Sisu Ashby Update: The Work of Building a School

We are pleased to share that our Letter of Intent has been submitted to DESE, marking an important milestone in our journey toward creating the Ashby Evergreen Charter School. While there is still a great deal of work ahead of us, crossing this first hurdle feels significant.

Our attention now turns to the Initial Charter Application, which is due in August. Writing a charter school application is both exciting and humbling. Every day we discover new questions that need answers. To help guide our work, I have created a comprehensive list of questions that we should know the answers to as we develop the charter. The list may be too comprehensive—there may be some things we do not actually need to know—but it has provided a useful roadmap for our research and planning.

Over the past few weeks, I have begun reaching out to individuals with experience in Finnish education, charter schools, and school administration. I have made contact with several people involved with the Sisu School and hope to schedule meetings with them in the coming weeks. I have also connected with the business manager of a major school district who I believe will be an invaluable source of information as we work through the financial and operational aspects of creating a school.

As important as it is to gather information from experts, it is equally important that we learn from the people who know Ashby best.

That is why we are especially excited that at this Thursday’s meeting we will be joined by a very special guest: former Ashby Elementary School Principal Anne Cromwell Gapp.

Anne led Ashby Elementary School during a period when it was widely recognized as an excellent school, and we look forward to hearing her thoughts about the future possibilities for education in Ashby. We hope she will help us think about what made Ashby Elementary successful and how those lessons might inform a new school for future generations.

One of the most exciting aspects of the charter school process is that we are not constrained by a predetermined model. We have often described our vision as a Finnish Forest School, but the reality is that the charter can become whatever our community decides it should be. We can draw inspiration from Finland’s educational practices, from forest schools, from current educational research, and from proven best practices in child development and learning.

At the same time, we should not disregard what has already worked here in Ashby.

The Ashby Elementary School led by Anne Cromwell Gapp was an excellent school.

The Ashby Elementary School I attended in the 1970s under the leadership of Alan Foresman was an excellent school.

As we look to the future, we have an opportunity to create something new while honoring what came before. The Ashby Evergreen Charter School does not need to be a copy of any existing school. Instead, it can be informed by the best ideas from Finnish education, the best current research, and the best traditions of Ashby Elementary School itself.

Our goal is not simply to recreate the past or import a model from somewhere else. Our goal is to build a school that reflects the values, strengths, and aspirations of our community—a school that prepares children for the future while remaining rooted in the things that have always made Ashby special.

As always, we welcome your ideas, questions, and participation. This school is being built by the community, and every voice matters.

We hope to see you on Thursday at 7PM at the Ashby Free Public Library