How Escuela Cooperativa Began: Starting a Community-Based School
- Martha Casazza
- Aug 15
- 3 min read
Larry and I sat at the blue-tiled round table overlooking the Pacific. It was a warm Monday afternoon, and we ordered the usual: guacamole to share, margaritas and fish tacos. As we waited for Miguel to bring our margaritas and start mixing the guacamole, we watched the pelicans fish for dinner and the frigates swoop in to steal them carefully keeping their wings out of the water. They depended on the pelicans to provide access to the fresh fish. They knew if they dived and got wet, they would never fly again.
“What a wonderful place this is,” said Cap one of our volunteers and a former Montessori School teacher. “How lucky we are to live surrounded by the peacefulness of the sea, the warmth of the sun and such a friendly community.”
Just then a local with a cloth bundle protruding from his back and two young children passed by our table. The children came running over and asked if we wanted something really good to eat: “Estos son realmente buenos. Nuestra mama los hizo!” Their father followed up more slowly under the weight of his bundle but with a huge smile offering to sell us freshly baked tortillas. “No gracias, pero buena suerte,” we all shouted back as we offered the little boys some chips from the little clay dish on our table. They held out their hands and laughed before chasing their father barefooted down the dirt road.
Miguel arrived with our guacamole, and we got busy eating and chatting away. “Those kids sure were cute, and the tortillas smelled great. But I wonder how many he sells in a day and how his kids get to school,” I asked.
“A lot of these kids don’t go to school when they’re so young. It’s tough for the parents to get them there, so they walk together on the beach or in the streets and sell local, often handmade, wares.” Cap continued, “Our housekeeper’s daughter sits on my couch playing with her doll while her mother cleans. I asked her why she wasn’t in school, and she told me that school ends at noon and she is still working then; there is no one to pick her up.
Our usual chat now took a different direction and intensity: How do we give back to this community that has welcomed us so warmly? How do we help as “visitors” without seeming to have all the answers? Well, it all started with “chicken man!” (Stay tuned for more about "Chicken Man").
This was ten years ago, and we have grown from our initial class of 12 children to two classes of 44 children and a waiting list. Follow our blog to hear how we developed our community-based preschool.
-Martha Casazza (Co-Creator of Escuela Cooperativa
Help us create more opportunities!
Please help us continue our distinctive approach to early education. Our tuition-free school is only possible through individuals like you who believe that early access to education and creating a family-based community around school is significant. You can support one child for a year with a donation of $1800 USD. Please visit our website to make a donation or set up a recurring monthly donation for $150 USD a month. Escuela is a not-for-profit organization (EIN 81-5475752), and all donations are tax deductible.
La Escuela Cooperativa de Sayulita is a collaboration of local families and educators to create an innovative pre-school for 3-5 year old children.
La Escuela builds on the natural curiosity of our students to develop a love of learning. We follow a Montessori-style approach: to help children learn independently, retaining the curiosity, creativity and intelligence with which they were born.
Each classroom is considered the “children’s house.” The teachers prepare and maintain the physical, intellectual, and social/emotional environment within which the children will work and play. This all works together to create an environment where the kids, parents and staff feel connected and invested.
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Martha Casazza
400 North Main Street, 411
Glen Ellyn, Illinois 60137
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