When one door closes...

I write with regret to announce that Maine Enterprise Schools is, at least for now, going on hiatus. There are two reasons. We’ve not been able to secure an agreement with a public school district for a 2011 launch, despite getting very close several times. And our non-profit partner, LearningWorks, has decided that the small autonomous public schools that we seek to create are not consistent with their long-term strategy.

In both cases, the promise of charter school legislation may, somewhat paradoxically, be working against the theory of action we’ve been advocating: that public schools themselves are better off leading innovation than having it forced upon them.

I’ll post a longer entry at innovationmaine.blogspot.com; suffice it to say that we tried just about every available avenue to realize our mission. After more than two years of exciting and challenging work, the stars (and finances) are simply not aligned for the kind of integrated model we advocate.

This does not mean that our efforts have been for naught. Our work has influenced the debate around school reform at the state level and in individual schools and districts in Maine. Some of the non-profit partners we’ve worked with are adopting/adapting aspects of the asset-based, sustainable economic development approaches we’ve championed. Most importantly, we’ve been able to bring together LOTS of people from across many sectors to imagine something quite different for Maine’s young people.

MES assigned itself a daunting challenge: to create systemic change in education, commerce and the environment using existing community assets. These assets – the people, places, buildings, and systems - are inevitably tied to tradition, and in turn to organizations or institutions. Even though the fundamental assumption that existing resources can produce better results if allocated differently is one that most folks can see the wisdom of, the actual reallocation of those assets requires the willing participation of the gatekeepers of those organizations and institutions. Ultimately, we were unable to convince those folks that the benefits of doing so now outweigh the cost of not doing it.

Now marks a point of change for MES. For the short term, we plan to refocus our energies on the enterprise incubator and “blended value” investment aspect of the original MES vision. To this end, we hope to gather folks who genuinely support our approach and want to help us figure out how best to capitalize on the work we’ve done. In early April (time and place to be announced) we’ll host a “where we’ve been, where we’re at, and where we’re going” meeting.

If you want to be at that meeting, please let us know. In keeping with the MES collaborative approach, the more voices the better. Send an email jdanieri@mainefarmschool.org, - a simple, "I'm in" will work. And of course we welcome lengthier feedback anytime.

William Faulkner wrote, “All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.” My most genuine thanks and appreciation to everyone in the MES community for joining me in what has been a splendid, if for now incomplete, quest.

John D'Anieri

Novel School Model Sowed

Please check out Seth Koenig's article in today's Brunswick Times-Record. Having expended so many words myself trying to get MES off the ground, it is SO nice to see a thoughtful writer bring these ideas into the public sphere the old-fashioned way.

And if you can help us make the ideas a reality with a financial donation before the end of the year, please do. Use our Network for Good online donation link, or if you’d prefer to donate by check, make the check out to LearningWorks (our fiscal agent) and write Maine Enterprise Schools in the subject line.

Our address is:
Maine Enterprise Schools
PO Box 854 Brunswick, ME 04011

We look forward to working together in the New Year - please visit our InnovationMaine blog to learn more the policy work we're doing to make it all possible.

Rural Charter Schools work!

This story from Oregon gives lots of hope for those in small communities in Maine that may, or in some cases already have, seen their schools close.

"With dwindling enrollment and a state funding crisis, Hughes told community members the 130-student K-12 school -- split between two buildings -- would likely have to close its doors within two to three years. Now, nearly three years later, Elkton has new computers, new curriculum and materials and nearly 80 new students.

What changed? Elkton became a charter school."

Charter schools suddenly 'relevant'

The charter school meeting hosted by the Maine Association of Charter Schools did indeed make clear that charters are relevant and that they are likely to happen. The 50 or so folks gathered on Thursday represented a very broad spectrum - legislators, school superintendents and potential charter school operators.

What was most exciting about the meeting is the degree to which folks who might not be seen as allies on most issues were able to find genuine common ground on the need to innovate. I spoke with a newly elected Republican legislator and a long-time liberal activist who were agreeing word for word with each other on how a well-structured charter law could help meet the needs of the young people in their very similar towns.

What continues to be discouraging is the lack of sophistication of some of the public debate surrounding charters, which came through quite loudly in the Portland Press Herald's article. My problem here is not with Mr. Stone's reporting - he has to report what is being said, and did a much better job of highlighting some of the many variables, rather than just perpetuating the myths.

MES in the news

Check out Saturday's article in the Portland Press Herald. Mr. Murphy did a superb job in capturing the potential of schools that "would be a blend of a traditional school and small-business incubator."

Group wants schools that mix business with lessons

We have a few quibbles about a few lines that could create some misunderstanding. Not the fault of Mr. Murphy, whose cheese-making example (crafted with some help from MES board member, Rosemont Market special project juggler, and very funny PPH wine writer Joe Appel) explains simply and elegantly the potential of learning linked to doing linked to the real work and markets of Mainers. The challenge Mr. Murphy, and MES faces, is describing a very different approach in the terms of the current system, which, quite frankly, makes some assumptions about learning and schools that we do not.

Time to Address Child Poverty and High Dropout Rates in Maine

From Brunswick Times-Record:

Time to Address Child Poverty and High Dropout Rates in Maine

I have often wondered why, as a society, we find it so difficult to address crucial problems like child poverty, child neglect, high dropout rates and student underachievement. Instead, we grind and rattle our way down the road until the wheels fall off the cart. We are now at the breakdown point with regard to our at-risk kids, and the costs of doing business as usual are bankrupting us. Consider the following:

• On average 21 students in Maine drop out of school each day, with the class of 2009 estimated to have lost 3,800 kids.

• The societal cost for each high-school dropout is approximately $292,000, due to reduced wages and taxes, welfare and high health-care costs, and--as is all to often the case--the costs of incarceration.

• Dropouts are 3 1/2 times more likely to wind up in jail than non-dropouts.

• It costs approximately $47,000 per year to incarcerate someone—more than the cost of sending that person to Harvard ($43,000).

Rationale for Maine Enterprise Schools explained!

If you can find 11 minutes in the next day or two, I urge you to find time to listen to/watch Ken Robinson's animated dissection of the degree to which our current system of education is profoundly unsuited for our times and our children.

http://www.youtube.com/user/theRSAorg

Many of you have heard me or others say many of the same things - that batch processing kids deadens their motivation, that natural curiosity gets labeled ADHD, and that we make a false and damaging distinction between academic learning and hands-on learning. My favorite part, if were not so sad, would be when he shares the study that demonstrates the degree to which, over time, our schools greatly reduce the natural capacity for divergent thinking that almost every child is a "genius" at.

I'll be showing this video everywhere I can from here on out - Sir Kenneth elucidates the intellectual underpinnings of what we're trying to do with Maine Enterprise Schools better than I ever could - and it makes me that much more eager to be part of the creation of a new system, were the beauty of an education driven by deep, lived experience with the arts, ecosystems, and the real work of humans (and their machines) is available to every single child, regardless of place or parentage.