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No grades, no teachers: Inside a Bothell school run by student vote
hearldnet.com ^

Posted on 03/04/2024 3:13:09 PM PST by algore

At The Clearwater School north of Bothell, the voices of students and staff are equal. One person, one vote — whether it’s a 5-year-old or the school’s founder, Stephanie Sarantos.

The Daily Herald put the school’s direct democracy model into action recently. Before a reporter could come to Clearwater, students debated whether to allow the visit.

Clearwater, founded in 1996, is part of a loose network of about 45 schools following the Sudbury model of direct democracy and student-controlled learning. It’s the only accredited school in the state using the model.

This year, the state Department of Commerce approved a $136,900 grant for Clearwater to explore opening a bilingual preschool based on the alternative education model.

At the weekly meeting, the only mandatory event, Clara rushed through a list of announcements: plans for a pizza party, news about a potential foosball table donation and the talent show that afternoon.

Some students engaged with Clara. Others stared at their screens.

Tuition is $10,300 a year. According to Private School Review, that’s more expensive than the average private school in Snohomish County ($8,532), but cheaper than average tuition in King County private schools ($19,599). Sarantos said many students are on financial aid.

“Having a participatory democracy, where everybody has these long conversations, and you listen to all these different perspectives, in some ways, it feels tiring and inefficient,” she said. “But in other ways, I think it’s really efficient. Because eventually, everybody figures it out. So there’s more buy in.”

Arlo Dolven, 24, attended school his entire life at Clearwater. Last spring, he graduated from Evergreen State College.

After getting his driver’s license and earning a 4.0 GPA in college, he felt “pretty smart.” He still didn’t know the multiplication tables.

(Excerpt) Read more at heraldnet.com ...


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: shortbus; skool
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someone took a lot of drugs and decided to make the Pink Floyd school of education?
1 posted on 03/04/2024 3:13:09 PM PST by algore
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To: algore

https://clearwaterschool.com/#info

Nuff said.


2 posted on 03/04/2024 3:15:22 PM PST by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: algore

Wait til the kids come up with the idea that they can vote on where the money goes.


3 posted on 03/04/2024 3:15:58 PM PST by rightwingcrazy (;-,)
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To: algore

Tuition is $10,300 a year.

______________________________________

Why don’t they vote in free tuition?


4 posted on 03/04/2024 3:16:42 PM PST by Responsibility2nd (A truth that’s told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent ~ Wm. Blake)
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To: mewzilla

When children rule, adults are the fools. -—Old chinese proverb.


5 posted on 03/04/2024 3:17:30 PM PST by Fungi
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To: algore
Arlo Dolven, 24, attended school his entire life at Clearwater. Last spring, he graduated from Evergreen State College. After getting his driver’s license and earning a 4.0 GPA in college, he felt “pretty smart.” He still didn’t know the multiplication tables.

I guess we're supposed to smirk that these people are ignorant as dirt but have fabulous self-esteem but it just makes me sad. Our schools are churning out people completely unprepared in so many ways.

6 posted on 03/04/2024 3:18:07 PM PST by Lizavetta
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To: algore
"Tuition is $10,300 a year."

While not outrageous by current rates, I would be willing to bet that is not something open for vote in this "democracy."

7 posted on 03/04/2024 3:18:07 PM PST by Joe 6-pack
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To: algore

“Having a participatory democracy, where everybody has these long conversations, and you listen to all these different perspectives, in some ways, it feels tiring and inefficient,” she said. “But in other ways, I think it’s really efficient. Because eventually, everybody figures it out. So there’s more buy in.”


Democracy = Mob Rule!


8 posted on 03/04/2024 3:18:49 PM PST by Cold_Red_Steel
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To: algore

Evergreen State College??? Lol, that kid is screwed up for life.


9 posted on 03/04/2024 3:20:01 PM PST by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
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To: algore

A brothell school? Whatever...


10 posted on 03/04/2024 3:20:05 PM PST by Jim W N (MAGA by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
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To: algore

My assessment....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ygh5f-B99A


11 posted on 03/04/2024 3:20:16 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.)
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To: algore
A clear example of why "Democracy" or even any form of government, is not The Solution.

...we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (From a letter Adams wrote on 11 October 1798 to the officers of the First Brigade, Third Division, of the Massachusetts Militia).ion of the Militia of Massachusetts,” October 11, 1798)
our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits.... Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.” (Daniel Webster, “The life, eulogy, and great orations of Daniel Webster,” 1854, p. 49)

12 posted on 03/04/2024 3:20:20 PM PST by daniel1212 (Turn 2 the Lord Jesus who saves damned+destitute sinners on His acct, believe, b baptized+follow HIM)
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To: algore

60 students. Seems harmless enough.


13 posted on 03/04/2024 3:20:37 PM PST by Tax-chick (Sounds like a great idea, with the best of intentions. What could possibly go wrong?)
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To: Lizavetta

“Evergreen State College”

Evergreen is a public college located in Washington. It is a small institution with an enrollment of 1,625 undergraduate students. The Evergreen acceptance rate is 99%. Popular majors include Liberal Arts and Humanities and Natural Sciences. Graduating 43% of students, Evergreen alumni go on to earn a starting salary of $24,900.


14 posted on 03/04/2024 3:21:14 PM PST by algore
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To: algore
From their very own website:

The Clearwater School recognizes that the invention of policing was in service of white supremacy and continues to uphold white supremacy today, which is antithetical to our values of Freedom, Trust, and Responsibility. TCS is committed to divesting from police and policing (both literally, culturally, and interpersonally) and investing in trust based, community centered ways of harm reduction and repair.

The Anti-Racism Committee and School Meeting developed the list of commitments below in response to the protests against police brutality in June of 2020. The Anti-Racism Committee further developed this list in April 2021 to reflect how our commitments have evolved over time. These commitments are intended to inform our choices moving forward and to hold us accountable in acknowledging and transforming the ways that we are currently invested in forms of policing. We recognize that this is a starting point and that the specifics of how we meet our commitments will change and grow as our community learns more about the systemic racism we have institutionalized and the interpersonal and cultural racism we have internalized.

Although I'm no fan of today's militarized police ... I see this stuff above as complete drivel.

15 posted on 03/04/2024 3:21:52 PM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: algore

* Candy for lunch
* No homework
* School starts at 11 am and gets out at 2 pm
* Two hour lunch break


16 posted on 03/04/2024 3:23:04 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (“Occupy your mind with good thoughts or your enemy will fill them with bad ones.” ~ Thomas More)
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To: rightwingcrazy

Bet they are not allowed to vote on where the money goes.


17 posted on 03/04/2024 3:23:54 PM PST by marktwain (The Republic is at risk. Resistance to the Democratic Party is Resistance to Tyranny. )
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To: Tax-chick
Would you spend Ten G's per annum to enroll one of your kids in that place?
18 posted on 03/04/2024 3:24:26 PM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: mewzilla

Most of the students look like they need a bath.


19 posted on 03/04/2024 3:26:54 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear ("Equity" = "All animals are equal. Some animals are more equal than others.")
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To: algore

Evergreen State!!! Wow.


20 posted on 03/04/2024 3:28:52 PM PST by madprof98
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