The sad irony of it all...

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May 19

The sad irony of it all...

After posting that long blog entry praising the virtues of Fairfield School, I am now going to have to back-peddle furiously. A series of events took place at the school over the last few weeks that have left me shaking my head in disbelief, and resulted in a large group of us (every family that has been there for more than a year) seriously considering leaving the school.

When a group of students and two staff members tried to voice their concerns about the way the school was being run, they were indefinitely suspended in a secret meeting held late on a Friday afternoon when only a handful of people (the "power-mongers" I referred to in the last entry and a few of their well-trained children) were there to vote. After consulting a lawyer (I never in a million years thought it would come to that!) and managing to get everyone (staff, students, and parents) to come to a meeting to talk about the issues, the suspensions have now been rescinded... but the damage has been done and the same people will most likely continue to run the school.

I still believe strongly in the Sudbury Valley model; but Fairfield School, as it is being run currently, is not being run according to the Sudbury Valley model and is not a place I want my kids to be.

I have no idea what we will do now. Jesse never wants to go back to Fairfield and he refuses to go back to public school... and I don't blame him. Like one of the persons who commented on my last blog entry said, there are some great teachers out there... but I think most kids are lucky to get a great teacher once every three or four years. And, it's not necessarily the teachers that are the problem in public school... it's the system. I just can't imagine Liam in public school... his wonderful spirit would be quashed.

I am going to explore home-schooling options... it won't be a problem for Jesse. He's 14 years old now and got some great friends -- two are from Fairfield School and are also probably leaving, so they can hang out together and do what they did at the school... without the interference from the staff! I'm hoping I can find a couple of home-schooling families who would be willing to let Liam join them while I'm at work.

This has all been soooo distressing. It's where I've been for the past few weeks... meeting with parents, writing endless letters, meeting with lawyers, and trying to figure out a way to "take back the school". In the end, my efforts were probably futile (I don't have any interest in taking anyone to court), but at least I know that I have brought the problems out into the open and perhaps increased the awareness of the small number of parents and kids who remain at the school.

If anyone is interested in reading a long description of the events that took place, you can find a letter I wrote to the parents HERE.

Peace,

Indigo

7:06 PM | Blog it | Life

Comments (9)

