Longhouse School

By Anita, Heidi, Lolita, Michael

S1, E1: “Sitting Down with the Creators”

An open discussion with Heidi, Lolita, and Michael, high school “rising” seniors and former campers and staff members at the RV Park Day Camp. All three of us are best described as “non-traditional learners.” Joining us is Anita is Michael’s mom—and a veteran supporter of his unique learning differences.

An open discussion with Heidi, Lolita, and Michael, high school “rising” seniors and former campers and staff members at the RV Park Day Camp. All three of us are best described as “non-traditional learners.” Joining us is Anita is Michael’s mom—and a veteran supporter of his unique learning differences.

We’ve worked as “consultants” to the Longhouse Elem for about a half year through Zoom meetings and chats; starting with the summer we began working full-time in our roles. Heidi and Lolita have been documenting some of our work on Reddit. Lolita has written prolifically about Longhouse and pedagogy in her college coursework, which also centers on the ideas of Vasyl Sukhomlynsky, a post-WWII Ukrainian school principal and scholar. Michael documents his life in an online diary.

Our plans for the summer shifted dramatically just a few days after we started when the owners of the RV Park and Longhouse Schools entered negotiations with the town and school district to co-develop a field, indoor pool, and gymnasium. Suddenly the Longhouse School co-directors Guy and Bernie became involved in a galactic battle to design the project and win approval from the town council.

Alas! Abandoned and left to our own, we continued our work of imagining what a “day in the life of the Longhouse School” would be like some 10 years down the road. Through this visioning exercise, we also began to conceive what the curriculum and physical structure of our school would look like. We will serialize this as a work-in-progress. All feedback–whether cool or hot–is welcomed.

S1, E2: “Into the Longhouse”

SUSANA: I love going to school and I don’t want to be late!!!

HAZEL: I understand, honey. You know I can’t leave until I reach my office and tell them I need to take a personal day off.

NIVALDO (to Hazel): How many other parents have kids who hate to be late to school!?!?

(The Pacheco family finally hops in the car and arrives at the Longhouse School. They walk to “The Longhouse Student Museum” which is located inside a recreated model longhouse. There they meet CANDACE, a family friend who is researching prospective schools for her son, Adil.)

CANDACE: I can’t wait to tour the school! But what is this place here?

NIVALDO: For years our students have been studying the land and history of our community with a focus on the Indigenous people who lived here for centuries before the invasion of the Europeans. What you see here are the products of their investigations: models, maps, illustrations, reports, and photography.

HAZEL: Oh, here come Eulogio and Dee who first conceived of this entire “Longhouse Project.” Let me introduce you!

(It was not the easiest of discussions. Eulogio and Dee described their very difficult youth as Indigenous people and the depths of generational trauma within their community.)

DEE: For over 20 years we have been trying to discover our “roots.” The historical record commences from the arrival of Europeans. But what happened in the centuries prior? We desperately sought to explore and draw from that life.

About half of the students at Longhouse are from the local indigenous community nearby. Most of the remaining half are from other marginalized groups.

EULOGIO: To restate, the purpose of the school is to re-ignite the primordial spirit of the Longhouse. We believe that our students, connected to a spiritual legacy far deeper than today’s dysfunctional social structures, have a mission to actually inspire and reset the majority culture.

CANDACE: I am fascinated. I keep rereading Alex Haley’s Roots and Toni Morrison’s The BIuest Eye. As an African American, I have often wondered about the roots of our people before our centuries of imposed trauma.

DEE: So sorry, we have a meeting to attend. But we wanted to meet you. You can always make an appointment to talk more.

CANDANCE: Thank you! Hazel, what comes next??

HAZEL: Well, we decided to shadow Susana in her Music class.

S1, E3: “Let’s Sing, Let’s Play”

(Off the family goes to the Longhouse campus and the music room. Candace, frankly speaking, is quite moved right away. The fourth-grade students warm up their voices with major and minor scales and then hop into singing what the teacher calls “modes.” They sing folksongs from various parts of America…in two-part harmony! And the kids are actually sight-singing!

Next, out come recorders. Susana is playing bass recorder together with a few classmates while others are with soprano and alto instruments. The sounds are haunting and seem to last an eternity but after about 15 minutes the class divides into “sectionals.” Heidi, the music teacher, comes over and introduces herself to the visitors.

CANDACE: That was breathtaking, Ms. Heidi!

HEIDI: Just call me Heidi, please. We are all on a first-name basis here. Any questions?

NIVALDO: The music lesson was very memorable. We can see why Candace is always talking about your class. I am wondering, who were your influencers as a music teacher?

HEIDI: I am conservatory-trained with a BFA majors in performance and arranging. My MFA is music education. I owe so much to Professor Kurtz, my mentor at school and dear friend.

