A Mother’s New Project

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

There’s a movement starting in America, and the movement is called “microschools.” And many of the leaders of this microschool movement are women, the mothers of the young learners enrolled in the microschool itself.

Ayana Verdi is one of those women and mothers. Ayana is the founder and director of Verdi EcoSchool, a place- and project-based urban farm school in Melbourne, Florida. Recently, Verdi wrote about her microschool, and others, in the article published in Getting Smart:

“Before the COVID pandemic magnified the vast inequities that exist within our education system and spurred an education renaissance that rapidly spread across the country, the quest to reimagine what school could be had already begun in pockets across the country. In my home state of Florida, microschools and learning cooperatives were already serving families with fresh and innovative learning models. When families realized their learners needed options that better met their needs, these environments were poised to respond. Nimble and hyper-local, each innovative model designed solutions intended to serve the unique populations of children in their community.”

“When I met Iman Cassells Alleyne in 2018, she was just beginning her visionary journey to build a new school model of her own. She came to visit the newly founder Verdi EcoSchool in Melbourne, Florida. We sat together, sharing ideas and a vision of what school could be if led by individuals brave enough to challenge the status quo. Verdi EcoSchool was founded in 2016 as the first place- and project-based urban farm school in the southeastern United States. Using the community as a campus, students learn that ‘school’ doesn’t just happen behind a desk with a textbook – learning is all around us. Our connections to the community deepen experiences that we might otherwise miss in a conventional classroom. As we explored the campus, Iman joyfully expressed her desire to build a community of people connected to each other and united by a desire to be kind – to themselves, to each other, and to the world.”

“My time with Iman highlighted a great absence for me in my work as a school founder – fellowship. The road to founding and leading a school is exhausting and often lonely. How do we sustain ourselves as school founders in an industry where 50% of school leaders leave the profession entirely after five years? Iman’s vivacity brought me to the beginning of a new journey: connecting to a community of women – mothers and educators – dedicated to changing the face of education.”

“A highly accomplished educator and entrepreneur, Iman went on to establish the Kind Academy Microschool Network, based out of Coral Springs, Florida, a network of innovative learning programs that specializes in supporting unique, gifted, and neurodiverse learners. Iman offers Kind Online School, and she’s also started the Launch Your Kind program to help education entrepreneurs open their own Kind Academies. There are 10 new Kind Academies planning to open for the upcoming school year – seven in Florida and three in other states. Iman’s diverse teaching background in public, charter, private, and homeschooling programs fueled her passion for a personalized learning approach. Iman is at the center of a movement to redefine our why for school. She recently shared: ‘I passionately believe that education holds the key to transforming our world. True change, in my view, can only be achieved through education and the sharing of knowledge. I am convinced that peace is not just a lofty goal but an attainable reality within ourselves and our communities when we are equipped with the necessary knowledge.’”

“Iman’s purpose is to be a beacon to other school founders. Kind Academy is supporting a new generation of leaders to continue to mold our education ecosystem into one that works for all learners.”

…

“In 2021, a conversation with Iman yielded a new connection – an inspired educator starting her own journey to change what school can be. I jumped into a Google Meet with Shiren Rattigan. Shiren greeted me with a smile and a sigh as she asked one question that still resonates within me to this day: ‘When is what we give enough?’”

“Shiren was vulnerable and raw in a way that I avoid out of fear of sharing too much. Her openness is her superpower, and this presence forged an impressive path. Shiren founded Colossal Academy in South Florida when remote schooling options created an opportunity for families who needed more personalized learning opportunities for their children. Shiren has spent 15 years championing innovative education. Her dedication to amplifying student voices and tailoring future-forward education is unwavering. Balancing her professional endeavors with her role as a wife and a mother to three daughters, Shiren is a true embodiment of educational passion and familial devotion.”

“Shiren shared: ‘Our vision is to create an educational ecosystem that is as dynamic and interconnected as the vibrant community that surrounds us, where education is not just about acquiring knowledge, but about inspiring change and building a better world.’ Shiren has given life to an education renaissance in South Florida – co-founding the Innovative Educators Network to harness the collective power of a movement – place-based, community-driven, and mission-focused founders and ‘edu-preneurs’ providing an unprecedented array of options for families.”

“The movement is spreading…”

Dissatisfaction leads to motivation, and we all know that there are millions of parents out there dissatisfied with the quality of learning their children are experiencing.

A few years ago, I was part of a startup called The Education Game. A close friend and I were convinced that, given the proper amount of education and support, we could identify and coach groups of parents, unhappy with their public school choices, to begin their own alternate form of learning organization. In the end, the startup failed because, even though parents were unhappy, they weren’t enough of a risk-taker to take their kids out of school and put them somewhere that was untested – no matter how bad their public school choice was.

But what Matt (my co-founder) and I walked away from The Education Game experience was the belief that unhappy parents were going to be the catalysts for building a new learning organization.

We might have been just too early to the party.

Til tomorrow. SVB