The Colby School was created by a small group of seasoned teachers who had a dream of creating a place for children, families, and educators uniquely different from those they had experienced in the public schools. They wanted a distinct community where all parties were valued for their gifts, needs, and diversity. They wanted this school to be a safe haven for all participants, emotionally, socially, and professionally- a place where personal honor is paramount- a place where people feel genuine respect for one another even if they don’t agree.

In this model, educators would be empowered to make the decisions that most closely affected children. They could collaborate, compromise, reach consensus for the good of the whole. The original founders didn’t feel the need to create policies and rules. They agreed to be honorable and open with each other. Extreme care was taken when selecting teachers; only the best of the best were hired. They wanted educators whose desire to teach could be described as a “fire in the belly”- people who understood the privilege of working in a place like this along side others who were fueled by the same passion for teaching.

There would be no hierarchy or top-down management style. Rather, all adults would function as individual parts of a circle and each party would be empowered to make decisions collaboratively. A circular model of management was configured with this image in mind, rather than a top-down ladder style. The circular model included a Board of Trustees, a Parent Co-op, and a Faculty Council, each with equal voice. In the center of this model is our School Director who serves as the liaison between these groups.

Using Jeanne Gibbs’ Tribes model for creating a collaborative community, the foundation was set. Utilizing additional research from educators Alfie Cohn and Deborah Meier, it was decided that the school population should remain small, under 200, with one class per grade level so that each teacher could make age appropriate decisions s/he felt best. That would also eliminate competition between teachers at the same grade level and inevitable parent requests. Rather, educators would have the academic freedom to collaborate between grade levels to set curriculum and develop scope and sequence. Small class size would be diverse in gender, socio-economic differences, multiple intelligences, and abilities.

Core classes were to include visual arts, physical education and movement, music, and foreign language. It was the belief of the founders that these classes are as essential to teaching the whole child as the other core classes of language arts, social studies, science, and mathematics.

Uniforms were chosen that would help to “equalize the playing field”, making family economic differences less evident. The uniform policy was intended to be “kid friendly” so that students could be active participants in their learning with comfort, not fearful of ruining expensive clothing, and to be reasonable in cost for parents less financially able.

It is the Founders' hope that The Colby School stays true to its original course: focus on community for all participants through the Tribes process, stay small yet diverse, honor one another, ask for everyone’s personal best while acknowledging that it may look different from person to person. Listen, shoot from the heart, do what’s best for the whole. Most of all, if the children are in the forefront of all we do, we’re on the right path.