It is the kind of sunny spring day that lures young minds out
through classroom windows onto the playground, but the seventh and
eighth graders in Jonah Maidoff's social studies class at the
Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School are decidedly focused on
the issue at hand.

The first day of school at the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School feels almost like a block party: people hugging each other; adults carrying vases of flowers and trays of snacks; children buddying up; first-name basis all around. The occasion is balanced between a sense of celebration and nonchalance.

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Mabel made it.

They pulled away from the Coastwise Packet Wharf in Vineyard Haven on Friday, June 13, their oars waggling a bit uncertainly in the air and in the water. Seven days later - late on Friday afternoon - they put the bow of their boat on the shore of a cove some 30 miles north of Manhattan and dropped themselves a bit unsteadily onto hard sand shaded by weeping willows at a park on the Hudson River.

Every school graduation is important. But the graduation taking place this Saturday, June 2, from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School is in a class of its own.

Tomorrow, the charter school will celebrate its first ever graduation. Four students make up the graduating class. Walker Blackwell, Elana Robinson-Lynch, Indaia Whitcombe and Sarah Maxner will receive diplomas and speak at the event. Thursday morning, the four students talked with the Gazette about the school and their lives.

Students at the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School will receive a more balanced education during the new school's second year thanks to a new teaching format adopted by the staff.

Last year, students studied all the core subjects established by the state, but they did so on an intermittent basis. For example, instead of studying all the core subject areas simultaneously and year-round, a student might have taken English and history during the first trimester, math and a language during the second and science during the third.

The Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School welcomed 30 new students, a new director and three new teachers last Thursday as it opened for its second year of operation.
 
The addition of a new class of eight-year-olds is the primary factor accounting for the school's increase in enrollment. Since last year's 14-year-olds will continue on as the 15-year-old age group, the addition brings the school one step closer to reaching its maximum teaching capacity: 180 students ranging in age from five to 19.

The Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School has recieved written approval from the Martha's Vineyard Commission (MVC) to add a 36 by 32-foot classroom to its existing facility; a building permit from the town is expected to follow within the next two weeks.

Wanda Emin is happy with her children's school. Still, she was one of dozens of parents who showed up this week at an open house for the Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School.

She came, she said, at the urging of Brooke, 13, and Heather, 10.

"We just came with an open mind, and we'll go home and talk about it," Mrs. Emin said, guessing that her daughters are attracted to the school because "what they like is being able to make their own decisions."

The classroom is both comfortable and practical. Furnished with stacks of books, a Macintosh computer and a sprawling leather sofa, it is a bright room with windows offering a view of a forest and enough light to nourish three potted plants.

Here, nestled in the giant L-shaped sofa, half a dozen students read novels and write in journals. Some talk quietly, and others work on "dialogue journals." That means they write entries directed to teacher Meredith Collins, then leave the notebooks in a basket, where Miss Collins finds them and writes responses.

In Max Butler's first weeks at school, he will help set up a computer system.

Max, 12, will also join other students of various ages in a writers' workshop. He will take classes called understanding math and algebra, studies in science and problem-solving.

And that's only the first month.

An advisor with the new Martha's Vineyard Public Charter School helped Max design this schedule recently. In coming weeks, they will decide what comes next.

"It's pretty exciting," said Max, of Gay Head. "For the first time ever, I can't really wait to go back to school."