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FOIA Number: 2013-0661-F (2) FOIA MARKER This is not a textual record. This is used as an administrative marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff. Collection/Record Group: Clinton Presidential Records Subgroup/Office of Origin: National Service Series/Staff Member: Jim Kreidler Subseries: OA/ID Number: 1284 FolderID: Folder Title: [Proposal - Square Sails School - Freedom's Wind] [loose] Stack: Row: Section: Shelf: Position: S 66 2 5 1 National Service Correspondence Coding Sheet Coder: Date: :. Purpose -6 tetter: wants to Participate Summer of Service National Initiative General Commentary Pro Con Suggestions for Programs Requesting General Information Summer of Service General Program Offering their Services Volunteer Internships White House National Service (Jlm) Employment ::. We information: A. Age (Circle Cne): Under 17 17-25 Over 25 Unspecified 3. Education Level Circle Che): :. Student: Elementary Secondary College Graduate 2. Non Student (Level Completed): Secondary College Graduate III. Be-roure to Other Departments Commission (Personal, service organizations, or business proposals) Scheduling/Gloria Other IV. Certified Mail SQUARE SAILS SCHOOL P.O. Box 3216, Newport, RI 02840 (401) 848-0790 March 23, 1993 President William Clinton The White House - National Service Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear President Clinton: I have read the RFP issued by the Commission on National and Community Service concerning a Summer of Service. While I don't believe our efforts align well enough to warrant the submission of a proposal against the Commission's request I am interested in the Service Entrepreneurial Awards program as I believe we may well align there. Since 1989 members of our organization have contributed nearly $180,000 in private funds to create and establish our programs. We have had no federal, state, our community financial assistance in doing this. As I read about the Entrepreneurial Awards program I became excited. We are very close to bringing our Freedom's Wind program to fruition. We project that for $75,000 in seed money we can raise $9,600,000 in capital and fully fund our program for 25 years. This amount equates to an initial outlay of $150.00 per student--not a bad investment on the governments part. I have enclosed a copy of the Freedom's Wind proposal we are submitting to the Commission on National and Community Service for consideration under the Service Entrepreneurial Awards program. I would very much appreciate any assistance that you may be able to lend to this program. Sincerely, Robert Rohit Booth Book Operations Director P.S. Please note our new phone number: (401) 842-0647 A Division of Square S'Is Ltd., Member of American Sail Training Association. Square S'ls does not discriminate with regard to race, creed, color or sex. Proposal for Funding In Support Of Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development A. The Challenge: The nation's school systems are struggling with failure. Initially brought to national attention by Theodore R. Sizer's book Horace's Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School and his vision of "Essential Schools" this failure has been made frighteningly clear by the 1990 Commission on the Skills of the American Workplace report, America's Choice the 1992 Rhode , Island Skills Commission report, Rhode Island's Choice and the 1991 and 1992 reports issued by Secretary Martin's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) The 1990 America's Choice report stated that nationally twenty percent of all students entering high school are expected to drop out. Combine this with the Rhode Island Skills Commission report which concludes that 75% 1 of the students remaining will leave the educational system without the skills necessary to gain meaningful employment and the situation appears Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal epidemic. Remedial action has become a priority issue for the 90's. Terms like "restructure", "performance oriented", "workplace know-how" and "less means more" dominate the thought process as school systems nationwide strive to come to grips with the impact of the these issues. Pilot programs integrating academics with experiential education are popping up across the United States. Yet, for all this activity and promise there remain thousands who will elect to drop out of the current system for as America's Choice so aptly pointed out students have "little motivation to study hard because they see little or no relationship between education and work" (1). 