The two core ideas of Fairhaven School- freedom and responsibility- have been on full display as we commence the 2025-2026 school year, our twenty-eighth. While we continue to explain our unique educational program in new and different ways, these two enormous, abstract ideas remain central to our mission, never more so than this month.
The students have hit the ground running, literally. The sight of young people moving through the actual physical space of the campus may be the most consistent demonstration of student freedom at Fairhaven. People played soccer, basketball, and numerous tag games throughout these first two weeks. They hid, they ‘seeked’, they climbed. They explored the forest and the stream.
Sometimes, students have chosen to stay relatively still, the natural corollary to all that movement. They’ve caught up with friends. They’ve read books, and they’ve written. They’ve worked on college classes. They’ve eaten leisurely lunches together. They’ve played video games and watched shows. They’ve fired up the 3-D printer. They’ve shaped clay on the pottery wheel. They’ve played cards and they’ve played drums. They’ve made beats. They’ve built forts, indoors and outdoors. They’ve played army games with toy weapons, and they’ve trained for “battle.” Truly, they’ve played so many different ways, and we welcome this kaleidoscope of play as their most natural, efficient way to grow and, indeed, to learn.
Balancing this remarkable freedom is Fairhaven’s ongoing culture of responsibility, evident throughout the day both in the democratic practices and procedures of the school and the (perhaps) larger internal ownership each student takes for who they are and how they’re spending their time.
The first layer of responsibility here every school year is when all of the students get certified for using many parts of the school. As a general guide, anything at Fairhaven that is expensive or that may be dangerous requires certification. Examples include the following: Online Safety, Grounds, Computers, Music Studio, Shop, Art Supplies, and Kitchen. As a staff, we sometimes take these moments for granted, yet here we celebrate our students’ capability and maturity, so we allow them to demonstrate that, yes, they can be trusted to use the incredible array of resources here safely and wisely. In sum, people become responsible when you give them responsibility.
We’ve also resumed our new year of participatory democracy. At Fairhaven, it’s one person, one vote, regardless of age or experience. Among other things, the School Meeting has met to elect various officers and clerks, to certify people to be “Free Eaters,” and to enact various policy changes to the school’s Attendance Rules. Is it mundane? Sometimes. Isn’t it, nevertheless, extraordinary, to see a new batch of students and staff members listening and speaking on various agenda items, and then, when everyone has had their say, to hear the elected student Chair begin the voting process by saying, “All those in favor?”
The various committees and corporations (“corps” in Fairhaven jargon) have met, both to elect officers and to transact business. After a quiet start, the Judicial Committee (JC) has begun investigating allegations of rule-breaking, its members an appointed jury of four students and one staff member. Where does all of this freedom and responsibility intersect? How do we maintain balance between what seem to be the opposite impulses? The JC provides a daily dose of discovery and reminders to people who’ve enacted their freedom beyond the limits of responsibility. One person left his soccer cleats out for two days, while another didn’t properly dispose of his ramen noodles. Such trivial things, yet these and countless others prepare the school for the inevitable bigger breaches to come, where even someone accused of putting themselves or the school at risk will enjoy the same due process as the boy who dumped his leftover ramen noodles in the kitchen sink.
When you visit the school next, please take a moment to join us in witnessing and appreciating what we continue to build here at Fairhaven School. Enjoy the sight of free young people playing on the field. Two young students may be walking from one building to the next, deep in conversation about something, often what’s next or what’s just occurred. If it’s midday, maybe they’ve been called to JC. Give thanks, as we do, for the gift of another year of freedom and responsibility at Fairhaven School.
Mark McCaig
September, 2025