In terms of music pedagogy, I am very inspired by Zoltan Kodaly whose ideas were popularized in the United States by Lois Choksy and others. I also follow the music pedagogy of Warldorf Schools based on the ideas of Rudof Steiner. To a lesser extent, Carl Orff.

ADIL: I love to sing! Do the kids also start to learn instruments? I want to play drums!

HEIDI: Certainly, Adil, but starting in 5^th grade! There’s so much to learn with the recorders and even our high school students keep playing them!

HEIDI: Adil, why don’t you sit down with one of the groups that are rehearsing? Here’s a recorder for you!

HAZEL: But I feel something else in your room. I don’t have the words. There’s certainly calmness, respect, and friendship. But, something intangible!

HEIDI: I know what you mean. I think there are some invisible things you are sensing: philosophy, awareness, and a sense of purpose.

As you travel from room to room one thing on your tour, you will experience a blend of ideas from “influencers.” There are many sentiments expressed by the Buddhist scholar Daisaku Ikeda, the founder of Soka University of America. I have been studying his writings since I was a high school student. Dr. Ikeda passed away in 2023 at the age of 95. He had written prolifically about the lancing through the fractured and alienated condition of humanity.

You will also feel the influence of educators who broke the mold of restricted thinking that surrounded them. At Professional Development sessions we study a lot about educators whom we regard as co-founders.

CANDACE: It sounds like your professional development is more about “why teach” instead of “how to teach.” Very interesting.

HEIDI: Exactly. And there are many more, drawn from both history and literature, who broke convention, founding or working in schools, that defied the types of schooling that I experienced as a child and teenager.

I hope you be on the lookout and keep asking the same question as you continue the tour. The spirits of too many children in our country have been wounded and repressed by society’s harsh conditions. The Longhouse School co-directors keep talking about “generational trauma” and I believe this explains the anger and dissociation in so many kids. Guy and Bernie, our co-directors, call our practice here “trauma-informed education.”

The entire mission of Longhouse is to reverse this phenomenon one child at a time.

CANDACE: I think my son is exhibiting this “generational trauma” you are describing. He is deeply unhappy at school and expresses that by acting out.

HEIDI: Daisaku Ikeda has written about the liberating philosophy of the Lotus Sutra. One chapter in the Sutra is about a Buddha “Wonderful Sounds” who uses music to heal and inspire people. So music has been a major subject at Longhouse from the start.

Zoltan Kodaly believed that the voice is the key instrument and learning folk music connects a child to the soul of a nation. I have intensively studied the Great American Songbook and try to leave this cultural legacy to our students as well. I remember one of the first lessons I taught here. I was amazed to see Kindergarten and first-grade students resonating with Frank Sinatra songs!

By the time they graduate from Longhouse, I want students to love Bach to Basie to Swift.

NIVALDO: I love this approach!

HEIDI: Thank you! (Walking them to the wall near the whiteboard). Out of the various “influencers” we just discussed, I wrote this passage and read it to myself many times each day:

>Music is a pathway to peace. We have to protect the inner lives of children and help them find their voice. We use music to heal the timid, angry, undervoiced, and lonely. We also use music to pull the individual child into the collective ensemble.

HAZEL: I love that sentiment!

HEIDI: The kids will be finishing up soon. Why don’t you walk to our Field and then to the STEM Workshop?

(The visitors thanked Heidi and continued their tour.)

S1, E4: “Into the Field”

Deeply touched by their time in the Music Room and conversation with Heidi, the Pacheco’s and Candace walk into a yard (“The Field”) where older children are exercising under a brilliant morning sun. They literally run into the jogging and sweating Billy Simpson who hadn’t seen them cross the track.

BILLY: Oh, I’m so sorry! Oh, hi, Mr. and Mrs. Pacheco! (to Candace) Hi, I’m Billy. I’m in the tenth grade!

CANDACE: Hi, Billy, I hope we didn’t hurt you! What’s going on here’s?

BILLY: Don’t worry, I’m fine. I suppose other schools call this Gym Class but at Longhouse we call it “Fields.” It’s a very important subject here. We have our open field but it’s surrounded by woods, streams, and natural fauna. As or teachers have explained, Makiguchi was a scholar of “human geography” and we need to situate ourselves in the land upon which we live.

We have your typical team sports, swimming, and ice-skating. But we all have personal health goals as well. I’m training to run in the community’s 5K race and each day I try to shave a second or two off my personal best record… Or else I catch hell from Coach Lolita over there (pointing). She’s tough.

NIVALDO: Oh, Susana is also always talking about the famous Coach Lolita.