2. Description of Square Sails School: Square Sails School was established as Square S'ls Ltd. (the "S'ls" being sailor slang for "sails") in 1988 for the purpose of drop-out recovery program development. Square Sails' vision is to employ sailing vessel operations as the basis for a "whole- school thematic model" curricula. Incorporated in the state of Rhode Island in November, 1989 Square S'ls received 501 (c) (3) status in August of 1990 and is currently comprised of some 15 concerned citizens operating in a volunteer forum. The organization maintains an active role in the community. 2 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal We offer free day sails aboard our 40' topsail ketch Land's End to any formal youth group. In 1992 the Sail Outreach program carried over 60 youth representing a variety of organizations including the Recreational Alternative to Drugs Program in Groton, Ct., Sail Newport's youth summer program, and numerous church groups. These fun and informative trips inspire kids to learn more about themselves and to strive beyond drugs and the streets. We are formally involved with the Marine educational program at the Newport area Vocational - Technical Center where several of our members helped establish and now serve on the subcommittee for Marine Occupations. Additionally, our Director of Operations serves as chairman of the Vocational - Technical Center Advisory Committee (a committee comprised of local business leaders who assist the center director in curricula matters) and sits as a member of the Rogers High School Restructuring Steering Committee. In 1990, 1991 and 1992 Square Sails School conducted public courses in marlin spike seamanship and dingy repair/construction. In 1993 we are expanding our public course effort to include coastal navigation and piloting, sailing and a "Spouse Survival" safety course featuring man-overboard recovery, flooding control, and emergency vessel operations for the boating spouse. (The public courses allow us to pilot a variety of instructional 3 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal techniques in preparation for a fully operational drop-out recovery program scheduled to commence in 1996.) All funding to date has come from our board and through gifts-in-kind. To date this has amounted to roughly $300,000. C. Ship as Thematic Model: For nearly six thousand years ships have been intimately linked with the furthering of knowledge. Since 2400 B.C. (the period of the first recorded ocean going sailing vessels) the skills required to pilot, navigate, sail, and provision have been desired traits. Throughout the mid to late 1400's the pursuit of these traits was closely linked to and precipitated scientific activity. New thoughts and new ideas were developed or applied: latitude and longitude, noon observations, and off-shore capabilities. Ships were the cutting edge of technology. So successful were they in this role that by the mid 1700's it was common place for "young gentlemen" to be placed aboard for purposes of education. Here they received lessons in mathematics, spherical trigonometry, and writing as well as apprentice training in ship handling and navigation. The practice of integrated ship/academic education continues today through merchant marine and naval academies and a handful of independent school programs which convincingly 2 demonstrate 4 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal this historic venue remains viable. To be sure, some educators have begun to rediscover the merit of ship-based educational programs 3 Organizations like The Sea Education Association (SEA) based in Woods Hole, Class Afloat in Canada, and Seamester in Mystic, Ct., offer accredited college programs. Other user schools such as the University Of Massachusetts 4 employ ships for special programs in sociology, oceanography and/or environmental studies. Unfortunately these programs are limited and are not generally available to college or secondary school students let alone drop-outs. Yet it is this population that we need so desperately to reach. Just exactly how do ships fit into the picture of educational salvation being painted by the restructuring effort? A sailing ship can be a magnificent tool in support of the five competency objectives of Resource Management, Interpersonal Skills, Information Acquisition/Processing, Systems Understanding, and Technology Application and their underlying "foundation skills" stressed by the SCANS reports as necessary elements of successful education. Take for example the routine chore of maintaining a position plot. Maintenance of a position plot requires the application of graphing skills, chart reading, latitude and longitude, the relationship of minutes of arc and distance traveled, and applied technology associated with reading and interpreting navigational 5 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal instruments such as Ground Positioning System (GPS), LORAN, and RADAR. If celestial navigation is involved than the higher mathematics of spherical trigonometry combined