A building for Matrix, the alternative high school, has still not been secured according to Fred Schmelzer, one of the teachers in the group.
The new private school now has an enrollment of 13 students and plans to enroll seven more. The group hopes to find a backer who will help them buy a building for the school. Sites presently under consideration are all in the West End. If the group does not find a backer, they will continue the school with the funds from the tuitions, although this will limit the activities of the school.
The new school, which will be patterned after the “free” schools springing up throughout the United States, will begin classes September 1. A faculty of core teachers will work directly with the students on on-going projects calling, when necessary, upon a large group of resource persons associated with the school. The group approaches learning as a “mode of living” and seeks to create an environment “in which one can become aware of one’s real interests and at the same time, become aware of the interrelations between all ways of approaching reality.”
Specific information on the courses and the teachers is available upon request by calling Jack Flynn, PA 1-5932, Fred Schmelzer, 652-2246 and Alex Bornstein, 645-2900.
Note: The companion elementary school, Greenways, will not be located in the area, as previously reported. The group which has divided into two groups, will locate in Laclede Town and University City.
Originally published in The Paper, August 1971.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1971_08.pdf, printed page 2.
