“Main Street” is the center of the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School, its entryway, meeting space, library, and more. It’s a place where things happen. There, the school community gathers every morning, with students ranging in age from kindergarten through high school. The school bell signals the beginning of the meeting, then there are announcements, celebrations, and students sharing the news from their lives. After the meeting, the students disperse to small advisory groups of about 12 students who meet with their teacher at the beginning and end of each day. In between, there are regular classes, opportunities in the wider Island community, and self-directed learning.
The school began as an idea discussed among friends. “It started around a kitchen table,” says Claudia Ewing. She was part of a group of parents who were also educators, who talked about having a different kind of school here. They gathered at each other’s homes, informally at first. In 1993, they heard about a conference in Boston where they could learn more about the concept of charter schools.
The Vineyard group drove up to Boston for the daylong conference, and when they came back they turned themselves into a steering committee with the goal of creating a public charter school here. They reached out to the wider Island community for input, developed the idea, and sent off their application.