with a pinch of astronomy also apply. The student involved must exercise a great combination of foundation skills and competencies to achieve an accurate position. Mathematical skills are directly associated with current sailing and in resolving time, speed, distance problems where in set and drift, deviation and variation, speed through water, speed over ground, and mean depth all play parts. Similar examples may also by found in the subjects of physics, geography, writhing and basic communications skills. Radio transmissions, verbal commands, routine maintenance and ship qualification (learning each system aboard ship) all equate to a competency or foundation skill. Ships also support the performance oriented goals of achieving initial mastery. If, for example, six months or a year of the four-year educational program were undertaken aboard ship the minimum service requirement for a professional license as Able Seaman would be satisfied. This would allow students to undertake the professional licensing examination at age 18-- creating an occupational skill at graduation. There are also some interesting side benefits to shipboard education. Think of the places students could see and the 6 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal memories to be brought home. Think of the impact to international relations when a large portion of our population has actually experienced the people in question. Of course there are other sides to the issue and one must keep in mind that for all their significant benefits ships also carry some significant drawbacks. Ships are expensive to operate. Ships go off-shore (for the most part) and present risks to students not normal to the educational environment. Storms and heavy seas have been known to frighten students off (when they enter port) and homesickness coupled with seasickness can make life miserable. In today's tough economic times these drawbacks are not lost on those wielding the fiscal hammer. If ships are to be viable tools they must not only be safe but must present a reasonable cost-to-product ratio. Fiscal creativity can be applied to ship based education as the Freedom's Wind project discussed in the next section will demonstrate. Safety is a matter of education, procedure, and compliance with equipment regulation. It is a function of ensuring, as much as practical, that both student and vessel are prepared for any contingency. Storms, seasickness, and homesickness are of a different nature. These have no administrative or procedural cure 7 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal requiring, rather, personal confrontation on the part of each student. Challenges of this ilk form the ultimate learning situation. For in confronting and overcoming them students must dig deep within themselves and, in so doing, discover perhaps their own true identity. If one were to ignore for a moment all the other benefits of ship based education: the technical experience, the teamsmanship, the practical application of academic learning, this trait alone, this element of self-discovery, would still make the ship one of the earth's truly educational experiences--certainly one worth calling forth and remembering as we struggle together to restructure our educational system and our country. E. Freedom's Wind In the mid 1800s, with the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars over, both the United States and Great Britain turned their mighty Naval sights on the Caribbean and ships of the slave trade. Despite having been outlawed by both nations, preoccupation with the wars had left the door open and slaving remained a lucrative proposition. The post-war refocus of attention now threatened the trades long term anonymity. With livelihoods on the line, slavers commissioned ever swifter designs, capable of out running and out maneuvering the men-of-war. In answer both the United States and Great Britain 8 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal designed and constructed "experimental" ships consisting primarily of small brig, brigantine, and hermaphrodite rigs imposed on fair Baltimore Clipper style hull forms. These experimental ships evolved into fast sailors that were exceedingly successful in riding the winds of freedom. D.1 FREEDOM'S WIND--SHIP AND MISSION: Freedom's Wind is a 118-foot (LOD) 370-ton "experimental" ship. Designed by renown naval architect, Thomas Gillmer (Pride of Baltimore II, Lady Maryland) this brigantine is representative of and based upon several experimental anti-salver designs built in the 1830s and 1840s. Just as her predecessors plied the seas to combat the dehumanizing condition of slavery, so too will Freedom's Wind, as she combats the modern form of slavery called ignorance. Freedom's Wind's mission is two fold: to address the problem of marketable skills and education of drop-outs