I teach in a public charter school in Utah. My school’s mission is to
-pioneer progressive education in a democratic environment;
-promote high achievement and life-long learning for all students;
-celebrate diversity;
-prepare young adults who are empathetic, creative, and critical thinkers with the courage and ability to act as individuals for the common good;
and
-catalyze educational reform.
Our school is part of a network of 15 First Amendment Schools across the nation. We teach our students all about the First Amendment and provide opportunities for them to practice their rights and responsibilities. The entire school community makes many decisions together in a democratic environment. The result is that our students go away with a clear understanding of the rights and responsibilties that come with the First Amendment.
An example of one thing we do democratically centers around the issue of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Utah law mandates the recitation once per week in secondary schools and daily in elementary schools. Here is how our school structures this activity:
Each Thursday we have a school community “town meeting” were students and staff come together in one room to voice their announcements, opinions, and concerns. Prior to that time slot on that day, students who would like to recite the Pledge of Allegiance check in with their teachers for attendance and then report to the room where the pledge will take place. Those who do not wish to recite the pledge report to the Town Meeting. Every school community member respects the wishes and desires of those who wish to engage in the recitation and those who do not.
You can read more about the school the first amendment projects at:
(click images)
City Academy 
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 
City Academy in the news
This comment comes from Molly McCloskey of the ASCD (Association of Supervision and Curriculm Development), the organization that is the foundation of the First Amendment Schools Project. She visited our school a couple of weeks ago and included this in her weekly newsletter:
City Academy – Translate Civic Education into Community Engagement
“To engage in conflict, one does not bring a knife that cuts – but a needle that sews.” Bahumbu proverb of Zambia, East Africa hanging on a bulletin board in Michelle Biery’s classroom
At the beginning of this school year, City Academy faced a dramatic and divisive challenge to its continued existence when some in the neighborhood expressed extreme concern with student behaviors typical of nearly every secondary school: gathering at the bus stop, skateboarding down the street, smoking in the parking lot long after school hours. They called Sonia Woodbury, the executive director, and her staff and students to an evening meeting to berate them and demand immediate change. Some in the area had even videotaped young people (allegedly CA students) engaging in these “behaviors which reduce our property value”. The knife that cuts had been drawn.
However, the students and staff of CA demonstrated their understanding of our fourth guiding principle by working together to sew. Caitlin (another participant in the summer academy) told me that the student body was so concerned about the neighborhood issues that they not only worked on responses at school, but literally were discussing it at each others’ homes on the weekends!
Along with a few policy changes suggested by the students themselves, a decision was made to engage the neighborhood in a round table dinner meeting called “City Academy, the Community, and the Constitution”. For this evening two weeks ago, the nutrition class prepared a variety of soups and bread for the 60 or so parents, students, and community members who attended; a student opened the evening with a song accompanied by her own acoustic guitar; and the drama class performed a series of vignettes about the conflict between the neighborhood and the school using characters and dialogue to present various perspectives. John Kesler, CA’s terrific board chair, led the group through small table based discussions about the issues raised in the vignettes and the various perspectives explored. He then brought us back together to share ideas about moving forward raised at each table.
Perhaps the greatest moment of the evening came when Helen Parker, an elderly neighbor who had raised her voice against the school in September, took the microphone from John to say, “You students have taught us a lesson in citizenship. Your response has shown great respect and I thank you for the lesson.” Truly a stunning turn around! (A side bar to the story is that Ms. Parker had called Sonia some days earlier because she had a question about First Amendment Schools. She said, “I’m looking at my First Amendment and I want to know what your school wants to change about it!” Needless to say, Sonia cleared up her misunderstanding and following the evening discussion Ms. Parker approached me to “make sure we keep up the good work with these young people.”) If only all our neighbors took out their copies of the First Amendment with such resolve! Perhaps then, we would all learn to sew.