Toledo Free School is opening their doors to the Toledo community to learn and teach classes for free.

“The idea is to provide free education in a decentralized and democratic way,” said Lance Crandall, teacher and organizer of Toledo Free School.

Crandall, an education major at Owens Community College, said the idea of Toledo Free School is to actually provide students with skills, and not just abstract notions.

Grace Powers, a teacher and organizer, said other cities across the country have similar organizations, and one common denominator is they are community-based. “I think one really neat thing about free schools is that it pulls all of the resources in that community. In Toledo, we have so many individuals with so much knowledge and skillsets, it’s unbelievable,” she said.

Take a class, teach a class

A wide range of topics is offered through classes at the Toledo Free School. “Anyone can teach a class, and anyone can take a class,” Crandall said.

On the organization’s website, there is a form that potential teachers must fill out. According to both Crandall and

Powers, if a potential teacher would like to teach children, precautions are taken and background checks are done.

Sean Nestor has been a teacher at Owens Community College and the University of Toledo for 10 years, and will be teaching a class titled Exposing Truth with Public Data, which will show how to obtain and analyze public information.

“This experience promises to be different,” Nestor said. “I have unprecedented freedom to create a curriculum that highlights my personal skill set while responding directly to the needs of everyday people.”

Christi Meredith will be teaching a Beginner Stained Glass class. “I decided to teach because there are so many people out there like me that want to learn these specialized skills but don’t have access to a classroom setting, or can’t afford to pay for private lessons,” Meredith said.

Kerri DeShetlerer will be teaching the Dendrology class—the study of trees—at the end of February. “I wanted to share my love for the forest and Dendrology with my fellow Toledo residents,” she said.

According to DeShetler, her students can look forward to a short classroom session followed by a hike in Ottawa Park, where they will go over winter identification of common trees in the Toledo area.

Meredith said her students will start out making a 6-8” suncatcher, and in the process, learn how to cut, grind, foil and solder the glass together.

No cost, free concept

The main goal of Toledo Free School is keeping everything free. “School debt is out of control especially for adults and even the organization and structure of traditional schools feels top-down and authoritarian,” Crandall said, “and I think opening it up to a horizontal or democratically organized way will give students as much power as other teachers.”

Toledo Free School will have their major public launch on Saturday, March 21 at the Gerber House, the white building at 2413 Collingwood Blvd. in front of the Collingwood Arts Center.

“Teachers who will later be teaching a class will basically be offering that topic as a one-time introductory thing [at this event],” Crandall said.

Registration is recommended but not necessary to join the event.

For more information about Toledo Free School, or to sign up to teach or take a class, go to toledofreeschool.org.