BILLY: Don’t get me wrong, Coach really cares for us but she’s demanding! Some kids here are natural athletes but others, like me, are not. Coach Lolita doesn’t give a hoot. She just keeps pushing me to run and strengthen myself. “There’s an inner athlete in you, Billy, and you can bring it out in your own unique way,” she tells me. She has me taking ballet and yoga and, honestly speaking, my coordination is really improving. I’m now just too sweaty to be self-conscious or worry about my body type. Anyway, it’s time for the class to wash up and change. Enjoy your day!

CANDACE: Pleased to meet you, Billy. Ciao!

(COACH LOLITA approaches the group)

LOLITA: (After introductions) I saw you talking to Billy and wanted to say hello before the Fifth Grade class comes in.

CANDACE: Adil will be in that grade next year. I am curious, what will you be doing with them?

LOLITA: We are simply going to do a “Walk-and-Talk.” From time to time all of our classes, just like people, go through rough patches. Right now there’s some tension between their teacher and the kids. So she is coming as well. Beyond the field we have a perimeter of undeveloped land with some walking paths. We’ll be walking and talking, sometimes stopping to take mental pics of the beauty. There’s one patch in the shade with grass and moss softer than any carpet. All the classes just love to kick off their shoes and sit barefooted. We’ll see how it goes.

NIVALDO: I can see how that is healing.

LOLITA: The philosophy of the Longhouse is that everyone has a place, everyone is needed and must contribute, every second is precious and must be lived well and with poetic hearts. Everything has a purpose. For example, in my work with high school kids I have a vision of them all becoming certified lifeguards and physical trainers so they can earn money when they are in college. Even this rough path the fifth-graders have to traverse right now has a purpose.

CANDACE: That’s beautiful! But how do you achieve it?

LOLITA: Words are important, of course, but children here are baked in the Spirit of the Longhouse. I have to remind myself that I am the one who must challenge my own limitations. I joined the school in its  year first year when I was an assistant teacher. Then I became the Coach as well as the performing arts teacher. I challenged myself by started my Masters of Teaching program. I read voraciously about both physical ed and arts pedagogy. I trained seriously for marathon running. I starting taking dance and acting classes once again. I dove very deeply in Daisaku Ikeda and Vasyl Sukhomlynsky’s writings about teachers and education.

CANDACE: I am curious. What is your goal today for this class which is having the rough time?

LOLITA: The approach of “Don’t do this” has never worked. Harshness or shame is not the medicine for harsh behavior. I have a comedic talent. Can I find a way to make a kid or two laugh during our walk? Just a single laugh can change an entire moodscape.

I wish I could talk more but I see the kids coming! It was nice meeting you! Adil, you brought your swimming trunks, right? We have a double period of phys ed and then swimming today. Do you want to join us? I think the office told your parents to pack you swimming trunks.

ADIL: Sure! (Candance continues the tour, Adil stays behind)

S1, E5: “The Steam of Stem

HAZEL: Let’s take a walk to the “STEM Workshop,” Candace. You don’t want to miss this.

The group walks into the STEM Workshop which looks like a large gymnasium surrounded by “work rooms” with vision panels looking into the gym.  The whole place conveys one word: WORK.

There are shelves with blocks and Legos, tables with cranes and levers, hanging gear blocks and tackles, ramps, carpentry hand and machine tools, sewing machines with fabrics and patterns, computers, stoves with pots and pans. Candace’s jaws are dropping! She walks over to a group of very young children and asks what they are doing.

FIRST GRADER IVAN: Well, here is our city. We have *Thomas and Friends* on the tracks. There is Cranky the Steam Crank and our construction machines. Those blocks there are foundations for a warehouse we are going to build. We’ve decided to build the warehouse with reinforced concrete because it will have to bear a huge load.

(In walks MICHAEL and ANITA, the co-directors of the STEM Workshop, to the rescue.)

MICHAEL: (winking) We came to save you! Ivan can talk an entire day about his class construction project. The kids have nicknamed him “Master Builder.” But I think you can sense our approach to STEM here. Longhouse focuses on hearts, minds, and hands. We practice measuring, study why buildings stand, discuss machinery and infrastructure, take equipment and tools apart and then put them together again to understand why things work. From the time I was a boy I loved toys and models like you see here…I still do!

ANITA: We split structured hands-on time with classroom work that builds to math concepts. A major focus of Makiguchi was “community education” and this entails understanding “the built environment.” We start with our youngest and build up to some of the sophisticated projects you see on the shelves.

MICHAEL: I’m sorry, We have to run, I see that Ivan’s crank is cracking. Next time you come, I will show you our carpentry shop in the back.

CANDACE: (to the Pacheco’s) I think my son would just love Longhouse. He has always felt out of place in his school. He gets distracted and restless, he’s just awkward in the classroom. But I can just see him thriving in the music class, the Field, and the STEM Workshop! I am sure he is enjoying the pool now.