and to create a self funding basis for operations. D.2. Academic Model Freedom's Wind will carry a fully licensed crew and a professional educator along with ten student apprentice seamen. (Freedom's Wind will carry a total of 500 students through out her twenty five year life.) The students will work with the crew 9 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal and "coaching teacher" to operate the vessel: gaining instruction and experience associated with Coast Guard licensing requirements for Able Seaman. Utilizing the ship as a "thematic model" they will gain practical experience in academic skills through navigation, piloting, vessel loading and stability exercises, communications, maintenance and regular instructional meetings. Students will test for licensing as Able Seaman and Graduate Equivalency Diploma (GED) in month six of the program. D.3. FREEDOM'S WIND PARTNER-SHIP FUND: Freedom's Wind will be outfitted with ten owner's staterooms each to be sold on a time share basis. Proceeds from the sale will pay for the cost of construction and will establish a trust fund to create the revenues necessary to ensure long term operations. The funding goal for sale of the staterooms is $9.7 million. Of this money, $2.5 million will be earmarked for construction and outfitting of Freedom's Wind. The remaining $7.2 million will establish the trust. Interest on the fund will be used to underwrite the operation of the vessel and to provide scholarships to deserving youth. Youths will be selected based on input from various state and/or private agencies dealing with the target group. 10 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal D.4. FREEDOM'S WIND PARTNERSHIP: The Partner-ship is comprised of a general partner and 480 contributing partners. The General Partner - Square S'ls Ltd. a federally approved 501 (c) (3) educational organization. The Contributing Partners (hereafter referred to as "the partners" - 480 share owners purchasing shares ranging in cost from $15,000 to $25,000. (See purchasing and financing). Operating Budget and Financial Responsibility - The projected annual operating budget is $500,000 commencing in year one and escalating annually at a rate of 4% thereafter. This fund will cover all salaries, insurance, educational supplies, food, port costs and maintenance. ANNUAL CONTRIBUTION - Unlike the annual fees usually associated with a "time share" the annual contribution is directly linked to performance of the trust. Trust performance above 8% will result in no annual requirement. Performance below 8% will result in an annual assessment being levied ranging from a 11 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal minimum of $180 to a maximum of $680 (based on performance projections to a low of 4%). This amount to be set at an annual Partner-ship meeting and to be based on the average earnings of the trust for the 12 months preceding the meeting. FIDUCIARY MANAGEMENT - Trust funds will be placed with Shearson Lehman Brothers, Inc. D.5. THE GENERAL PARTNER'S RESPONSIBILITIES: Square S'ls Ltd. will provide staff and facilities to manage the Freedom's Wind program. Management staff will consist of the following personnel with responsibilities as indicated: OPERATIONS DIRECTOR - The Operations Director is responsible for budgetary performance, hiring, negotiating port facilities, maintenance planning, ship scheduling, and capital assets of the organization. SERVICES DIRECTOR - The Services Director is responsible for coordinating owner needs, broker services to "sell" open time share periods, management of the partner time swap program, menu planning/purchasing of food, and transportation services for partners to and from the vessel. 12 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR - The Educational Director is responsible for curricula development, hiring of professional educators, establishing educational materials budget, coordination with the Coast Guard Examination Office for testing of graduating students, GED examinations, and the partner safety program. SUPPORTING SERVICES - Square S'ls will maintain full insurance on the vessel and liability for injury or damage caused by vessel operations. (Note: insurance will be provided under a group plan offered by Lloyd's Of London to members of the American Sail Training Association through Alexander and Alexander of Annapolis, Maryland.) Square S'ls will also retain legal, accounting and administrative services consistent with the needs of the organization and will maintain an on-line computer bulletin board for owner communications concerning swaps and sale of unused time. Square S'ls will also publish a news letter, annual reports, and other documents as needed. D.6. THE PARTNER'S EXPECTATIONS: To own a partner stateroom aboard Freedom's Wind and to have said stateroom available as