What Do Staff Really Do

What Do Staff Really Do All Day at Longview?

By Mark Jacobs, Co-Director

“Wouldn’t you just like to offer one math class?”

“How about getting students to do one project a month?”

“What classes do you teach?”

These are the sorts of questions I am asked as a staff person at Longview. I believe it is important to discuss how all of these queries fundamentally miss the point about how staff members spend their time at the school.

It is no accident that I usually call myself “staff.” Sure, I don’t correct people every time they call me “teacher,” but “staff” is more accurate. According to dictionary.com, a teacher is “One who teaches or instructs; one whose business or occupation is to instruct others; an instructor; a tutor.” Is that an apt description for what we do? Certainly this is part of what I do.

The counterpart of teacher is student. Those who attend Longview call themselves “students.” Dictionary.com states that a student is “a person engaged in study; one who is devoted to learning; a learner; a pupil; a scholar; especially, one who attends a school, or who seeks knowledge from professional teachers or from books; as the students of an academy, a college, or a university...” What is so interesting to me is that by this definition I am as much a student as a teacher. Indeed, all of those enrolled at Longview are both teacher and student at different times throughout each day.

Our use of the word “staff” is a rejection of us adults having privileged positions as teachers. I am a member of the Longview community, and as such, I do not hesitate to teach or to learn. I live as a genuine human being, and the only way to do that is as a teacher and a learner.

But most people are still left wanting to know what I do. That’s a fair question, but it is also extremely difficult to answer because of how much it varies on a daily basis.

For those who have experience with improvisation in theater or comedy, the following maxim will be familiar: “Always say yes.” That is, if you are doing an improv scene, accept whatever those actors you are working with throw out--say “yes” by going along with what is offered to you because saying “no” kills the scene.

I often think of this maxim in reference to my role as staff at Longview. We keep saying “yes” to the ideas the children come up with. Certainly that is not to say that I go along with dangerous, unfair or immoral ideas—we have quite strong rules against that. But as a matter of practice, those aren’t the ideas the children usually come up with.

Mark, do you want to take a trip to Mars?

Can we make cupcakes?

Would you help me find out information about Haiku?

Do you have any ideas about how to find local places to learn to ride horses?

Would you like to solve some really long Roman numeral problems?

Do you want to be in a movie?

Would you read us a story?

Can I read you a story?

How can I edit and print out these digital photographs?

Just as often, there is not even a question.

Mark, the Black Knight ghost is loose in the school…

Let’s play hockey.

I didn’t like either candidate in the presidential debates…

Come see what I just painted.

To all of these ideas and questions, I say yes. (Sometimes immediately, and sometimes after I have completed the activity I was already involved in.) Doing so allows the students to explore their own interests and the depths of their creativity. Whether I am taking on the role of Scooby Doo, art critic, technology expert, extra in a play, etc., I am fulfilling my role as staff person.

In addition, running a school is an involved and difficult process. This takes even more time when it is the school community, and not hired administrators, who are doing this work.

When the bills need to be paid, staff and students sit down together to write checks and enter data into accounting software. When attendance records need to be updated, students and staff go over the sign-in sheets and enter the information into the computer database. When something breaks, students and staff fix it together. When a person comes to visit the school, staff joins the tour given by the student Admissions Clerk. When a conflict results in a write-up, the staff is a member of the student-run Judicial Committee that administrates justice. When a new rule/rule change is desired, or people want to go on a field trip, or community members want to spend money on a new interest, staff are vocal members of the School Meeting (the democratic body that runs the school).

Most of these activities could be done more quickly by staff alone, but the premise of a Sudbury school is that children should participate in the responsibilities of “real life” now, and not wait to do so until they graduate.

But what about those times when I am not working/playing with the children and when there is no work to be done to keep the school running? Then I am a member of the Longview learning community, just like anyone else. Emphasizing this, in September, School Meeting passed a rule authorizing staff to spend up to 30 minutes each day pursuing their own interests. On days I take advantage of this, I tend to do so during the first ½ hour of each day, a time when most students are naturally busy and not asking for my attention. I spend this time reading and writing. Why? Because this is really what I am interested in doing. I suppose a side effect is that I model these activities for the others—they see that when I am given an opportunity to choose how to spend my time, I am almost always reading and writing, and that given this opportunity, I place enough importance on doing so to consistently set time aside for it. In my opinion, what is most important is that I am able to allocate the time and then that I have the opportunity to discuss what I am reading, writing and thinking about with others in the Longview community.

Overall, when a parent or interested person asks me why I, as staff, don’t do X, Y, or Z, my answer is that I am already busy—all day, every day. What is implied in the question is that something is missing, or that somehow we (the staff and students) are not already doing enough. I think anyone who comes and visits with a truly open mind will leave with one question: How do you do so much?

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