ANITA: Do you know that Eulogio, the chair of our Board, talks frequently about his experience living with his Autism Spectrum Disorder? A lot of his work here is based on these painful memories. Michael is my son and he also has learning differences. We talk about ourselves having a Helen Keller-Anne Sullivan relationship. He’s brilliant with curriculum and I “translate” his ideas into action with the kids. It’s an unusual arrangement, but here at Longhouse it works!

CANDANCE: This is all so impressive. But are there no classrooms here?

HAZEL: Of course there are! Let’s head over to the “Hall of Heroes.”

“A Tour of The Longhouse School”

By Anita, Heidi, Lolita, Michael

S1, E6: “The Hall of Heroes”

(It’s just a short walk until they see a granite sculpture of Rosa Parks and a sign, “Welcome to the Hall of Heroes!” Inside the door is a very large circular lobby. Surrounding the hall are pictures of historical and mythical heroes from around the world, men and women equally represented. There are also portrayals of characters from fiction and even film. There is a stage on one end. Candace is taken aback.)

NIVALDO: Let’s start here with this “Wall for Parents” which I read on our very first orientation: “You are heroes,” “Your children are heroes,” “Your struggles are heroic,” “Happy parents/Happy Kids,” “Your families have great missions.” I still read them every time we come here!

HAZEL: The lobby serves multiple purposes. Longhouse uses it for “town hall” meetings with the children, concerts and plays, school “sings,” and overnights. The school’s architect thought that auditoriums are quite intimidating to children and decided to create this more intimate space. Kids just plop on the floor or bring a cushion. Works great. Let’s walk toward the classrooms now.

(As they started walking by classrooms, Candace noticed right away that are not numbered. Instead, they are named for people, only some of whom she recognizes.)

HAZEL: (to Candace…) I know just what you are thinking, who are these people? Every classroom is named after a winner of the “Laura Ingalls Wilder Award” which is given to authors and illustrators who have made “substantial and lasting contributions to children’s literature.” Susana’s classroom is named after Jean Fritz, a prolific writer of mainly historical literature for kids. Susana and her classmates have read many of her books. Her classroom has a showcase about this wonderful author, her life, and her works. Ms. Fritz passed away at the age of 101 years old! Some of her friends donated to us artifacts she once owned.

They walked past a room which was more of an office with many desks. A lone teacher was sitting there. We had met Audra briefly when she came to the Field with her fifth-grade class. Adil is now with them at the pool.

Audra waved when she saw us pass by and motioned for us to come in. She explained to us that this is the “Lesson Planning Room” and every teacher has a desk here where they work on lessons and collaborate. “It after something called the [Japanese Lesson Study Model](https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2015/08/26/a-different-approach-to-teacher-learning-lesson-study).”

Audra’s story:

I’m a first-year teacher at Longhouse and it hasn’t been easy. I have a history of depression and that, I am learning, is not a particularly good match for teaching. Some teachers have natural charisma, others have organizational skills—I don’t have much of either and I had discipline problems from the first day.

After a week or so the co-directors called me into a meeting along with the other founders. I sensed coming the “it’s not going very well, maybe this is not the right place for you” speech. Eulogio started right away and said they wanted to change my contract. Instead of a typical one-year offer, they wanted to change it to a three-year. I was shocked!

Eulogio said, “We don’t give up on a single child, ever. So why should we give up on a teacher? You were very honest with us about your history of depression. We didn’t hire you *in spite* of the depression, we hired you *because of* it. This is a trauma-informed school program so we need teachers who have struggled with all sorts of situations, including my ASD, Guy’s PTSD, and Bernie’s anger management issues. It’s just stuff. You are going to learn how to teach *with* your depression since you don’t seem to have much of that “knack” or “natural charm.” So be it. We know you have a deep passion about the community-based education curriculum—so lead with it. We are going to invest in you until you unlock this problem.”

We next brainstormed all types of ideas. I would have a reduced teaching load so I could better prepare my lessons. This follows the general idea of the “Asian Primary School model” described in Stevenson and Stigler’s The Learning Gap (1992)

Eulogio continued: “No shame and no hiding! No pretending that you have things all together! We will not leave you alone in the class and we will assign one of our toughie office assistants to do their paperwork in your classroom instead of the office. No child will escape misbehaving unseen. Parents will be able to see your class on a video link—and your kids will know it. And here is a dedicated old iPhone for you to take many pictures. Catch the kids being good and drop the pictures into your *Class Newsletter* software. If you catch them bad…off the image goes to parents.”

I heard that 50% of new teachers quit within their first five years, mainly because of problems like I was facing. But not here, I see!

