Thank you for the feedback.

That's a great question, and to be honest, I'm not sure - we're just not there yet. I'd be happy to update you as we get further along in the process.

Thank you, your support is deeply appreciated!

Good question, thank you for asking. Right now, I am the funder. I am fortunate that I have some available capital to spend on start up. I don't think it's fair to ask people to invest their time in bringing this to life for free, unless they share the same passion and fulfillment that I do and are okay without a paycheck. One of the two specific folks that I am looking for is someone with a business background because I am not well versed in the funding aspect of running a non-profit. So, nothing is set in stone right now, but I am willing to put my money where my mouth is to make it happen!

Great questions! Thank you for asking them!

Why do I want to start this school: First, I feel like education is the most promising way to improve the way our country and world is right now. Second, I believe that the public education system is outdated and slow moving. While I believe that kids need foundational information, the idea that "you won't always have a calculator in your pocket" just isn't true. I believe children will best benefit from education that teaches them how to learn, how to think and problem solve, life skills, cooperation and productive debate etc. Third, I believe that children learn best from active engagement in the learning process and through subject matters that interest them. When you look at children from birth to 3, they learn how to walk, talk, eat, identify some basic shapes, etc. without any formal education. Also, as adults, we learn when we are engaged with things that interest us. I don't believe that system goes offline for the period of time we've determined as a period of formal education, and so I think it's important to continue to engage children in that way. Finally, I believe our public school options struggle to meet each student where they are at. There are families whose children need unique supports who have to fight an uphill battle to get the needed supports. There are kids that are gifted with high book intelligence that are not getting challenged. I believe that we can be more flexible to better meet the needs of individual students.

What Gap in my community: There are limited options for more flexible learning opportunities. There are a handful of private schools that are religious or college prep options, but I think there is a third category that fits well for some kids that we are lacking. The schools that are available are less continuous as well. There are some that are K-2, K-4, etc. I feel that it would be good for some kids to have a school that they can stay with throughout their early and middle education, and then take advantage of the natural high school transition point.

Background: I do not have a background in Educational Leadership. This is why I am looking specifically for a partner with an Education background. My background is in Marriage and Family Therapy and I spent the last 10 years working with kids and teens, often in the school system, whether supporting them in the classroom or school itself, or working with the family and school during IEP meetings etc. I believe that I have a vision that is of good quality, but I am able to recognize that I have some significant gaps and I cannot get this off the ground without having other people to fill those gaps.

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I hope I answered your questions, please feel free to ask follow up questions or reach out to me directly!

But it has to be at least…3x the size.

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I would like to go through and address your concerns to the best of my ability.

1. Private and charter schools are the reason for public education quality decline- First, charter schools are public schools. They are free to the students living in the district in which they are located. Limits to acceptance in a charter school is based on fit and available space. Charter schools are born out of the push to make public education better.

Private schools make public schools worse if the school district or town decides to provide education vouchers/school choice. These options allow parents to take their tax money out of the public school and supplement that with their own funds to send their kids wherever they send them. I am aware of this and would like to do some more thought and research around how to address this issue when accepting students into my school.

However, without vouchers, sending a child to private school actually improves the financial standing of a school district. If I send my child/children to a private school, my tax dollars stay with the public school. Now there’s the same amount of money divided among less children.

2. “Politically founded” - thank you for saying that because it’s brought more attention to how I put out information. For the record “progressive education” is “an educational movement that gives more value to experience than formal learning”, it has nothing to do with the progressive left. A democratic school indicates how the school is run, not a political ideology. The school is run by the students, teachers, parents, admins, and surrounding community voting on the decisions relating to how the school is run. It is not at all a political affiliation.

3. Advocate for public school change- I have, a lot. And, it sounds like you have found success in moving the ball forward, and I commend you and appreciate you for that. I, however, am obviously not as effective or strong as you are, and so I hit my head on the brick wall that is bureaucracy enough that I had to tap out. I am glad there are people like you out there doing the work, because all education is important. I had to find a different way to make change.

4. “Money Grab” - this will be started as a 501c3 non-profit. There is no money grab. In fact, I have a distinct feeling that this will cost me far more money that I ever draw as a paycheck in the future. Also, part of the reason it is a non-profit is so that I can get grant funding to drastically reduce or eliminate tuition for folks that typically cannot afford private school. I think the lack of diversity and accessibility of private education is a huge problem and one that I am deeply hoping to address.

I hope that clarifies some of my perspective. I am 97% sure it won’t change anything about how you are feeling about this post or the school, but that’s okay. I really do welcome the feedback because your pushback helps me reflect on my own position, so that I can hopefully be and do better.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I am always open to feedback and gave yours some thought. You brought up California and I’ve only been there once on vacation for 2 weeks. Still, made sure that this plan did not originate there, and it decidedly had not. Still, lending credit to your idea, I thought carefully about where I might be able to bring this school back to. It turns out, I was born in NH, was raised in NH, got my undergrad and graduate degrees in NH, and have lived here the vast majority of my life. Now, I did spend a couple years in Kittery and about 10 months in upstate New York but that only makes up about 7% of my life so I feel like I can’t really bring it back to those places either. So then I thought you were suggesting I just relocate to California, but NH is my home, and my whole life is here so unfortunately the cons of moving far outweigh the pros. Thank you for giving me something to think about, I’m sorry I couldn’t find a way to better incorporate your suggestion.

Just in person, sorry! Should have added that

If he's interested and doesn't have reddit DM me and I'll give you more info!

Responded!

Just did, thank you!!

>DM 39F, Players so far, 2 late thirties early forties Males. I would consider myself a relatively new DM but I do have some experience, but we are all experienced players.

Sorry, just added it, didn't even think about it before!