North Side Academy Is Too Cool For School
(CBS) -- When you think of a school, certain things probably come to mind.
A new Roscoe Village private school is trying to change all that.
Sitting on comfy couches reading and working with computers -- not at desks but with textbooks.
And having a working lunch -- not in a cafeteria.
This is not your typical school.
Ten-year-old Dexter Phillip is one of 15 students attending the inaugural school year at Greenfields Academy.
"The kids here have a lot of freedoms, but they have lots of responsibilities -- to each other to the community, to themselves," Rob Huge says.
Responsibilities like cleaning. The students –- not adults -- sweep and clean toilets.
And there aren't any deans or principals. Students handle discipline, too. Offenders can find themselves going to "trial."
If it sounds like they took the traditional public school of the past 100 years and blew it up, that's the idea. Other twists:
--Everyone gets an A. Some sooner than others, but everyone eventually masters the subject.
--Classrooms are referred to as studios.
"The idea behind Greenfields is that every child starts with a green field," Huge says. "Who do you want to be? What are your skills and passions and strengths? How do you want to use that to impact the world?"
Tuition at Greenfield Academy is just under $12,000 a year. The founder is looking to more than double enrollment next year in a bigger building and hopes to have multiple locations down the road.
