Play Mountain Place Timeline

The First 50 Years...

1949 "Modern Playschool, " the first humanistic alternative preschool in California is established by Phyllis Fleishman.

1953 Fleishman begins training college student interns in the methods of humanistic education.

1959 Construction begins on house and yards for elementary school. 1960 Play Mountain Place school opens.

1960 A.S. Neill, founder of England's Summerhill school and a friend of Phyllis', publishes Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing, inspiring the founding of dozens of Play Mountain-type "free schools" across the United States. Play Mountain becomes the West Coast headquarters of the Summerhill Society, an alliance of these schools.

1962 Play Mountain helps establish the National Coalition for Alternative Community Schools (NCAS). 1963 Herb Snitzer publishes Summerhill: A Loving World, a photographic essay on how children learn and live at Summerhill; people in Southern California begin to refer to Play Mountain as "the Summerhill of the West.

1969 Junior High classes begin in the newly constructed Gillman Hall. 1969 Carl Rogers' Freedom to Learn is published and adopted as teacher training text at Play Mountain.

1970 Play Mountain publishes "Interviews with Phyllis," a booklet to guide parents in humanistic approaches to child rearing and schooling;

1971 Summerhill USA by Richard E. Bull, is published. A photographic essay on seven free schools, including Play Mountain Place, brings us to the attention of a national audience.

"Alternatives in Education," a weekly Los Angeles radio program, is produced for three years by Gladys Barnett Falken, assisted by Play Mountain staff.

1972 Jonathan Kozol publishes Free Schools, an influential guide to establishing alternative schools in inner cities. Public school districts begin to emulate the alternative school model on an experimental basis. Play Mountain assists the Los Angeles and Pasadena public schools set up their own alternatives schools. These schools are in operation to this day.

1973 Play Mountain staff begins teacher training for Los Angeles and Orange County school districts in methods of respectful, open classroom communication and conflict resolution.

1976 Play Mountain leads Conflict Resolution and Peaceful Parenting workshops for public agencies and private companies throughout Los Angeles.

1977 Phyllis Fleishman, Play Mountain's founder, dies.

1980 School staff leads mediation skills workshops for Southern California divorce attorneys.

1981 City of Los Angeles honors Play Mountain Place for its contributions to bettering the community's human relations.

1983 Mizuho Fukuda publishes School is Fun in Japan, providing Japanese readers with a first-hand account of Play Mountain's educational philosophy and method.

1987 Play Mountain children petition the City of Los Angeles to honor Rosa Parks annually with "Rosa Parks Day" every February 4. 1988 Play Mountain teachers travel through Japan conducting seminars and workshops on humanistic education and parenting.

1988 Institute for Humanistic Education and Parenting (The Insitute) is founded. 1990 Play Mountain Staff offers training in school self-government for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

1997 Play Mountain Place is named as one of LA's best schools in Los Angeles Magazine.

1999 Play Mountain Place celebrates it's 50th anniversary.