Paul Karasik

Paul Karasik

Former director of the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School, Bob Moore, died on Friday. I was one of the group of hippie-generation parents who co-founded the school based on the idea that kids should have a say in how they are educated and what they learn. After a tumultuous first year in which the school tried to run itself without any director, an interim one, Ursula Ferro, was found until they hired Bob Moore.

At first glance, Bob was an odd choice. He came from a decidedly working-class background with a strong Boston accent, loved the Red Sox and wore a tie to work every day. But his no-nonsense atomic approach to administrating was exactly what the free-agent electron parents and teachers and founders needed to ground their spinning.

Here is a piece that I drew for a 20th Anniversary publication for the school to celebrate the six pillars that the school rested on (as chosen by the community during that first tumultuous year) and to celebrate Bob Moore’s peerless application of those pillars.