Direct Democracy 

The freedom to choose what and how you learn is a fundamental right that is, for us, part of a larger youth liberation movement.

Freedom requires responsibility and accountability, so as well as being free to choose what and how you want to learn at this school, the youth are also in charge of most aspects of the school including how to use the school budget; co-holding conflict engagement processes; staff hiring, feedback, and assessments; and other aspects of daily life.

We believe that with authentic ownership of the school through these processes, youth are empowered to believe in themselves and the power of community.

  • We will make decisions weekly at our General Assembly. We will not be using the majority rules, 49% can lose, democracy that we are used to in conventional voting systems. Instead, we will use a consensus model rather to agree on decisions. Decision-making will be layered, and involve deep conversations about needs, requests, and possible solutions to try out in our community.

  • General Assembly will make the majority of our decisions. The board will handle minimal decisions such as staff salaries and benefits, location decisions, and fundraising.

    To make sure youth are represented  at every level of our decision-making process, we will have a rank choice election to elect a youth representative to the board meeting.

  • We are committed to involve all voices and give various outlets for sharing needs and making decisions.

    There will be other avenues for feedback, requests, and even complaints, for people who don’t feel as comfortable speaking up in meetings.


Responsibility

and Community

  • Without real responsibility for decisions and opportunities for leadership, the freedom youth experience at our school could be careless or harmful to the community. Currently, all General Assembly Members must:

    1. Participate in Clean-up Time (daily community cleaning)

    2. Participate in the Resolution Committee’s processes and engage with General Assembly when required.

    3. Participate in the Collective Responsibility Policy. (to be shared and explained during your interview)

    4. Attend the weekly General Assembly Meeting.

  • Youth can also take on more responsibilities as they feel called. There are a few ways that works.  

    • By leading an offering or field trip. Youth can put an offering on the calendar and get support from facilitators to promote their offerings or get resources.  Facilitators will be actively surveying youth at meetings and personally for ideas for offerings.  Facilitators will also lead offerings themselves, sharing their interest and modeling the process. 

    • Youth can start a club around a specific interest. The club can lead a variety of activities. Clubs usually span the course of the whole year. 

    • Clerkships, which are positions youth take on to be in charge of a specific task for the school. Some examples are taking care of our technology, cleaning organizer,  and events and outreach. Facilitators may fill these roles until the youth feel ready to take them on.

    • To make sure youth are represented  at every level of our decision making process, we will have a rank choice election to elect a youth representative to the board meeting. 

    • Tidy Time. The cleaning clerk will work with each youth to pick a chore, often in a team, for the week/month and all together we do them at the end of the day before we leave.

Conflict Engagement and Resolution

Conflicts or disagreements arise each day in a community. Many of these conflicts will be resolved in the moment without too much difficulty between two people or the group that was involved. That said, we sometimes need support to engage in a mediation or repair process and we have clear processes and support for that route as it is needed.

Community members have options when they have a conflict, complaint, or disagreement and they need support:

  • Reach out directly to the Resolution aids (either for help in the moment, or later if they need some time first)

  • Fill out a Resolution slip

  • If a situation is really serious, Resolution Aids may recommend filling out a Resolution slip and to refer the issue to the assembly or for deeper mediation

This is a Resolution slip that the community uses to inform the resolution team of disagreements, hurt and harm that will occur at the school. As many conflicts that arise are about the use of space, materials, broken agreements, or other issues that are related to general community agreements, resolution slips are not just for interpersonal conflict resolution but also for bringing up wider issues for consideration at the General Assembly. The resolution slip can also be used to make a complaint, bring up an issue, or to bring an idea for an agreement for consideration at the General Assembly.

The purpose of the Resolution slip is to create a process outside of the heat of the moment, for issues to be addressed by the resolution aids, facilitators, or the assembly. Depending on the circumstances and needs. Our conflict and mediation approach is rooted in Restorative Justice Practices. These practices focuses on repairing harm after an issue by empowering the harmed and harming parties to participate in a dialogue. We also recognize that many conflicts arise because of people trying to meet unmet needs, and not understanding or knowing how to express and find ways to meet those, or needs being in conflict with one another in community. All of these understandings are undercurrents of how we approach conflict with care and understanding.

We believe in mediation and conflict resolution that supports and recognizes the varying and sometimes conflicting needs of a community. Our conflict processes are rooted in discussion, repair, collaboration, and efforts to understand one another’s perspectives and the needs we are all bringing to the table.