The Paolo Freire Freedom School

I just learned about this public school called The Paolo Freire Freedom School in Tucson, AZ. It provides a focus on
social justice and environmental sustainability. If Superintendent Tom Horne gets his way with HB 2281, the anti-ethnic studies measure, this school would cause the district to lose 10 percent of it's funding--which would kill the district financially for them to be found not to be in compliance.

Angela

El Pueblo Integral
Teaching and Learning Collaborative

Believes that:

To be powerful and transformative, teaching and learning must be deep, authentic, and developmentally appropriate;

Integral development must address the whole person (body, heart, mind, and soul) and the whole community ( the social, cultural, political, and economic structures) both locally and globally;

Individuals and their communities are vitally connected to each other, to all living beings, and to the earth itself and these relationships must be sustainable and just;

To be sustainable and just these relationships must be characterized by the sharing of resources and power, open discourse, appropriate decision-making strategies, constructive conflict resolution, and mutual positive regard;

Diversity among individuals, communities and all living beings, and the unique developmental journey of each must be honored and celebrated.

El Pueblo Integral
Teaching and Learning Collaborative

Will:

Continue to provide professional development services to public schools and school districts, locally and nationally, that want to create small, powerful learning communities within their schools and among their students, teachers and parents;

Open/operate a small public school in Tucson, Arizona that is a demonstration site/laboratory school for best instructional practices and innovative small school design and that is closely linked with a school in Guatemala;

Create an information network for the collection, analysis and distribution of learnings that may include an educational research lab, partnerships with universities, and a website with links to organizations that support and contribute to the work of EPI~TLC;

Create other structures as needed that promote the economic development, health and welfare, and political empowerment of the individuals and communities we serve; and eventually,

Design a replicable model for the development of other small schools/centers in the U.S. with links to schools/centers in Guatemala and elsewhere.