Constellation Similarity Assertions

Allan Schreiber, a teacher at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, was part of an initiative in the 1970s to develop an alternative high school, known as Earthworks. The impetus for an alternative educational program partly stemmed from a period of social unrest during the late 1960s and early 1970s at Pioneer. Racial tensions as well as perceived threats to freedoms of expression and speech incited student protests and rioting. Perceiving a need for change, Ray Silverman, a teacher at Pioneer, proposed an alternative education program that would take place in the portable classrooms behind the high school, emphasizing student-led curriculum development and governance. At the time, Silverman's proposal was dismissed.

The alternative high school concept took shape upon the arrival of new school superintendent, Bruce McPherson, who was a strong supporter of alternative education. In 1971, about sixty faculty and students at Pioneer proposed the idea of an alternative school, known as Pioneer Two. The school board approved and Pioneer Two began in October 1971 with an enrollment of 108 students. Schreiber, then a teacher at Pioneer, did not join the faculty of Pioneer Two until 1972, frustrated from the lack of interest that faculty at Pioneer had in making changes. Schreiber was immediately asked to head Pioneer Two.

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