Birth of Green Charter School
by Pana Columbus
Pana Columbus, one of the original founding members of Seven Generations Charter School, is Producing Artistic Director of the Circle of Stones Ritual Theatre Ensemble, a non-profit theatre company based in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Seven Generations' founding member group numbered over 50 committed individuals and families who worked for over two years to bring the school from vision to reality.
Our daughter Gaia was born in June of 2006. During the first year of her life, my husband Scott and I discussed where our mud-tasting, river-splashing, worm-befriending daughter would go to school. We figured we’d probably homeschool, but that was not an exciting option to us.
One day in spring 2007, our good friend Rob Aptaker was over visiting. He told us that he was considering going back into teaching. His reservation, however, was that in the current public school system, there wasn’t really an opportunity to share what he was truly passionate about: his knowledge of the natural world.
And so, very animatedly, we entered into a discussion about what a "dream school" would be like. What would a school look like that was focused on experiential learning? Where being outside in nature was an extension of the classroom? Where being a steward of the earth and an engaged citizen was as important to a child's education as math and reading skills?
At one point in the conversation, I asked Rob if he'd be interested in starting such a school. I remember him thinking hard and then saying, "Pana, I would be willing to be part of starting such a school on one condition."
"One? Only one? What's the one condition?"
"That it's not just me, but that there's a small army of people working together to make it happen."
And so it started. I remember talking about the school to Joyce Marin, who was my neighbor at the time. She was the first person who used the expression "green charter school." Soon after, she showed up at my door with Leah Nichols. We sat down and talked about our ideas for the school. Leah was so excited about it that she said she'd be involved even though it wouldn't benefit her kids, who'd be too old to attend.
The first step was a tiny meeting with me, Rob, Leah, and another mother who ended up not participating in the school. But it was enough. Leah's husband, a graphic designer, made a gorgeous flyer that announced an exploratory meeting would be held to see if there was community interest in a green charter school.
Somehow, The Morning Call got a copy of the flyer. They called and interviewed Rob, Scott and me, and printed a beautiful article about the initiative the day the meeting was held. With such great publicity, we had 30 people attending the first meeting! It only grew after that. Sometimes 40, 50, 60 people attended the monthly general meetings. Into the second year, general meetings were attended by over 80 people each month.
The response was overwhelming! Not only were people attending the general meetings, but committees were formed, each with two accomplished and dedicated co-chairs: Governance, Curriculum, Finance, Fundraising, Community Outreach, Building, Technology, Food, etc. Each of these committees met monthly as well and did a tremendous amount of research and work together, including obtaining a $50,000 planning grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Dozens of people were spending hours and hours of work each month building the pieces of the school.
During this time, something perhaps unexpected started to happen. The founding members realized we weren't just starting a school; we were starting a community. Like-minded people who cherished the same values were forging friendships while they shared their dreams, attended fundraisers and borough council meetings, and participated in consensus decision making. Friendships were born between the adults and between the children. It was an absolutely magical time. There was such grace. I remember the profound gratitude I consistently felt as I experienced what was materializing between this extraordinary group of people.
For two years the foundations of the school grew. Then, in November 2008, we submitted our charter application to the East Penn School Board. The charter was denied after a two-part public hearing in February 2009.
Our inspired, tenacious Curriculum Committee members spent an intense four weeks rewriting the application to more explicitly describe our curriculum. The final application was resubmitted at the end of March 2009, at over 300 pages.
The spring School Board meeting was packed a second time. The board, devastatingly, once again seemed as if it might vote to deny the charter. We were one vote short. Then one of the school board members changed his mind and reversed his decision during the meeting! That night of extreme tension, disappointment and then jubilation will be a night we will never forget!
We didn't have much time to celebrate, however, as we had only 4 months to open the school! Hiring teachers and administrators, renovating a building - all the things that had to wait until we were actually granted the charter - kicked into high gear. Thus began the 7-hour meetings, the round-the-clock construction days on the site. It was a hard summer. Tensions were high. Important decisions had to be made quickly. Imagine being in labor with a child, and it was painful and tiring, and you had a deadline! Our community of friends worked so unbelievably hard to get everything ready.
And then it was the first day of school, and the nearly 200 children arrived. The founding members walked up and down the hall of this unbelievably beautiful school looking at all those gorgeous children. We knew so many of them because we'd had so many meetings over the last 2 years while the children played together. And we looked at each other with wide open eyes saying over and over again, "Oh, my God."
We couldn't believe it. I remember saying the same thing when our daughter was born. How can any parents be prepared for that moment when they are actually holding their child for the first time? All you can say is, "Oh, my God." And that day, the day the school was born, so many tear-filled eyes met so many others and we hugged, but mostly we just kept saying, "Oh, my God." Because something so precious, so beautiful that didn't exist before, now existed.
The moment a child is born, the parents feel a tremendous sense of arrival. Soon after the child is born, the parents realize the journey has just begun! And so it is with the school. The Seven Gen community now consists of brilliant teachers, deeply dedicated directors, an inspired board of trustees, passionate and involved parents, generous community partners and, most importantly, an amazing group of children, who truly give me hope for the planet. Blessings on the journey, friends.
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