In broad strokes we follow the New York State Social Studies curriculum. Longhouse relies heavily on Edwin Tunis’ book Indians: A Pictorial Recreation of American Indian Life Before the Arrival of the White Man and similar works (Fontier Living, Colonial Living, Colonial Craftsmen, and *ars, Sails, and Steam. We also use Eric Sloane (Once Upon a Time: The Way America Was, Diary of an Early American Boy: Noah Blake 1805, The Little Red Schoolhouse, and Museum of Early American Tools* My students are in love with every illustration from the books.

How do I teach with my depressive self? I make up daily learning packets in which I provide the illustration du jour, simplified version of the book text, and step-by-step work assignments. I send the kids off into groups for about a half an hour as I circulate around the room. The students are productive and enthusiastic—without me directly leading lessons. My weakness as a disciplinarian has become my strength as kids are becoming self-directed. We are pulling together as a class and I am enthralled!

At any rate, Guy and Bernie check in on me every day. “Your goal is to limp across the finish line this year. We like to have teachers loop a year or two so if everything goes according to plan, you’ll have the same class next year. You will be so surprised by the the enthusiastic “reunion” welcome from students you will receive next September! You are earning your “street creds” this year. Perhaps in the future we will call on you to mentor another new teacher!”

So what should I call all this intervention for me? “First Aid for the Hurting Teacher” or, “Chicken Soup for New Teachers Lacking Classroom Management Skills”? Whatever. I will never forget the lesson of an entire community pulling together to support a member in stress. That’s the Spirit of the Longhouse!

Candace said she had seen some amazing things on the tour but, to her, nothing was as meaningful to her as hearing the honest reflections of a first-year teacher. She began to sing the theme song from Rocky “Trying hard now/It’s so hard now/Trying hard now/Getting strong now/Won’t be long now/Getting strong now/Gonna fly now/Flying high now/Gonna fly, fly, fly…”

S1, E7: “Heros, all!”

(The three walked through “The Hall of Heroes” and then peered into the busy art room and the general classroom windows.

CANDANCE: (To the Pacheco’s) What strikes me is the “normalcy” and “non-exceptionality” of the classrooms. There seems to be no one general pattern of teaching and learning. Some rooms seem quite traditional in structure, others more student-centric where students work completely independently. I see nooks and crannies where students are working in small groups or reading on a sofa with shoes kicked off. Students seem very happy and relaxed and I love this.

I am absolutely dizzy now. I can’t even figure out what decade I’m in. Some classrooms feel so 1950’s, others like out of a hippie commune. What’s going on?

NIVALDO: That’s a very perceptive question, Candace. I made an appointment for us to sit down with the school’s two co-directors. Why not ask them yourself?

(The group sits down to meet Bernie, the director of the Lower School, and Guy, the director of the Upper School.)

GUY: I hope you enjoyed walking through our school! Do you have any questions?

CANDACE: Thanks so much for making time for me. I’m quite overwhelmed. I’m wondering, first of all, why are all the classrooms so different?

BERNIE: “Longhouse education” uses ideology but is not ruled by it. It’s impossible to respect students without respecting the professionalism of teachers! So teachers are free here to explore the realm of teaching.

CANDACE: I see. I wonder what was on your minds when you started your school?

GUY: For me, the roots were autobiographical. I had developed childhood PTSD which was aggravated during two tours and a combat injury in Afghanistan. During my recovery I tackled addiction and became sober. The whole process was up-and-down and full of twists-and-turns. This led me to thinking deeply about the role schools and community-based education can play in healing. Longhouse is the product of this search.

BERNIE: It was also autobiographical for me. During our first winter at the RV Park next door, in the early days of Trumpism, I did my best to torture poor Julie, Guy’s wife, who just smacked me of what I hated: privilege and self-entitlement. But when I relapsed with breast cancer, it was she who stuck by me. For her, friendship was more important than age, religion, or political differences. As a friend once pointed out, it’s not that I cured cancer, it’s more like cancer cured me. I was able to dump my need to live within my cocoon of anger. I truly love Julie, her family, and the RV Park. I decided to brush off my teaching license and help build a school to heal the soul, based on friendship.

CANDACE: A school built on friendship? Did I hear you correctly?

NIVALDO: Not a ha-ha friendship or cliques. Friendship that conquers all, that permeates the lives of both students and teachers.

HAZEL: And friendship with the land and the community. Yes, around here you hear the term “community-based education” a lot; but you will also hear “global citizenship education.” Susana always lectures me and Nivaldo, “We learn in school that we don’t have to go to China to be a global citizen. It’s how I say good morning to neighbors, smile at my parents, study, and play with my friends.”

BERNIE: The founders of the school were diverse people ranging from retirees to a mother and three high school-aged “consultants.” Guy and I decided to spend a summer with our consultants before we opened the new First and Second Grade classes in the Dewey House Extension. Our plan was to discuss the vision of the school as it grew to a P-12 operation.

