschool.org

What We Need

We are looking for a math teacher who is excited by our innovative model and who is nearly bursting with passion for democratic education. The ideal candidate will have some experience teaching math to middle or high school students. Being fluent in Spanish is a plus but not a requirement. Since our school includes students with a variety of learning challenges as well as typical learners, a special education background is also a plus.

The right person might be

  • a person with a degree in math who would love to apply her/his skills to teaching;
  • a math teacher who is tired of working in a restrictive environment with too many students to give each and every student what s/he needs;
  • someone who is new to teaching and can’t imagine working in a traditional school;
  • a parent who is unwilling to send her/his child(ren) to public school, wants to be a part of their education, and has the background described above;
  • someone retired from teaching who can’t stay away from education but won’t stand for any other place than a school in which the kids are empowered;
  • a person with real-life skills who wants to apply her/his knowledge through teaching;
  • someone who is uniquely qualified for reasons we haven’t yet considered.

Our previous math teacher also taught Spanish, so fluency in Spanish with a willingness to teach some Spanish classes is a plus, though not a requirement.

What We’re Offering

We are hiring for a full-time middle school/high school math teacher. If the right candidate is available immediately, the position is currently open. But, we have a replacement teacher who can fill in for the rest of the school year (until the end of June 2019), so we definitely need to hire somebody to start by the end of August, 2019.

The work hours would be 3 days per week from 8:15 AM to 3:15 PM, and 2 days per week from 8:15 AM to 4:30 PM. There may be some addition required community events in the evenings or weekends a few times per year (for which there is no additional compensation).

We are a small, private school with a small budget. Please read this carefully before applying for the position. We are offering a salary of $1,800 per month (10 months/year) for a teacher trainee–someone with limited experience. We are offering $2,300 per month (10 months/year) for a trained and experienced teacher. If you have a child/children who you would like to enroll in the school, waived tuition and less salary would be a possibility.

How to Apply

Look over our website (www.longviewschool.org) and watch the videos in our Guided Introduction. Then write a letter of interest. Send in your cover letter AND resume by email or by mail to Longview School, 83 Main Street, Brewster, NY 10509.

LEVEL OF LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

English–Fluency

Spanish a plus

MINIMUM EDUCATION REQUIRED:

We prefer a candidate to have a Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Math or Teaching Math. We will consider candidates who hold a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, Science, Technology, or Education with related experience in teaching math or science.