scheduled in the purchasing agreement 13 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal for a period of one week per year starting on Sunday afternoon and ending Saturday morning. To have transportation provided to and from the airport. To have three meals per day provided. To exercise voting rights pursuant to participation in major tall ships events. (For example the next major international event is being planned for the year 2000. Events will be held in Europe and the United States of America. A major event of this stature would ensure equal opportunity for all partners to participate but would require sending the vessel foreign. Such an issue and opportunity would be presented, along with a projected budget, for a general vote.) D.7. PURCHASING, VESSEL AVAILABILITY, AND FINANCING: Four hundred and eighty partner-ship shares are being offered in Freedom's Wind. Marketing is scheduled for 1993 with construction occurring in 1994 through 1996. Vessel availability is scheduled for July of 1996. The prospective partner will be provided with a partnership contract agreement which will stipulate the choice of stateroom and the selected week. This agreement when signed and returned to the general partner constitutes an agreement to purchase. When all 480 shares have been sold each partner will be notified and will have 30 days in which to deposit 50% of the agreed sales price with the general partner. The remaining money 14 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal will be due within one year. (Partners may elect a monthly installment or a one time lump sum at any time during that year. There is no interest charged on the remaining balance.) D.8. CONSTRUCTION/INVESTMENT OF INITIAL DEPOSITS: Construction costs are estimated currently at approximately $2.5 million. This amount will be placed into an operating account in Bank Of Newport, Newport, Rhode Island and construction will begin immediately thereafter. (This equates to approximately $5300 per partner). The remainder of the deposit monies will initiate the operating trust. LIMITATION OF RISK - At any given point in the construction process the partners will be at risk for only those funds actually obligated to the construction ($5,300). Should, at any point a partner wish to sell out of the Partner-ship, that partner may elect to place his/her share privately or may elect to have the general partner broker the share. Freedom's Wind will be constructed by master ship wright Peter Beaudreux of Baltimore builder of Pride of Baltimore II and Lady Maryland. The vessel will be constructed in Baltimore and transported to Newport for rigging and final outfitting. 15 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal D.9. AREAS OF OPERATION: Freedom's Wind will operate for 11 months each year. She will be based in Newport, Rhode Island during the summer months, Charleston, South Carolina during the fall, and a Caribbean port during the winter. Her cruising grounds will vary each year to ensure maximum enjoyment for the partners. E. Grant Requirements: Marketing of Freedom's Wind will require an estimated initial outlay of $150 per student ($75,000) for the purchase of advertising. (The design of promotional material and the Freedom's Wind logo has been provided by Bashara and Associates of Baltimore, MD on a pro-bono basis. Initial vessel design was paid for by Square Sails School's board.) Grant funds are being sought and will be used solely for the physical marketing effort directly associated with raising the $9,600,000 in construction/operational trust funds. Advertising will be carried initially in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Woodenboat magazine, and regional radio spots. 16 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal Notes 1 The Rhode Island Skills Commission Report, Rhode Island's Choice: High Skills or Low Wages - An Invitation to Act, May 1992 provided the following statistics: Of the approximately 10,000 young Rhode Islanders who will receive a high school diploma in June (1992) more than 6,400 will go directly into the work force with no further education. Over 1,000 others will enter college, but not complete a degree program 75 percent of our citizens do not receive four year college degrees. Notes 2 William Rosengren and Michael Bassis in their book The Social Organization of Nautical Education Lexington, Ma. Heath 1976, convincingly demonstrate this point in their discussions on "transferability" of training. Here they show that American academies learned two decades ago that general academic studies combined with specific experience not only work but are essential. These schools have in fact voluntarily altered their curricula to ensure students receive not only the highly specialized vocational/technical skills specific to their field but a fully accredited four year degree comparable with most scientific or technical degrees. 