Christen Parker-Yarnal

One of the many powerful features of our Sudbury school is the Restorative Justice Committee (RJC). It’s been through many transformations over the years, starting as a copy of Sudbury Valley’s Judicial Committee (JC) that’s modeled after the US judicial system in many ways. Fairly early on in our school’s history, we decided we didn’t like asking young people to “plead guilty or not guilty.” That felt like too much - too rigid. We decided to ask if a person “took responsibility” for what...

This week so many things happened at school. It’s a dynamic environment that’s structured around healthy human inter-action and inner-action - and it’s purposefully and powerfully not pre-planned. The days at school have their predictable elements: our Mini Morning Meeting, Restorative Justice Committee (RJC) problem solving sessions, usually a meeting or discussion scheduled by students, maybe a tour, always chore time, and then each afternoon the gathering of one’s things for parent pick...

This week I was struck by a seemingly simple act - a student walking around with a blindfold she made herself. She said she wanted to do it for better body awareness. She started just in the Community Room, getting herself to the kitchen, and later branched out to the front door landing and the front steps. What I see in her chosen blindness is trust, care, and fun. I received her permission to share this reflection and the photos I took when she absolutely couldn’t have known I took them -...