Peter E. Pflaum Ph.D. 225 Robinson Road New Smyrna Beach FL 32169- (904) 428-9609 Pflaump@wiredbrain.com http://www.wiredbrain.net Global Village Schools July 8, 1996 Mr. Trecey Bailey 1193 National Teacher of the Year Director, Office of Charter Schools Florida Education Center, 454C 325 W. Gaines St. Tallahassee, FL. 32399-0400 baileyt@mail.doe.state.fl.us baileyt@popmail.firn.edu cc: Franklin P. Scharge, scharge@aol.com The Scharge Consulting Group The Edward de Bono Programme for the Design & Development of Thinking, The University of Malta create@unimt.mt, create@jaguar.is.unimt.mt, Masters of Arts Creativity & Innovation http://www.is.unimt.mt/~create/ Cornesky & Associates Total Quality Management Consultants 489 Oakland Park Blvd. Port Orange, FL. 32127 tqm1bob@aol.com RE: Internet Charter School: small, smart and sincere. proposal is attached and on: on http://www.wiredbrain.net/synergy/NEW/charter.htm or charter .txt Dear Tracey: Fear not to go where no school has gone before. Let's break the mold. The time when information could be packaged, put in textbooks and into the hands in not the heads of teachers, has passed on and is long gone in many fields. The Synergy Schools of the future learn by doing, and the students often know more than the "teachers." When industry moved from factories to professional work the institutional framework had to change from the top down, father knows best mode, management does the thinking and workers do as they are told style to newer synergy forms. That is the experiment here. It works if we are small, smart and honest. I got your packet today and have lots of questions. Volusia county has not responded and I wonder if I have to ask them first. Maybe as part of the IB ( International Baccalaureate ). My resume is on site at http://www.wiredbrain.net/winhttpd/htdocs/pflaum.htm or click my name at the start of any page. The idea is very simple but the implementation looks overwhelming unless I have partners. Digital AltaVista, Netscape, others are possible as well as some foundations. But where to start ? What I envision are a network of small schools, classes, ( like the IB ) connected through a server which we have (www.trevista.com ) so they share and use the Internet resources. The core curriculum is learning by doing, a vocational program for the information age. It works if we are small and honest with ourselves and others. If we had $ 10,000 to $ 100,000 and a board of established names then we would be in much better shape. That's not much money given the stakes involved in the welfare of the republic, I'm serious. New forms of education and training are perhaps our most critical problem. More than any foreign danger is the loss of skills and knowledge of young Americans. The big, stupid hypocrites need some balance by the small, smart and sincere.. Take the tour of the technology on http://www.wiredbrain.net/synergy/tour.htm to get an idea of what I am thinking about. Real audio, Narrative Communications, VDO, ( see PBS ), plus Intranets via WinFrame for sharing of presentations, files, data, chat, and forming remote work groups. Is there any start up funds ? Can we get a board together. We have sites for local small ( less than 20 ) schools in mind but I think the effort should be in remote sites. Any teacher in the state ( or non-teacher for that matter, but the legislation is wonderfully unclear ) could set up a remote site. It works if we are competent, committed, hard working and sincere and honest. Small Smart and Sincerely Yours, Peter E. Pflaum, Ph. D. ( A.B. University of Chicago, Ed. M. HGSE, Harvard University, Ph. D. FSU. ) Copies of the SYNERGY JOURNAL sent by request: Pflaump@wiredbrain.com SYNERGY-NET on http://emporium.turnpike.net/~pflaump Peter E. Pflaum Ph.D. , Headmaster GLOBAL_VILLAGE_SCHOOLHOUSE 225 Robinson Road, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169-2176 (904) 428-9609 Pflaump@wiredbrain.com http://synergy.trevista.com/