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The Three Rs: Rules, Respect, Responsibility |
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Fairhaven School
Why We Are Not a "School with No Rules"
An article in a local Massachusetts paper recently described Sudbury Valley School as a "School with No Rules." The reporter obviously hadn't seen the 30-page rule book which Sudbury Valley's School Meeting has created (over 30 years) and to which all students and staff are beholden. Why our schools need so many rules? It's the same question that was posed about democracy when it first emerged. In the absence of an overarching authority figure -- king, parent, teacher -- rules are the backbone of a just and orderly society. Painstaking attention to the process of rulemaking and enforcing is a necessary component of any democracy.
In most people's minds there are two general methods of raising kids --- the authoritarian and the permissive. In one the adult makes all the rules and enforces them, in the other there are no rules, or the rules are always subject to negotiation and manipulation. One is firm and disciplined, the other is kind and warm. One breaks the will and invites rebellion, the other disregards accountability and invites self-indulgence.
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The Sudbury Valley School
"The judicial system was really important because it was so obviously justice that you were involved in... You knew how difficult it was. You were on both sides, or all sides, because you might be... a witness, or a complainant, or the alleged violator, or a member of the judicial committee."
The judicial system at Sudbury Valley is one of the keystones of the school's structure, and has long been our pride and joy. We have always felt, based on the values of the American experience, that due process of law is an essential element in a school embodying the principles of personal liberty, mutual respect, and political democracy. Early in the first year of the school's existence, the School Meeting devoted long hours to establishing the legal principles and juridical structure of the school, with results that quickly produced a stable social order and a prevailing feeling among students, staff, and parents that here everyone got a fair shake when brought before the bar of justice.
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How The School is Governed |
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The Sudbury Valley School
"The thing that I really like about it was that all the rules were spelled out...so when I came to Sudbury Valley, the first thing I did was read... the Law Book and all the school's rules."
The school as a legal entity is a Massachusetts Corporation, The Sudbury Valley School, Inc. Because it is a non-profit corporation, there are no shareholders. Instead, the Corporation consists of the school's Assembly which, under the by-laws, is made up of students, staff, parents, trustees, and specially elected public members. The Assembly meets regularly once a year, in the late Spring, and determines all the school's basic policies, the annual budget, salary scales, tuition, the award of diplomas, and the Officers and Trustees. The agenda of the Assembly is published in advance and mailed to all members. Any Assembly member can put an item on the agenda by mailing it to the Secretary of the Corporation, c/o the office; items (with a few exceptions) can also be brought up on the floor of the meeting for discussion and vote.
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