Learn With ThemJoel Weber's learning, teaching, growth, teens, & Holden High School blog
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(Blogger’s note: In 2005, Carolyn Cogan, co-founder of Holden High School, set down the story of how Holden came to be. Here in her words is the first part of that story.) “In the 1950s and more in the 1960s, “between the civil rights movement in the South, the Vietnam war, and the feminist movement, young people, thinking people, civic-minded people everywhere were speaking out for freedom and justice. Churches and schools, often the last institutions to invite change, were engaged in a close look at how they could serve young people in more personal, creative, authentic ways….
“In l968 Cogan went on her first sabbatical year, ostensibly to research the military-industrial complex so she could teach the U.S. history that is not in the textbooks. During that year she also joined the Orinda-Lafayette Peace and Freedom Party. This group decided to focus on local education. “Mostly parents of children in Orinda schools, they shared Cogan’s vision of a public school where their children would have the encouragement to pursue their own learning in more child-oriented environment. They decided put their support behind three candidates for the Orinda School District School Board. Two candidates lost by fewer than 100 votes. The third candidate, our own Elizabeth [Betty] Karplus, won a seat on the board, and has continued to advocate for open classroom and relevant learning; she also has been a supporter of Holden for many years. “In a de-briefing session after losing the election, many members realized that one board member was not going to be able to make the institutional changes we wanted for our children in Orinda’s schools. Someone suggested we start our own school, and pointed to Cogan. Immediately three families said they would enroll their children. Lucy and Skip Henderson, Betty Barrie and Glen Spencer, and Paula Reese [another longtime Orinda Community Church member] helped Cogan organize the first community meeting to find others interested in enrolling their children in a “free” school, which they initially called Our Place. “Through a series of community meetings held throughout the spring and summer of 1969, Our Place inspired people to volunteer their time and skills to set up the school. Naïve about fund raising, Cogan decided to become the first director and teacher running on idealism and love for kids. Two personal friends and Inland Valley Intermediate School teaching colleagues donated the first $325. An Orinda neighbor whose two daughters Cogan had been tutoring enrolled her girls and gave the school its first campus: a poolside room in the home of her parents, the owners of Hooper’s Chocolates. “They opened in the fall [of 1969] with two teachers and seven students: three fifth graders, one seventh grader, and three high school sophomores – a definite challenge to individualized learning. “Heroes come in many disguises. Enter Dr. Chauncey Blossom of the Orinda Community Church. Ray Roberts, former principal of Monte Vista High School, advocate of alternative education, and friend of Cogan, asked Rev. Blossom to consider renting the church basement to Holden School. [The Church answered yes, and] [I]n the fall of l970 we invaded the hallowed halls of the Orinda Community Church and became a true “underground school,” and the pool table in one of our rooms replaced the swimming pool as a way to cause doubt in Cogan’s mind about play as an important way of learning.”
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Copyright Joel B. Weber 2013 forward. Disclaimers: This blog is not affiliated with Holden High; views are my own. I have no official connection to Holden other than Director Emeritus and friend. Dates and many student names have been changed; facts have not. Archives
December 2014
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