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	April Colebankwrote: hey girl ~ beena while hope all is cool! ~ May 29
	April Colebankwrote: A lucky star dropped on earth 1 night, and it asked me "what do u want?a million dollars, or a true friend?". I chose a million dollars.....because i already got you. 000000000000000 000000000000000 000000000000000_000000000000000 00000000000000___00000000000000 0000000000000_____0000000000000 000000000000_______000000000000 00000000000_________00000000000 0____________________________00 000_______TRUE FRIEND___ _000 000000 __________________ 000000 0000000_________________0000000 000000_________0_________000000 00000_______0000000_______00000 0000_____0000000000000_____0000 000___0000000000000000000___0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* 20 angels are in this world, 10 are sleeping, 9 are playing & 1 is reading this comment... May 23
	Chriswrote: Sorry to hear ya got a B$%^* cuz I think the concept of the school is a good one and I think it should be available to anybody...not exclusively the snobbish like them. I sense you and some other parents have put just as much and probably more time and effort into the running of the school. They need to learn (somehow) that money doesn't run a school, people do. Their elitest attitude will only hurt them in the end, it's just too bad that others are getting hurt now. {{{{{Susan}}}}} May 23
	sandiwrote: Hey, sorry to hear about the school... that sux. Just blog hoppin' today and wanted to see whats' new with U. Hey, what file hoster do u use for hosting your vids? Filelodge no longer has hot linking and now my vids won't display on my blogs anymore thanx to them...so I am looking around for a good hoster...ttyl enjoy the Long Weekend... rock on Susan. May 21
	star clokewrote: Corruption is everywhere I suppose, hidden in plain sight sometimes. This is unfortunate, especially since your kids were flourishing there. It seemed that they were able to be and express themselves anyway they wished (as long as they weren't hurting anyone.) And now it has all been stripped away because of arrogant corruption! If it does come to the certainty of you and the other families leaving maybe try and get a homeschooling thing going on with them, since they all know each other and can support each other. This is really a terrible thing and I really hope that somewhere in the near future the reason for this happening is clear. I know it's cliche but everything does happen for a reason and I am sure over time it will become clear as to why. How do you want this to work out? Is there a certain staff member that you want out? Or do you just want everyone to sit down with an open mind to work it out? I hope whatever you wish to happen does for you, Keep trying and good luck! I have another pregnancy question for you. Sorry if any of this grosses any one out but I have no shame, nor should I. I believe my mucus plug has come out. I woke up this morning and went for my routine pee (I have been wearing pads lately to keep clean) and upon changing my pad I noticed blood, about the size of a quarter. Lately I have noticed an increase in discharge and it has been an egg white colour (though today it is a little yellow.) I know, from what I have read, that this is probably "bloody show" but since you have children and have been through pregnancy (and I have not) I am wondering if you experienced this at all? It is hard for me because I do have people I have asked but most of them forget or didnt experience (or notice) the loss of thier mucus plug. Sorry to bother you with these questions but you have been a great source of knowledge. Thanks a lot for the help! Hope everything works itself out, I'll be reading to find out. Take Care May 21
	Susan (me!) wrote: Oops... Sorry, Chris! I knew it was interior design too... musta had a brain spasm when I was typing that! As for Sudbury Valley, we did contact them... sent them a copy of the letter. And the woman who wrote back was quite arrogant... after basically implying that we had no right to challenge these staff b/c they've put in a lot of work. She totally disregarded all the un-sudbury-valley things they are doing. When we said that the staff had violated the laws of natural justice, she replied: "one thing I do know; I've never heard of natural justice and suspect that there's no such thing." So I googled it and got thousands of hits... and when I wrote back, I put in a link to the wilkipedia.org site definition. But ohhh man, the arrogance! But then, these staff have been contacting this woman every step of the way and she's been telling them that what they are doing is okay... we figured she was just getting their twisted side of the story, but now I think she's probably just as impossible as they are! And Sue, you are so right about beware the saviours! We're all kicking ourselves in retrospect. But, we have some ideas on how to get the worst staff member out of there, working within their rules, so if it works, great... and if not, we're all out of there (which will leave only about 9 students left in the school!). -Susan May 20
	Chriswrote: Thanks so uch for the link on your Space darlin' lady...just a wee change though...I'm in Interior Design, not Graphic Design hehe Luv ya gal! May 20
	Chriswrote: Politics and powerplays can really be harsh, especially when they directly affect our children. Since these three seem so fond of the Sudbury Valley model, maybe a member from there should be contacted to confirm their actions...or officially prove them wrong. The actions of these three "troublemakers" remind me so much of spoiled children...I can almost see them stomping their feet! :) I'm so sorry all this is happening now, I thought the whole concept was a good one. I wish you loads of good wishes that things will get sorted out soon. HUGS!! May 20
	Sue Ableswrote: Wow. "beware the so called saviors". Sounds like they monetarily contributed in order to take over. It's really too bad there weren't more red flags for you before it got to this point. I'm so sorry to hear this. I would strongly suggest checking into the homeschool groups in your area. I homeschooled for a few years (years ago), but the families were absolutely wonderful! We did many things together and helped each other when needed. You may be able to find an answer for Liam through them. There are various groups. Sometimes you have really search them out or they may be grouped by religious affiliation (we were involved with both county groups and Catholic groups), but everyone for the most is wonderful. We all had the same goal. There are many curriculums you can use, or you can put them together yourself with help. I think I would start there. The high school kids around here would sometimes get together for certain classes such as biology or math and either a parent would 'teach' a couple of times a week or they hire a tutor. My nephew even takes classes at his local community college which counts for high school and college credit. Obviously, that's here in the States. But check out those avenues also. It certainly doesn't sound like an environment to send your boys back into next year. That really saddens me because I know how happy you were with this school. I wondered where you were! Keep me posted! : ) Sue May 19

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