The Farm Institute has hired longtime Island educator Sidney Morris to fill the new position of year-round manager of education programs, aiming to improve its connections with Island schools and full-time Vineyard residents.

Executive director Matthew Goldfarb described Mr. Morris as dedicated and passionate community educator with over 30 years of experience working in a broad range of Island educational initiatives. 

Mr. Morris began teaching on the Island at the Edgartown School in the 1970s. Nicknamed Mr. Moose by kindergarten student Prudie Athearn during his substitute teaching debut, Mr. Morris went on to teach in independent, public and public charter schools on the Island. He started the Sant Bani School, the Vineyard’s only K-8 independent school in the 1980s.

After piloting the role of “project broker” in the Challenge to Change initiative at the West Tisbury and Oak Bluffs Schools in the early 1990s, Mr. Morris became the first technology coordinator at the Oak Bluffs School. He was a co-founder of the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School, where he has worked for the past 12 years, combining technology education with outdoor adventures for students. To challenge students with broad experience in the real world, Mr. Morris led trips that included farm tours, winter camping in Vermont and sailing expeditions in an open boat.

Mr. Morris also was a co-founder of the Chappaquiddick Community Center and progressed from starting its sailing program for kids to the creation of Vineyard Voyagers, Inc., an experiential maritime studies program for young people on the Vineyard that builds confidence and character through traditional boat building and seafaring.

Growing up on the Silver Springs Farm outside Philadelphia, where his father raised dairy cows and his mother ran a farm day camp, Mr. Morris was marked as a future farmer and animal advocate from his early days. His first child was an orphaned baby chimpanzee he rescued from an uncertain fate in the Congo jungle and delivered to Jane Goodall in Tanzania.

Mr. Morris said in a statement that he was enthusiastic about joining the Farm Institute on its mission of teaching sustainable food production and land stewardship to all ages on the Island. He especially hopes to lure more teenagers to the promise of feeding Islanders with locally grown organic food as a challenging and fulfilling path to making a difference in the world, both locally and globally.