Jay and Toni Garland: Bio

Toni and Jay Garland have been teaching side by side for forty years.

Jay and Toni both grew up in Mount Vernon, New York and attended the Mount Vernon public schools from kindergarten through twelfth grade, allowing them to meet in the seventh grade where they affectionately traded blows and comments.

They married in 1957 while in college. Toni transferred from Michigan State University to Boston University, close to Harvard College where Jay was a student. Jay was mysteriously inspired to write a prospectus for an innovative school before they both graduated in 1960, Toni with a BA in education and Jay with a BA in social relations (chiefly psychology and anthropology).

For two years they taught for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in Barrow, Alaska, a large Inuit (Eskimo) village above the Arctic Circle, and for another two years in Pilot Station, a small, remote Eskimo Village set on the Yukon River. It was in these villages that they learned a crucial lesson. All aspects of education thrive in a real community where people honor each other.

In the year between their Alaskan forays Jay’s did graduate level work was in Special Education at Keene State College, while Toni taught special education classes at the college.

In 1967, Jay and Toni, with their two small children, moved from Alaska to Peterborough, New Hampshire and established a small, independent day school, The Well School, where they were full-time teachers and administrators, sharing their home with the school for the next thirty-four years.

The Well flourished as a school providing students with advanced academics. When Well School graduates applied to boarding schools and colleges (The Well had a high school from 1970-1972) they were accepted at an exceptional rate. Over 85% of all applications to these schools were accepted!

The Well, however, by design devoted two thirds of its school hours to non-academic pursuits: open communications between students, parents, and teachers, the study of a wide variety of artistic forms and the practice of consciousness-raising activities --- drawing, painting, calligraphy, batik, stained glass, block printing, weaving, model building, drama, music, dance, creative writing, singing, as well as yoga, guided and unguided meditation, tai chi, the study of symbols, of myths, of allegories, of parables, of poetry, and of dreams --- all universal languages for expressing the lively world of imagination.

Well activities also fostered an extensive schedule of public performances and presentations. Intensive academic study that reflected a classical curriculum rounded The Well School curriculum and rigorously prepared students for whatever their next school would be.

Leaving the school under the direction of their son, Akhil Garland and his wife Lee, Toni and Jay retired from The Well in 2002 to Cliff, New Mexico to reflect and write a series of six books about their experiences of school and family. The Challenge of Authentic Education Book 1: Joyful Learning in a School Community was published in March of 2004. The second book is yet to be published.

In September of 2007 Jay & Toni founded Terra Nova Project, a project-based holistic high school on the campus of The Well School in Peterborough, New Hampshire. In addition to rigorous academic study preparing students for college, Terra Nova focused on sustainable living and the health of planet Earth. Students are introduced to designing and building their own structures, turning trees into finished lumber, solar and wind energy sources, practicing organic gardening, raising animals, cooking meals together, and maintaining the campus.