The modern school is the microschool

Ms. Jaime Manfra is the principal and founder of SLS Micro-school, a registered private school in the state of Florida. She graduated from the Blue Heron Academy of Healing Arts and Sciences (BHA) in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2002, where she completed a 4-year program in Naturopathic Medicine. Her ability to quickly master topics and then implement them in classroom instruction, lead to an explosive career in education. She taught naturopathic education from 2002-2004 before relocating to Florida, where she was given the opportunity to work remotely and spearheaded a successful eLearning department of BHA. Her leadership in online curriculum development allowed her to diversify her skills from adult classroom education to the use of technology in education.
This week’s topic is, "the modern school is the microschool."
In 2008 Jaime’s focus began to shift from teaching adults to the education of children. Her long-held volunteer services include serving as a Board Director for FloridaCharacter.org, a state leader character development education, and the animation of Jr. Youth Groups. Her dedication to service and rapport with community children lead to the organic development of a Baha’i Inspired school, based on the ideology of Service-Learning. As the school gained momentum, it needed to remain affordable for the families. Jaime and her team managed to navigate the complexity of state regulations for scholarship funding. This long process forced Jaime and her team to transform themselves from grassroots pioneers to savvy advocates of School Choice Programs, legislature, and freedom in education.

From 6 students in 2012 to 50 students and a school campus, SLS is a thriving example of modern education, built through sheer determination. Jaime and school staff continue to refine every aspect of the “micro-school”; a school that is intentionally limited in size, in order to provide quality education, human connections, and long term retention of its students.

The school’s organic development from the grassroots level forced Jaime to become a Renaissance Woman in every aspect of school development and operation. She and her team’s experiences provide a valuable resource in the replication of modern schools, which are microschools.