Freire Charter School and the Culture of Nonviolence

High School Campus: 2027 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 215-557-8555
Middle School Campus: 1026 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 267-670-7499
www.freirecharterschool.org

 

With so much public focus recently on issues of bullying, school violence and gun control, it is interesting to consider the unique culture of nonviolence cultivated at Freire Charter School. Without security guards or metal detectors, Freire Charter School has established a community where violence in any form is not the answer. We invite you to join us for a tour to witness our culture in action.
For more information, please call or email Ann Hedges Pagano, Director of Development. 215-592-4252, ext. 1493 or ann.pagano@freirecharterschool.org.

Freire Charter School and the Culture of Nonviolence

When Freire Charter School was founded in 1999, its students were asked to consider what they wanted from their new school. By an overwhelming majority, the words most often used by those students were that they wanted their school to be SAFE and that they wanted their school to be REAL. By safe, those first Freire students meant that they wanted to come to school each day without a fear of being jumped by another student, without witnessing students jumping teachers or worse, teachers jumping students. These are all things that they had seen in their previous school environments. By real, students meant that they wanted to actually learn something, and not feel like they were merely to filling a seat-time requirement, or to advance from grade to grade without earning that advancement.

Head of School Kelly Davenport took those two initial mandates very seriously and considered how to create a culture of nonviolence from students who had come from different neighborhoods, different schools, and different backgrounds, but who wanted the same thing. Dr. Davenport’s strong conviction was that until students felt physically safe from harm, they couldn’t possibly feel safe enough to take academic risks in the classroom. The first year was spent creating an environment in which weapons of any kind would not be allowed, a Code of Conduct agreed upon by all constituents in the Freire community, including students, teachers, administration and families, and an expectation of accountability for one’s actions and for one’s decisions. Finally, within that Code of Conduct, the expectation was set that a commitment to nonviolence extended far beyond the school’s front door. All of these points, administrators hoped, would create the safe environment students requested. Freire students are held to an expectation that they will actively avoid all forms of violence at all times and in all places – within the school walls, en route to and from school, at home and in their neighborhoods.

To bolster students’ ability to uphold this commitment, Freire Charter School has also engaged students and staff in dialogue regarding such topics as bullying and gun violence. A peer mediation program enables students to resolve conflict in a constructive manner, acknowledging that while conflict cannot be avoided, it certainly can be managed, mediated and worked through to a nonviolent resolution. The school employs a certified family therapist who oversees a team of 14 interns drawn from the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel and Temple Universities who provide individual and family therapy to any member of the Freire community who needs it. Upon enrollment, new students are provided with orientation to the school culture that includes training in conflict resolution and anger management, not just testing for math and reading placement. Freire Charter School has proven that by creating such a culture, it is possible for urban students to obtain the education we all deserve within a safe, nonviolent environment. Our students appreciate the life skills they learn from our school culture, and as a result, our students are truly free to take academic risks. Our students learn individual freedom and critical thinking, leading to a very real education, which was their second request. Not only do over 90% of Freire graduates go on to attend college, but between 2005 and 2010, 85% of Freire graduates who enrolled as first-year college students returned for their sophomore year.* In a City where only 60% of neighborhood public school students are expected even to graduate, the freshman-to-sophomore persistence of Freire graduates is a testament to the school’s unique culture of nonviolence and individual accountability.

*National Student Clearinghouse, Freshman to Sophomore persistence, effective November 15, 2012.