We have to start our story by looking at the career path of Debbie N. Pepin. Graduating with a BS in elementary and special education after three years, she began as a teacher of emotionally disturbed and learning disabled adolescents in a suburban Hartford, CT, high school. Troubled by the way these young adults (mostly boys) were treated by the school as a whole and administration in particular, she completed an MEd (Educational Psychology) and a CAGS (Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies) in Administration over the next five years. Debbie taught for those five years while also coaching, advising student government, and trying to find a way to make the "labeled kids" more successful.
Frustrated by the lack of willingness to change a very "tracked" system, she became an assistant principal in the Buffalo, NY community of Kenmore-Tonawanda. Young (age 26) and enthusiastic, she worked to make her traditional primary responsibility (e.g.. disciplinarian) less important. Her energies were focused on teacher empowerment, curriculum redesign, alternative education methods, and student activities.
On her 30th birthday, she accepted the Principalship of Guilderland Central High School (Albany, NY area). For the next six years she worked to make the school "student centered" vs. "rule centered." There were opportunities to create new partnerships for students. School spirit soared and academic results showed satisfaction.
However, recognizing that many of the changes she wanted to implement would have required district level cooperation, in 1989, she became Superintendent of Greenville Central School District (30 miles southwest of Albany). Working in that small, rural school district forced her to spend inordinate amounts of time on fiscal issues and politics.
In September of 1992, after helping her replacement (also a female) get the school year going, she left public school. Why would a young female with a plethora of outstanding superintendent offerings leave the comfort and prestige of the system?
Debbie Pepin set out on a mission to talk to others about her 18 years in public education. Feeling passionate about the tracking system, success vs. failure for kids, the downside of competition, and the lack of attention paid to the comments of business about skills needed in the workplace, she decided to open a model school.
For the next nine months, she networked to every business leader in the Capital District of New York State. She would enter the office of a CEO saying "we've been on committees together trying to make recommendations to do something. . . . " Most leaders complimented her guts, but felt unable to help.
Seven business leaders, representing an assortment of Capital District employers, wanted to help her develop her model. She knew she needed to write individual plans for each child, connect their learning to the real world, and stress "learning how to learn." This goal entailed the need to locate within a "real-world" site, allow a demographically diverse group of students into the school (and hence require tuition-assistance funding), and make good use of technology and experts.
Debbie had to compromise and delay opening from the proposed September 1993. Instead she opened as a vacation program (during public school vacation weeks) in February 1994. Nashua Tape Products, a division of Nashua Corporation (NYSE), donated & retrofitted their unused research and development facility. 40 children per week took the opportunity to sample the tenets of her philosophy. The other satellite sites (especially Golub Headquarters, Power Technologies, Inc., a large nursing home, and a local hotel) served as other "real-world" opportunities for problem-solving and experienced- based learning.
By September 1994, there was enough parent interest to open as a year-round, independent school with 11 students. Today there are 28 students ranging from age 5-17. Socioeconomically and demographically they come from homes ranging from very wealthy to those dependent upon social services. Their public school labels range from gifted to severely learning disabled to ADHD to average. A few children do not know their birth parents. One child's first language is Spanish.
It is a school based on modeling most of what could change in a traditional school. When speaking to business leaders, concerned parent groups, or innovative school systems, Debbie Pepin is described as someone who has "broken all the rules." The emphasis of the school is on preparing ALL children for THEIR future --- not for the future that has already happened.
Each piece of what happens is thought about in terms of the student. The school is open from 7:30 AM - 5:30 PM; parents select hours. The school is open 235 days per calendar year; students are expected to be in attendance 220 days. There are no hard chairs and traditional classrooms. There are students offices (2 students per computer), and living rooms and project rooms. Students eat with employees, get a snack when they are hungry, and take Karate in lieu of a general physical education class.
In order to become a lover of lifelong learning, a student must master independence. First, the student must master basic or anchor skills. Even those fundamentals are brought to the student through a personally selected project. If a five year old is fixated on cats, what better way to get them to learn reading, writing, math, science, social studies and the arts than by focusing learning on the cat theme?
What are considered the most important skills for the 21st century?
Lots of other opportunities present themselves at the model school, The Learning Space. About 100 visitors per week tour the school, talk with the President of Nashua Tape, and investigate their own paradigms about school. The approximate 200 employees of Nashua Tape think differently about work. They intrinsically know that they model something to the students. Specifically our computer, networked into the factory, allows them to try their hand at technology that was not a part of their childhood.
Are the students at The Learning Space becoming entrepreneurs? Absolutely! They believe they can do just about anything if they have a good plan. Are the coaches (teachers in the traditional vernacular) content with their role? Of course! Their role changes every minute, let alone every hour, and so does their audience. They are not hired to teach but to lead, question, and redirect an error. Is the community a part? Why, of course! How else could we learn about vivisection or golf course development or the latest computer animation? We welcome experts who can help by way of email, fax, phone and/or a flexible schedule.
The Learning Space strives to be a changing, real-world example to others. It hurts for funding but has no trouble attracting attention. Debbie Pepin spends one-half her time speaking about the issues that made her leave public schools after 18 years. She has been a recent guest on CNN News and CNN's Financial Network. A documentary video has been created that highlights the aura of the school and is available for purchase through this site. There is no end to the mission of The Learning Space. Twenty-eight students engage in a flexible, interactive, child-centered, real-world school. More than one thousand people have seen the school first hand. Thousands of people from all walks of life have heard Debbie Pepin speak. Yet she holds out little hope for the future of our kids and this country.
"Though there are bright spots evident throughout our country," Pepin says, "they are intermittent." We have created a caste or class system unparalleled by others. Gated communities are on the rise. 10% of this country holds 90% of the assets. The rift between the "have's" and the "have-not's" gets wider every day.
Debbie credits the business leaders, small, local foundations, and the coaches who work with her for the success of The Learning Space. She adds a commendation to parents and/or significant adults in her students' lives who believe in what she says and the coaches practice. However, she almost tearfully adds her fear that traditional, public school change is happening too slowly. "I'm doing what I know how to do, but it isn't enough. This country was founded upon a dream that all people can become anything they want to become. That is far from the truth today. Unless leaders of our country --- both economic and political --- work to make education firstmost on all agendas, then the United States of America will no longer remain a power house. What are YOU doing to make a difference?" she asks.