Liberty School

Liberty School, a "Democratic Learning Community" in Blue Hill, Maine offered a secondary education option for 9-12th graders for over 10 years. Students aged 21 and under were accepted by attending an interview with the admissions committee (composed of students and teachers), and completing an essay on a topic of the school's choice. The term "Democratic" applied to the school in more ways than one. The school had an open campus, and students were largely in control of their education, or, if they choose so, lack thereof. Many students were actively involved in the school’s democratic governance.

Although the school ran strongly for many years it closed its doors in December 2007 due to financial reasons. The 2006-2007 school year was turbulent. Administrative and academic hardships led to decreased enrollment. In May 2007 a new board of trustees was elected by the school community. Although much energy was put into revitalizing the school, enrollment did not recover substantially enough to grant financial stability. As of late 2007 the board of trustees was still in place but there were no plans to continue the institution past ending business.

Course Offerings

Liberty School offered a diverse offering of academic courses including:

*History Of The Future
*Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll
*The Art of Being Mark Twain
*So The World's Crazy, Perhaps We Want to Do Something
*Female Landscape
*Fertile Turtle (a local news and opinion e-zine written and edited by students)
*Seeking In The Information Age
*Introduction to Peace Studies
*Video Poems
*Prodigious Puppets
*Icelandic Sagas
*Identity of the South
*Pursuit of Happiness
*The Golden Age of Radio Drama
*From Behind the Iron Curtain
*The "Sci" of Sci-Fi and the "Fi" of Sci-Fi (separate classes)

Enrollment

The number of students hovered around 60+ students until enrollment tanked after taking up a project-based learning curriculum.

Liberty School accepted students from differing walks of life. The staff and school community made consistent efforts to see that everybody could find a place in the community. Students had an advisor to help keep them on track, ensure that their grades were maintained at a sufficient average, and help to guide independent studies.

With a two month trial period, admittance was generally liberal. Students and faculty collectively admitted students through the school’s admissions committee.

Community Service

Students were responsible for cleaning the school, including all classrooms and bathrooms.

Students were required to do at least 40 hours of community service in order to graduate. Community service typically involved volunteering for a non-profit organization.

Student Activities

Liberty School periodically offered sports, including soccer, basketball, and Frisbee, though none of them become standardized to the extent hoped for by some faculty members. Some after school activities included rowing, hiking, swimming, and, this past winter, skiing.

In spring 2005, the first ever Liberty School Film Festival was held at the Alamo Theater in Bucksport, ME. It was a showing of student work, films from the Video Poems class, and the premiere of the DVD Yearbook as well as the print version of the Yearbook.

Fertile Turtle

Fertile Turtle is a site consisting of articles and letters from Liberty students and other community members. Fertile Turtle is not currently being expanded, but some students are contributing towards efforts to continue expanding the site.

Life After Liberty

Some students went straight on to college, some waited year, and some chose not to. Those who went/ go on to college usually thrive(d). Some criticized the school for its policy of letting students largely take care of their own guidance choices, however many consider this to be a positive aspect.

External links

* [http://www.liberty-school.org Liberty School's website]

* [http://fertileturtle.org/ Fertile Turtle - News and Views of Liberty]

* [http://youtube.com/user/LibertySchool Liberty School YouTube page]

* [http://ellsworthmaine.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11033&Itemid=203 The Ellsworth American - Liberty School to Close in December 2007]