History of The Center School

The Center School was founded in 1981, under the umbrella non-profit organization, the Northeast Foundation for Children (NEFC).  Sharing a desire to create a new educational model, the founding members—including Ruth Charney, Marlynn Clayton, Jay Lord, and Chip Wood—all pooled their time, resources, and energy to create the first Center School class. Their guiding philosophical belief was that social, emotional, and cognitive development at different ages of childhood should be the key factor in deciding what and how to teach each age group. Inside the Conway Street building, all classes were mixed-aged groupings with the now characteristic Center School names: Pre-Primes, Primes, Middles, and Uppers.

As the school and staff developed, so did the education model. Soon, the demand for information about this education philosophy grew as well. The staff began developing and offering workshops on literature, block-building, room design, and classroom management. Several teachers published books on these topics and the Center School’s work began to gain a wider audience.  In fact, the world-renowned “Responsive Classroom” approach started at the Center School. To help share this educational philosophy with the wider world, a publishing division was established.  The first book to be published was A Notebook for Teachers by Marlynn Clayton, followed by Ruth Charney’s book, Teaching Children to Care, and Ellen Doris’ book Doing What Scientists Do. All met with great acclaim.

By 1989, the three different types of work—consulting, publishing, and classroom teaching—began to crystallize into three distinct divisions. Over the next 10 years, the foundation grew, purchasing the Abercrombie School in Greenfield and the ‘Yellow House’ (an adjacent building on the property), and eventually building The Marion Bliss Finer building on campus to house classrooms and an all-purpose room for assemblies and school functions. It was fertile ground for the 8th-grade plays, AP’s, and integrated theme projects. The huge All School room was just what we needed: safe enough to light a peace candle, big enough to paint an MLK mural, and international ceiling tiles. We had acres and acres of woods to explore, Mountain Day, the big hill, playing fields, soccer practice, local field trips, and enough space for huge Capture the Flag games. Our once-barren campus was transformed by Grounds Days, a parent initiative that brings the community together in fall and spring for campus beautification. Our well-honed developmental tradition of learning about home, classroom, school, and community expanded. Picture us in Greenfield and Northampton marching for climate justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, and racial justice. Picture children of every age learning that their actions matter, and that they are agents of innovation, involvement, and change.

In 2001, The Northeast Foundation for Children and the Center School separated into two independent entities. The Center School was incorporated as a non-profit in January of 2002 under Dr. Laura Baker’s Executive Directorship and it purchased the school buildings (Brick Building, Finer Building, and Yellow House) from NEFC.  In addition to her work to make the Center School independent, she also expanded our focus on social justice, which gained momentum to become a major tenet of the organization.  After ten years of inspiring and expanding our school, Laura Baker moved on to her next professional endeavor, becoming professor of education at Westfield State University.

In 2009, Charlie Spencer became Head of School and the innovations continued. Our Preschool was created, piloted, and expanded. In 2015, we worked toward, and received, our accreditation from the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE).  In 2019, the Forest K/1 was born. In March 2020, during a world-wide emergency, the entire staff transformed Center School into an exciting outdoor and hybrid program. Meanwhile, work on our new campus moved along without missing a beat! Growth and change are the things you can always count on at The Center School.

In fall 2021, we brought our cherished memories, and the values they represent, to our new green campus. They’re currently growing, thriving, and continuing to evolve amidst cleaner soil and air, opportunities for in-depth, project-based learning indoors and out, stewardship, sports and play, exploration of the vast conservation lands that border us, community service, a thriving summer camp featuring vibrant, week-long sessions, and other opportunities yet to be discovered. 

In fall 2024, after fifteen years as Head of School, Charlie Spencer ended her tenure. Amanda Richard (former Assistant to the Head) and Lauren Obregon (former Director of Admissions and Outreach) were appointed Interim Co-Heads of School. Looking ahead, a special task force created by the Board will explore the possibility of innovative, long-term leadership models and launch a search for a permanent and lasting Head of School solution.

Today, we are proud to report that many of our alumni return to the Center School to visit and reminisce, some have even returned to teach here, and others, to send their children here.  Some have done all three. Our extended community continues to move forward as we’ve always done: with hope, unity, courage, and a desire to make the world a more just and equitable place for all.