GUY: In addition to concrete planning, we had decided to study school founders who were trying to lead people through times of great turmoil and paradigm shift.

CANDACE: This is interesting and unexpected. Who, exactly?

GUY: Yes, educators and school founders like Grundtvig, Montessori, Steiner, Dewey, Tagore, Hahn, Makiguchi, DuBois, Julius Rosenwald/Booker T. Washington, Sarah Schenirer, Sukhomslynsky, and Ikeda.

CANDACE: I never heard of most of them!

BERNIE: Lolita, our coach/drama teacher, who you probably met outside, introduced us to the great Ukrainian educator Vasyl Sukhomslynsky. We still study his My Heart I Give to Children.

GUY: But just as we started, “things” happened. We had to opportunity to enter into a consortium with the town and local school district to build a jointly-operated indoor pool, gym, track, and skating rink. We went into a whirlwind of winning political support for a bond issue.

BERNIE: The consultants went ahead with the visioning and were helped by an RV Park client who was a former charter school founder and principal. So the vision you are feeling here was based largely on the work of a mom, three students, and a retiree.

HAZEL: I think you guessed it, among the consultants: our now teachers Anita, Heidi, Lolita, and Michael!

S1, E8: “Into the Longhouse”

CANDACE: Can you explain more about the name of your school?

GUY: Good question. May I travel to some unusual places? It’s quite obvious that education in our country is very much at-risk. We have one band of “elite” schools where, I suppose, all is fine and dandy. We have a second wide swath of schools that are providing well for some students but leaving others behind. And, unfortunately, we have many Abbott Elementary schools where people are trying their best but are labeled as “failing teachers” and “failing schools.”

CANDACE: I agree with that assessment. Adil goes to one of our district schools here which I regard as being in the second category. The school is seen as “successful”—but not for Adil. Keep on talking to me, you are doing fine.

GUY: I am convinced that this is a “victimful” and “perpetratorless” situation. The people in the trenches are trying their very best which I saw front row/center when I was working in the district and in an online school. It comes from a failure of educational policy and not a lack of effort. If I had the time I would talk about the findings in James Coleman’s “Equality of Educational Opportunity” report of 1966 that no one still wants to talk about. It revealed the extent of the “achievement gap” and points to the support from families, the community, and peer groups ascrucial areas for investigation.

NIVALDO: This is interesting, Guy, and I observe the same things. But why is this happening? Sincere and hard-working people trying their best–yet producing mediocre results. A culture of silence surrounding the whole enterprise. It doesn’t make sense.

GUY: We are in a time of bewildering paradigm shift as the world shifts from industrial to 4IR, the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” It is an earthquake shaking up everything including the “ideosphere,” the existential air of collective ideas that inform how we think.

BERNIE: I think the big question is “What can provide us with strength and insight as we muddle our way through?” I wish Eulogio was around. He believes that the “Spirit of the Longhouse” is the ultimate gift of his people to a cruel and now downward-spiraling dominant civilization.

GUY: In my family’s original discussions, we also speculated on the culture and spirit of Haudenosaunee “longhouses” which predated European settlement and powered centuries of survival. It consisted of extremely close cooperative living and working together. That was the “blast furnace” of creativity and resilience in the Indigenous people of the Northeast Forest. That’s how we experimented with our large family living in the very close quarters of an RV. That was the inspiration for the school as well.

HAZEL: I never get tired of hearing about our school’s “origin story.” But can you explain to us more about you got from there to here?

GUY: The ideas for our proposal came in a big rush and that was the easy part! Our team had very diverse talents and all them were essential as we moved from concept to advocacy to implementation. This was also going to be a school for our five children so I had the single question, “What type of school would I want for my child?”

CANDACE: Yes, I was thinking about my son as we walked through the campus. We are very aware of the extra pressures and challenges Adil will face as an African American boy and we have done everything we could think of to inoculate him. Even though he’s only in the fourth grade, my husband and I have been receiving reports from his school that he’s sometimes restless, angry, and oppositional. You have no idea how much this frightens us given the realities of our society.

S1, E9: “Oh, Boy Oh Boy”

BERNIE: Thanks for being so honest, Candace about Adil’s history as a student. I wonder, at the present moment are you seeing the start of him withdrawing from the school environment or is it the beginning of him being pushed out?

GUY: Bernie, I worry that here is an example of the latter. You have the passport of white skin, but you and many of your friends were the underclass of this status. You live in “fly-over country” and your people were disregarded as “deplorables” by the elite. You guys became the pillar of support for the MAGA revolution. Here at Longhouse we regard you and your friends also through the lens of trauma survivors.

BERNIE: And Guy here has five children, including three very active boys, whom, as a self-declared “auntie,” I have observed growing up since they were babies and now as our students.. Over the course of about 13 years I have observed them navigate some of the issues of being mixed-race and partly indigenous. For your information, they have the legal status of tribal membership in the local tribe.

