Fairhaven staff.

Staffing at Fairhaven and other Sudbury schools offers as many challenges and rewards as any educational job out there. The analogies multiply: surfing a tidal wave, pushing a boulder up a mountain, skydiving, playing in a jazz combo. Days can be remarkably challenging, variable and sublime. Working at Fairhaven qualifies as a vocation, not just a job.

To distinguish both the school and its employees from traditional schools, Fairhaven adopted Sudbury Valley’s nomenclature, calling its faculty “staff members” rather than “teachers.” Staff at Fairhaven can play both the administrative and teaching roles found in other schools, but they also wear a variety of other hats throughout each day. Staff can be mentors and role models, coaches and mediators, leaders and listeners, artists and judges. In the end, the roles are only limited by vocabulary, so perhaps sketching examples will enhance this description.

One of my colleagues is a twenty-something artist. He manages the building and grounds. Fairhaven’s twelve acres and two sizable buildings require ongoing maintenance, so he’s always fixing something – doors, light fixtures, maybe a ceiling tile. Because of his obligations and his personal style, he’s seldom in the office. When he’s dealing with a repair he attracts students. One year students approached him about building tables, including one young man who wanted to build a giraffe table for his mother. They spent weeks on the large covered deck designing, constructing and painting what became two connected pieces. An exemplar of the artistic sensibility, he draws whenever he attends the many meetings at school. As the youngest staff member, he’s always up for a game of basketball or Frisbee. Last year the School Meeting elected him Attendance Clerk, a deliberately administrative assignment to counterbalance his “fun staff” status.

One of Fairhaven’s founders was a staff and parent who had worked for years with pre-schoolers. School Meeting voted her Aesthetics Clerk, so she had the daunting task of managing both the appearance and cleanliness of the buildings. She spent much of her time cleaning, organizing cleaners, and strategizing new cleaning plans. So far, the lifespan of any cleaning solution seems never to exceed six months. School Meeting also voted her into the position of Registrar. She read to younger students and frequently gave voice to their perspective in JC and School Meeting. She also brought her interests into the school, including singing, yoga, and storytelling. She helped create the Field Trip Corporation and took countless students to various interesting places. She specialized in parent communication, creating it as a clerkship.

In the early days, we hired a quiet mother of two of our young students. She soon cemented her role at school when she assumed responsibility for the computer network. With a background in the sciences, she also became our default higher math instructor. A pianist, she taught some music theory and piano over her tenure. In contrast to the omnipresent building manager, she spent much of her time either in the office or working with individuals or pairs of students. She co-created the Computer Corporation with many self-described “geeks.” This weekly meeting served dual functions: practical management of the school’s computer infrastructure and laboratory for democratic decision-making and group work. When she decided not to run for staff a few years ago, the School Meeting retained her as our bookkeeper.

I could write a lengthy exposition for every one of my colleagues from Fairhaven’s first decade. We have attracted many interesting, knowledgeable, diligent staff members, and each finds his or her own clerkships and style. Each year the School Meeting must assign responsibilities by electing Clerks. Although the school has both experienced staff and new staff, our structure has no boss per se. The Staff Hiring Committee and ultimately School Meeting decide all aspects of working at Fairhaven by vote. Who will do the administrative heavy lifting? Who will do the literal heavy lifting? Do we have somebody who can teach the academic basics? Who’s the computer person? And so on with all the categories of accountability we call clerkships.

From Like Water, pp108-109, Without A Net: Staffing At Fairhaven