It’s tough in high school to find an identity or a peer group. In a bigger environment than middle school, many students may feel lost. However, students in search of a camaraderie or alternative style of learning can find it on the fourth floor of the high school where there is a democratic, inclusive and welcoming community called School Within a School (SWS).

SWS is a democratic program within Brookline High School where SWS students build supportive relationships with teachers and peers. SWS has a tightly knit community that encourages communication, values respect, embraces diversity and promotes social inclusion. It practices direct democracy in its weekly mandatory Town Meeting, where each member has a direct vote and voice in the decision-making of the class curriculum or events.

Dan Bresman, the SWS Program Coordinator, believes that SWS is a good alternative for some folks because it has a more democratic and closely knit environment than what the mainstream curriculum offers.

“Some people join because of our democratic practices where they get to vote on rules and policies, and that appeals to them. Some people join because they’ve got some social and emotional challenges. And being in a program like this is really well suited for them,” Bresman said. “It’s a lot smaller than the main school. And so just being in a smaller community is meaningful for them.”

Bresman said one of the advantages of SWS was that it provides more opportunities for students to interact with the teachers and develop relationships with them outside of the conventional classroom setting.

“Your teachers are in your advisory as advisors, those teachers are in the weekly Town Meetings where you might vote on stuff and those teachers are advising a committee or a club that you’re doing,” Bresman said. “When you do have a class with [these teachers], you already have a relationship established.”

In SWS, students are given multiple options of how their English curriculum will be structured and can vote on what books to read or projects to do. Instead of tests, SWS students have projects or reading papers to complete, in which they can vote how many points each will be worth. Junior Tina Li said she appreciates the SWS structure because she can express her voice more often, and the caring community provides a space where she can be vulnerable and express this voice.

“After we finish a paper, we will go around and everyone reads theirs. At first, it can be super intimidating, but it’s really special because it builds an emotional connection through our work and everyone is vulnerable in their papers,” Li said.

SWS English teacher Keira Flynn-Carson thinks that there are a lot of misconceptions about how SWS is an easier academic program. However, Flynn-Carson knows that it’s a much more profound and diverse program.

“There’s really no one definition of SWS,” Flynn-Carson said. “If people think they know what it is, they’re probably taking some mental shortcuts and don’t really understand how many moving parts and how much complexity and diversity is here.”