GUY: Candace, your concerns figured large in our proposal to open Longhouse. First of all, by all statistical measures, the status of boys is very worrisome today with girls outscoring them on many indices. We asked ourselves, what would a “boy-friendly” school look like?

BERNIE: Our teachers are exceptionally committed, talented, and inspired; we have had countless discussions about “boy-friendly” education. Part of our thinking is what you have seen reflected in the Music, Field, and STEM Gym programs.

GUY: I myself did my dissertation on the theme of education for trauma survivors. The founding group sought to hire teachers who had “outsider” perspectives. Many of our staff members were newcomers, refugees, trauma survivors, unique learners, and BIPOCs. In our planning sessions we talked deeply about the wounded child inside of us as s/he navigated “insider/outsider” perspectives. We thought long and hard about the Haudenosaunee experience before the European invasion, followed by centuries of genocide and accommodation. We imagined the recreation of the Spirit of the Longhouse.

BERNIE: We watched and listened closely as our first students arrived. Sometimes the results were contradictory like the experience of an Asian boy who had hated being in a primarily super competitive Asian school before coming to Longhouse–or the Asian girl who had hated being a one-of-a-kind in hers. Sometimes the situation was surprising to American ears like the memories of the Caribbean student who faced divisions of class rather than those of race.

GUY: We also discussed unique pressures faced by young women; how does a girl transform from a cute “Ramona the Pest” to a formidable “Mockingjay” or “Earth Mother” within a single decade? We were deeply touched by the story of two LGBTQ+ teenagers who told a story of deep love at a too early age and a desire to commit to each other. They both now are promising young teachers who work here and you met them!

BERNIE: We talked deeply about the silenced voices of children as they repressed feelings, wore masks, and endured shame and loneliness. In response we created “The Hall of Heroes.” The wounded heart, we believe, must become the vehicle for what Joseph Campbell called “the hero’s journey.” We therefore stress the classics of children’s literature where the theme of the hero’s journey is underscored again and again.

GUY: We also watched studiously for the emergence of natural exceptionalities and talents—what is called “multiple intelligences” in pedagogical circles. For example, Heidi, whom you met in the Music Room, was a musical prodigy herself. She has discovered kids who had diva voices. Michael, whom you met in the STEM gym, spots many kids who have natural abilities with their fingers and fosters that form of intelligence. Lolita, who wears several hats here, catches the kids who have natural talents in dance, drama, the Field, the pool, and the Ice Rinki; but she helps others to find their inner physical passions.

BERNIE: As the director of the Lower School, I give you this personal promise: Adil will do fine here. His struggles will morph into his passport as a global citizen.

S1, E10: “Making It Click”

CANDACE: (tearing up) Thanks so much, Bernie, your promise to me gives me so much hope.

I have just two more questions. How do you find the time in the busy school day for Music, Field, and STEM Workshop? Also, why are the classes in the Humanities wing so different in style?

GUY: Two very perceptive questions, Candace. Longhouse’s concept is influenced by the work of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, a Japanese educator at the turn of the prior century. He proposed the idea of “half-day school.” Similar concerns were supported by later thinkers such as E.D. Hirsch. To simplify, we believe that a very efficient academic learning program can be compressed into a half day, leaving time for educational pursuits such as you observed as well as independent research, dialogical activity, personal reading, and community service.

How do we economize time? We make our learning standards sleek and clear so our parents can involve themselves in the teaching process. Likewise, we make our assessments very open and accessible so parents can always understand how close their children are to meeting those standards. We use technology to “cover” content which leaves teachers more time to observe, inspire, manage, apply, and build community. Finally, we use interdependent themes such as “the hero’s journey” to connect curricula. As I am sure you have already heard or seen, there is also a heavy emphasis on geography and community studies.

BERNIE: We also draw heavily from the educational ideas of Daisaku Ikeda who talked frequently about the teacher’s heart. Again, we don’t give up on kids and we don’t give up on teachers. Our educational program is based on teachers knowing and growing themselves, as Dewey suggested, and building a reflective community of peers. This involves ups and downs, crisis and metamorphosis.

Longhouse does not aim for an idyllic ideal and we avoid ideologies such as “traditional” or “progressive”. Instead, we call our approach “value-creative education.”

You met Audra and her fourth grade class which is making a lot of progress through a hard patch. Ironically, this class is named after Katherine Paterson, a children’s author who writes about conflict and the inner lives of children. As a school we are finding hundreds of ways to support a class and teacher going through a rough patch. We as a community do not place blame, we find solutions; we share all joys and pains.

GUY: It will be very interesting to hear feedback from Adil after his time with Coach on the Field and in the Pool. If you decide to send him here next year, he’ll be in that class! What will he say?

