Pacem Learning Community

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admissions statement
and questionnaire

welcome
At Pacem we are building a community dedicated to peace, arts, environmental intelligence, mindfulness, and mastery. To join Pacem is to join the community. At Pacem, parents, students, teachers, and administration are all asked to be active participants in the process of helping our children develop into young people who have skills to fulfill their passions and the knowledge, inspiration and compassion to create a more peaceful, just and sustainable world. We all volunteer time, and we all make it happen! Thank you!

we seek
Pacem seeks:
• self-motivated, self-disciplined students with a respectful and helpful attitude toward others,
• students who enjoy being outdoors,
• students who wish to be part of a community dedicated to peace, arts, community, the environment, mindfulness and mastery.

we ask
We ask all of the prospective families -parent(s)/ caregiver(s) and prospective student to:
• visit Pacem;
• visit the classes they want to attend, and morning meeting, break, or lunch – if classes are in session;
• review our mission statement, sociocratic process, guidelines, and procedural handbook;
(All of these documents continue to be refined by our sociocratic process so we ask that returning parents read through the most recent version of each. Thank you.)
• consider reviewing our prospectus which describes our educational methodology.

At Pacem, faculty, students, and their families work in partnership in the continuous process of learning.

non-compulsory classes
At Pacem students choose their classes. No class is compulsory. However, once a student chooses to take a class the class advisor expects full commitment to the class including any assignments, regular attendance, and focused participation. In return, the class advisor will also be expected to be fully committed to presenting a class which holds students interests and inspires learning. If the student decides that he or she cannot continue the class the tuition refund policy will apply.

in our natural environment
We spend a lot of time outdoors, at the morning meeting, break, lunch, and during some classes (except for on very wet or extremely cold days). We ask students who choose to be part of the Pacem community to dress appropriately for the weather.

volunteering at Pacem
Pacem survives in large part due to the volunteer efforts of the staff, faculty, students and parents, which also helps create a supportive community. Because "many hands make light work,” we ask that every member at Pacem - faculty, students and parents – take responsibility for a volunteer job and follow through on that job. Not only does this lighten Pacem’s financial burdens and help spread the workload, it also helps create community, as many of the jobs will be collaborative. There will be a sign-up list of volunteer jobs for parents and faculty at the Pacem Orientation Meeting and also posted on the parent bulletin board. (continued on other side)

Students volunteer in many ways including cleaning at lunchtime, school garden maintenance, re-shelving books at the library, computer lab organization, watering the Pacem plants, caring for science class pets, being a Student Circle Representative, fundraising, clean-up days.

Teachers and staff volunteer to supervise and help with any of the student jobs, oversee or be the advisor for after-school activities, work on fundraising, and help produce events.

Parents can volunteer to help with workdays, fundraising, building projects such as the sprinkler system, Pacem events, parent gatherings & community building, marketing, the library, the computer lab, and serve as the Parent Representative to the General Circle or as the Parent Chair of the Parent Circle. If parents cannot help with a certain number of hours of their time, they will be asked to pay a substitute fee that would cover the expense of hiring someone to do the work in their place. (Please see procedural handbook for details.)

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tell us
Please tell us about yourself and your child.
We at Pacem Learning Community value the diversity of interests, strengths, backgrounds, and learning styles that our students bring. We want to attract and accommodate a varied and interesting student body. However, we do not have the support staff that public schools (and some larger private schools) have, and cannot provide the extensive one-on-one instruction or assistance that some academic and social needs require. In order for us to meet your child’s individual needs and create a successful experience at Pacem, we invite you to tell us more about yourself and your child.

answer
Please answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper, and submit with your registration form. Thank you.
• Why would you like your child to join the Pacem community?
• Please tell us anything about your child’s needs or previous experience that might impact his or her ability to learn well in a group class and/or in an intellectually rigorous environment. Examples include a past negative experience with classes/school, difficulty focusing, a learning disability or difficulty, reading and writing skills that are dramatically different than expected for the student’s age, etc.
• Please describe to us what might help us facilitate your child’s academic and social experience and growth at Pacem?
• What are your personal interests and hobbies?
• We have many volunteer opportunities listed below. How do you envision helping?

Please have the prospective student answer the following question in her/his own writing.
• Why would you like to join the Pacem community?
• What are your personal interests and hobbies?
• We have many volunteer opportunities listed separately. How do you envision helping?
• At Pacem, there is the opportunity for students to run their own classes and workshops if there is parental support and facilitation. If you are interested in doing so, please list some of your ideas.