Led by longtime local teacher Jeremy Harder, new nonprofit school prioritizes flexibility, encourages ‘worldly passions’
By Jack Reaney SENIOR EDITOR
When Jeremy Harder officially retired from his 25-year teaching career at the Big Sky School District, the last thing he expected was to jump right back into education. But in July, he received a call from local parents Jamie and Patrick Sullivan to gauge his interest in a head of school role with their new K-12 school, and for Harder, the opportunity was too intriguing to pass up.
“It’s a lifelong dream to have my own school. I think any educator would say that,” Harder told EBS.
The nonprofit Big Sky Community School will accept students starting this September, using a hybrid model of online learning through external providers combined with in-person experiential learning and an emphasis on community interaction.
The Sullivans signed on July 25 to purchase commercial space in the Franklin Building recently constructed in Town Center, and they are finalizing designs for a facility to support flexible learning. Construction is expected to finish in January. In the meantime, students will learn in a smaller office space next door.
The founders hope the school space can be a useful community asset and will offer it to nonprofits and community members outside of school hours.
To start, the staff will be Harder plus Julie Edwards, former education director with the Arts Council of Big Sky, with a third staff member expected in January.
“I feel like we’ve won the lottery with Jeremy and Julie’s involvement,” said Patrick Sullivan.
Jamie added, “100%. A true lottery ticket… Jeremy and Julie are going to really run with it, because they have the vision to bring it to what it needs to be.”
Vision of flexibility
The community school’s daily schedule is designed to enable mentorships, apprenticeships, volunteer commitments, athletics, entrepreneurship and any opportunities that students feel drawn to pursue.
“Use the flexible schedule to follow your worldly passion,” Harder said, echoing Jamie’s sentiment: she believes Big Sky residents, including their kids, are ambitious with a particular desire to be outdoors. Enabling students to spend more time exploring their passions inspired the Sullivans to enter the education world—an endeavor that feels to them like a courageous leap, hand-in-hand with the families who will enroll their kids in year one.
“I think [flexibility is] the way of the future to educate kids, and I think it really resonates in mountain towns because we want to get our work done and still have time for whatever we’re passionate about,” Jamie said. “And hopefully we’re a space that can help kids figure out what they’re passionate about.”
Students will spend mornings, Monday through Thursday, completing online classes through one of two providers: AEON Prep and Pacific Preparatory School. Then, the community school will host communal lunch, followed by project-based flexible learning to reinforce online lessons with real-life application, the founders explained.
During afternoons, the school will encourage students to pursue a balance of “worldly passions” and “essential life skills” including the staff’s “magic web” of expertise in art, Spanish, outdoors, community and wellness, Harder explained. Personal pursuits may require students to wrap up coursework at home in the evening. Fridays will resemble the flexible schedule of weekday afternoons.
“The structure of the day enables kids to build a very strong educational foundation, while also pursuing their passions… It’s inherently open-ended,” Patrick said.
If students need to travel away from Big Sky for a period of time, they will be able to continue their classes online. The community school is classified as “homeschool” by the Montana Office of Public Instruction.
Julie Edwards said her goal is for students to feel comfortable learning in a supportive community, with lessons tailored to their level and interests.
“It’s a comfortable place where they can come in and learn,” Edwards said.
Invitation, not competition
Harder and the Sullivans believe that Discovery Academy and the Big Sky School District already offer strong learning environments, and the community school is merely an alternative—not necessarily better, just different.
Harder hopes the announcement of the new school feels like “an invitation” to come learn and explore the school’s offerings, even for local businesses and nonprofits that might engage with students or use the facility. The school aims to host an open house to share its mission with the community.
The concept originated from the Sullivans’ personal experience.
Jamie and Patrick’s daughter, Catherine, spent the past two school years homeschooling through AEON Prep, and they saw how it supported her learning style and her passion for ski racing.
As the Sullivans talked with other families about the balance and success they saw in Catherine’s learning, they saw interest in bringing similar students together under one roof.
“I never set out to start a school, this just naturally evolved,” Patrick said.
Aside from the learning structure, the Sullivans’ primary vision is financial accessibility.
“Our vision is to raise enough financial aid so that any kid in Big Sky who wants to go to the Big Sky Community School, can go to the Big Sky Community School,” Patrick said, adding he’s continuing to build fundraising to support interested families. More than half of the founding class will receive financial aid.
More than a dozen kids are interested in the first fall semester. Eventually, the school will have a capacity of 45 students.
With less than a month before classes begin, the founders said nothing is being rushed—nothing is fully figured out, either, as they continue to explore opportunities.
“The team that we’ve assembled has really been able to meet many of our intentions and our goals,” Patrick said.
Anyone familiar with the eccentricity of Jeremy Harder will not be surprised to see the school take on a bit of his personal flair. He looks forward to sharing daily nuggets of wisdom with students, helping teach them to learn by doing, to find the truest form of themselves, to abandon self-doubt and embrace self-care, and to believe in the purpose of everything they do.
His core vision for students is to be fearless: “Taking that first step gets you halfway there,” he said. Big Sky Community School has taken that first step, and will spend its opening months in the exciting process of learning what works, and where to improve.
“It’s gonna be messy. It’s gonna be really messy and loud, energy-wise, as far as things coming together,” Harder said.
He views his return to education as an opportunity to take all he learned in 25 years with BSSD and give it back in a purposeful and intentional way, and from a new angle.
“I know the timing looks weird to some people, probably even looked weird to me,” he said. After retiring from BSSD in June, Harder committed to finishing his counseling degree at Montana State University—he has two semesters left, and the community school is encouraging him to finish up this year.
Before this opportunity, Harder picked up a couple shifts at Roxy’s Market, gave an occasional Yellowstone National Park tour for a friend’s new business, but overall, he felt himself falling apart for lack of clear purpose.
Encouraged by his parents, he wrote a mantra: “Our engagement in the process is what allows the result. The ‘work’ reveals itself as you go.”
Three days later, he took the Sullivans’ call and dove into a surprising challenge, and now looks forward to welcoming students to learn with him.