CANDACE: Out of all the things we’ve discussed, your final point resonates the most strongly with me. Who knows what is stirring in Adil’s soul? Robert A. Heinlein wrote many years ago about a “Stranger in a Stange Land.” Even though he is just 10-years-old, we see this stranger in a strange land emerging in him. We are looking for a school that won’t give up on him, we want a safe setting that is wise, courageous, and compassionate as ADIL gains tools to move beyond his anger and restlessness.

We don’t want a school of perfection; we want one that lets Adil and us, his parents, perfect ourselves. We want to be partners and not consumers. No suppression; we have been searching for a school that would allow Adil to be himself, build on his strengths and patiently grapple with his weaknesses.

I think we found that place here at Longhouse.

S1, E11: “The Will to Achieve”

Bernie and Guy invited the visitors to have coffee in the RV Park Rec Room. Candace, however, saw Adil, Coach Lolita, and another student walking toward the school. She decided to wait for them and hear straight from the horse’s mouth how everything went.*

CANDANCE: So, how did it go in the Pool?

ZOEY: Hi, my name is Zoey. Adil is a great swimmer! No matter how many times we challenged him, he beat us again and again. We thought we’d get him tired, but we were the ones who got tired!

CANDACE: Is this true, Adil? (silence from his end, but a sheepish “yes” nod)

LOLITA: Don’t be modest, Adil! (To Candace) He is a great swimmer and I’m glad you started him swimming at an early age. Zoey is our top girl swimmer and I asked her to join us here. When I look at them, I see future Olympians! But they need training!

ZOEY: I know what you are going to say next, Coach. You are going to quote the Bible, “to whom much is given, much is required.” Then you are going to give us quotes  from Rocky’s trainer Mickey.

ADIL: Who’s Mickey? Who’s Rocky?

ZOEY: OMG! OMG! OMG! You don’t know about Rocky?

LOLITA: Don’t let Zoey spook you! You’ll catch up with the Rocky stuff soon enough.

ZOEY: Better watch out, Adil, here comes the “People of Color” and the “Will to Achieve” speeches!

ADIL: What???

LOLITA: Zoey, stop it! But, actually, she’s right again, ADIL. Most of the students and staff here are from the nearby indigenous community or people of color. I’m a POC, too. My skin is about as black as you can get. People like us have to work three or four times as much as DOMs.

ADIL: What are DOMs?

LOLITA: People of privilege or folk from the dominant culture—even those without privilege. And even within this group, there are the “ins” and the “outs” who just don’t fit and are marginalized in various ways. This is something that Heidi experienced as a child—and is still trying to unlock.

CANDACE: Wait a second. I don’t want my son classifying people by labels.

ZOEY: Your name is Ms. Candace, right?

CANDACE: Happy to meet you, Zoey. Please call me just Candace.

ZOEY: I’m only ten, too, and I understand what you mean, “Just Candace.” But what Coach is saying is true. Every one of us knows it. And we work and study harder than anyone else. We heard the same mantra since we started here. “The will to achieve, the will to achieve, the will to achieve.” Our teachers and friends can help us wake it up. But it really depends on us to turn the flame to high. Candace, won’t you consider sending Adil to Longhouse School next year? Our classmates will help him find and feed his flame.

CANDACE: I don’t know what to say. I was not expecting this appeal from a student! Sure, his father and I will place Longhouse at the top of the schools we are considering.

LOLITA: We teachers cannot do it ourselves, Candace. Ultimately, it’s shared accountability. My mentor, Daisaku Ikeda, once spoke about a phenomenon he called “the flight from learning.” We need to switch that to “the flight to learning.” James Coleman’s research going back to 1966 points to needing the family, community, and peer groups helping students turn up that flame. Once lit there is nothing that can stop them!

ZOEY: Can I say something else? It’s not just swimming. Coach pushes us really hard to run, exercise, dance, and act in her plays. All the teachers push us in all of our classes. And we push each other, too. We weren’t so nice to Ms. Audra when she came here as a new teacher. But we worked through all of that. I think she’s our best teacher now. Oops, sorry, Coach!

LOLITA: No worries, none at all.

ZOEY: Please think about coming here, ADIL! I want a second chance to beat your ass in swimming. And in math. And reading. And community studies. And in STEM Workshop. It’s OK, don’t feel bad. You can keep second place!

ADIL: (laughing). Deal’s on!

LOLITA: Thanks for being a good sport, Candace. But I think we ran out of things to say. Adil, I am sure you and your parents will make the best decision for your school next year. If you come to Longhouse, you can get ready for me with some fun swim training here. And we participate with kids from the town and district for some afterschool swimming programs which you are welcome to join!

Hazel: Zoey, please tell Candace we said good-bye!

(They all hug and head out)