17 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal 3 The American Sail Training Association lists twenty-five full time college or secondary school training ship programs nationally in their 1987 directory. The American Sail Training Association maybe contacted at P.O. Box 1459, Newport Rhode Island, 02840. 4 In 1991 the University of Massachusetts revisited a portion of slavery's "Middle Passage" aboard the schooner Harvey Gamage. 18 Freedom's Wind Educational Model Development Funding Proposal Works Cited National Center On Education And The Economy. America's Choice: High Skills or Low Wages. Commission on the Skills of America's Workforce. June 1990 Rhodes Island's Skills Commission. Rhode Island's Choice: High Skills or Low Wages an Invitation To Act. May 1992 United States Dept. of Labor. Learning a Living: A Blueprint for High Performance - A SCANS Report For America 2000. The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills. April 1992 United States Dept. of Labor. What Work Requires of Schools - A SCANS Report For America 2000. The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills. June 1991 19 Clinton Presidential Records Digital Records Marker This is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff. This marker identifies the place of a publication. Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room. SQUARE SLS NEWS Volume 1 Issue 3 November 1992 Programs cont. PROGRAMS highly successful, program that reached so many youths. SQUARE S'LS LOGS Special thanks are due to: Mr. Jack Palin - Volunteer, BEST YEAR TO DATE monetary contributions, labor, and event coordinator. T he 1992 sailing season has seen Captain Lew Howland - Square S'Is efforts blossom. With Volunteer, monetary the acquisition this year of our contributions, vessel "new" 1935 40' Sam Crocker ketch, maintenance, volunteer, and LAND'S END, and the commencement program organizer. of on water programs we were able to realize our dream of getting kids on the Lands End Donors to the Marcia Booth Memorial water. Fund: Over sixty youths, representing About Square S'Is Ltd. Dick Longman, George organizations from throughout Rhode Pitzer, Priscilla Peckham, Island, were provided the experience of Square S'Is (Sails) Ltd. is Cindy Williams, Rick sail. In fact so many youths went "to the parent organization Scolaro, Glenn Sugawara, bay" on LANDS'S END this summer of Square Sails School, Paul and Mary Reardon, Lew that "Hey, Captain Lew", has become a a Federally approved Howland, Katherine commonly heard cry on the streets of non-profit educational Peckham, Ann Gardella, Newport. organization dedicated Barbara Rafferty, John and In addition to our successful Sail to the development of Mary Canole, Kelly Folger, Outreach program two 18 year olds adventure based Thomas Geoff, Bill and Jane outreach education Perkins, Nancy Potter, Nancy completed apprentice training. Rob and Sullivan, The employees of Aaron were recommended for our programs to disadvantaged/at-risk SEACORP Newport, Adele summer program by the Aquidneck Beshara, Deborah Ganem, Island Adult Learning Center and came youth, drop out Raymond and Rochelle aboard in May as paid apprentices. students and Vocational Folley, Tia and Ken They participated in the overhaul of Education students. Scigulinsky, Eileen Allen, LAND'S END in Brooklin, Maine and Square Sails School and the many classmates of sailed as crew during our July transit to operates on the sailing Bill Ebeling. Newport, Rhode Island. At last word vessel Land's End. both had found full time positions Square S'Is does not aboard charter sailing vessels in the descriminate with BOLD NEW SAIL area. respect to race, creed, TRAINING PROGRAM The success of the 1992 season is owed color, sex, or national to a great many people. Our volunteers, origin. our members, and those who S quare Sails School has introduced a bold new program contributed to our late co-founder, which is creating a lot of Marcia Booth's memorial fund. Because excitement in the world of Sail of these people we were able to Training. Beginning in February of overcome the failure of our grant this year The FREEDOM'S WIND proposals and fund the limited, yet DESIGN N° 820 SAIL PLAN. - PROFILE 117'9" FREEDOM'S WIND" PRELIMINARY SCALF: 1/0"- \ FT. ANNADOLIS, MD. 7/23/92 DRAWN - Inca FRANZEN - - OK 7/24/02 APPROVED DO - BM - If 0 in ( O LONDER/INNE 00 MEETING DE D O O € improver SEPTION 1 71 O 12 988 0 1 - 1 FOS CDEW OWNERS F o N LOWER 26CK 0 - D 3 DESIGN No 020 ACCOMMODATIONS PLAN FREEDOM'S WIND' PRE-LIMINARY SCALL: >/4". FT. ANNADOLIS. MD 0/27/92 i Drom Famizers 0 Geller 0 SQUARE SAILS SCHOOL PO Box 3216 Newport RI 02840 058 usa usa 29 29 President William Clinton The White House - National Service Washington, D.C. 20500 JUSE MAIL SECURITY 1993 by: 4