# Pilot — Shopfront Schools (CongoVersity's first *real* verified roots)

> **Status: SEED. Real encounter, thin detail, nothing verified.** This captures a real-world
> meeting AJ had (2026-07-03) so it isn't lost, and designs the pilot around it — **honestly**.
> Everything under "What we actually know" is exactly what AJ reported and no more. Everything under
> "What we don't know yet" is a real gap, not a placeholder to quietly fill with invention.
> ([Klaus charter](../klaus/CHARTER.md), rule 2: invent nothing.)

## Why this matters
The whole web of trust ([CONGOVERSITY_TRUST.md](CONGOVERSITY_TRUST.md)) is bottlenecked on **real
verified roots** — the "◻ real issuer verification" gap. And the education arm
([CONGOVERSITY.md](CONGOVERSITY.md)) is bottlenecked on **a physical, neurodiversity-affirming
presence** it doesn't have. These teachers sit exactly on both bottlenecks at once:

- **Government teachers** → state-registered → **source-verifiable credentials** → the *only* honest
  door into the trust graph (§1 of the trust spec). Not self-asserted PDFs. Real roots.
- **Free schools for neurodivergent kids** → already doing, in the physical world, the
  neurodiversity-affirming schooling CongoVersity only has on paper. The ground truth the software
  half lacks.
- **In town shops** → grassroots, low-overhead, un-enclosed. The estate's never-enclose creed made
  physical.

If the pilot works, these become **CongoVersity's first real verified roots** — and the point where
the trust graph stops being a proof and starts being a network.

## What we actually know (AJ, 2026-07-03)
- AJ met some **government (state-employed) teachers**.
- They run **a few free schools** — no fee to the family.
- The schools are **for neurodivergent kids**.
- They operate **out of town shops** (shopfront premises), "in town."

That is the whole of it. Everything below is design or open question.

## What we don't know yet — ◻ AJ to confirm (do NOT invent)
- ◻ **Who** — the teachers' names, how many, how they'd want to be contacted.
- ◻ **Where** — which town / which shops. (Stays off any public surface regardless — see consent.)
- ◻ **How many kids**, ages, and the mix of neurodivergence.
- ◻ **Registration** — under what body are the teachers registered; is there a checkable
  teacher-registration record (the thing the trust graph would verify against)?
- ◻ **Axios / School-of-Skills affiliation** — are these teachers part of, or modelled on, the WCED
  **Axios School of Skills** (see reference model below)? If so, the credit-by-skill model and the
  root-verification path are already largely defined for us. Confirm before assuming.
- ◻ **What they need** — material? credibility for the kids' progress? funding? nothing, just
  goodwill? The outreach draft asks, it does not assume.
- ◻ **Consent** — have they agreed to *any* of this being written down or shared? Until they have,
  this file is the ceiling of what's recorded, and none of it is public.

## The reference model — Axios School of Skills (WCED)
A real, government-run model this pilot should study directly (and possibly the very one AJ met):
the **Axios School of Skills** in Eerste River, run by the **Western Cape Education Department**
(Principal George Engelbrecht). It is a public **"School of Skills"** — a WCED school type that credits
learners through **demonstrated practical-skills competencies rather than one academic exam** — and on
**14 April 2026** it opened a **Neurodiverse Centre** extending support to Autism Spectrum Disorder
(ASD) and Profound Intellectual Disability (PID), acting as a **resource hub** for surrounding schools
and learners awaiting placement. Built with WCED + Social Development + Health & Wellness + NPO
partners.

**Why it validates the design:**
- **Credit-by-demonstrated-skill is already how WCED Schools of Skills work** — CongoVersity's
  "earn standing by building it / teaching it back / a project" ([CONGOVERSITY.md](CONGOVERSITY.md) §2)
  is not theoretical; it mirrors a live government model.
- **Government teachers with specialist posts** → exactly the source-verifiable roots the trust graph
  needs.
- **The resource-hub pattern** maps onto the web of trust as a **shared standing registry** across a
  cluster of schools — one verified root cluster serving many learners.

**Honest fit-and-limit:** the standing/mentor model fits **ASD and mild–moderate skills learners**
well. It is **not a fit for Profound Intellectual Disability** — "earn field-scoped standing, become a
mentor" would be inappropriate and patronising there. CongoVersity credits where credit is *earned and
meaningful to the learner*; for PID learners the school's care and skills work stands on its own and
CongoVersity's graph simply does not apply. Naming that limit is the honest thing.

*Sources: [WCED — Neurodiverse Centre opens at Axios School of Skills](https://www.westerncape.gov.za/education/neurodiverse-centre-opens-axios-school-skills) (14 Apr 2026). Public info only; no learner details.*

## The pilot design (how they'd become verified roots)
1. **Verify the teachers at the source.** A teacher-registration lookup (or, failing an API, a
   documented manual check) turns each teacher into a **verified root** in the trust graph. This is
   the real version of the proof's modelled oracle — and the **#1 build unlock**.
2. **Roots vouch for what they see.** A verified teacher vouches, in a named field, for a learner's
   demonstrated skill — earned, field-scoped, distance-decayed standing (trust spec §2–3). A kid who
   builds, teaches, or demonstrates a real skill earns **honest standing** — never a faked degree,
   never a state credential CongoVersity can't issue.
3. **Neurodiversity-affirming credit.** Standing is earned by demonstration in whatever mode fits the
   learner (project / build / teach-it-back), not one timed exam ([CONGOVERSITY.md](CONGOVERSITY.md)
   §2). This is the whole reason the model suits these kids.
4. **Honest label, always.** Everything these kids earn reads *"vouched-for by N verified peers in
   field Y"* — **supplementary, not certified**. If the teachers want a *state-recognised* outcome,
   the honest route is an accreditation partner, named as such. No blur.

## The honest gates specific to this pilot
- **Children's identities are off the public surface. Full stop.** ([Klaus charter](../klaus/CHARTER.md)
  rules 1 & 3.) No child's name, face, town, or school appears on any public page. A public
  CongoVersity URL is **deliberately blocked** on solving this — it is *not* a nice-to-have.
- **Consent before anything leaves this file.** No outreach is *sent*, no detail is *published*,
  until AJ has the teachers' agreement. This file records; it does not act.
- **No overclaim to the teachers.** The [outreach draft](shopfront-schools-outreach-DRAFT.md) says
  plainly: CongoVersity gives *honest standing*, not a legal qualification, and it's early-stage.
  Underclaim, then over-deliver.
- **Free, golden-share-locked.** Nothing offered to these schools can ever become a paywall against
  them later ([[golden-share-anti-betrayal]]).
- **The standing model has a hard limit — Profound Intellectual Disability.** CongoVersity's
  earn-standing/become-a-mentor graph fits ASD and mild–moderate skills learners; it does **not** fit
  PID learners, and must never be applied there. For those learners the school's work stands alone and
  the graph simply does not reach. (See the Axios reference model below.)

## Next actions (for AJ, not auto-done)
- [ ] AJ confirms the teachers are open to a conversation (consent gate).
- [ ] Fill the "don't know yet" block from that conversation.
- [ ] Identify the real teacher-registration check → wire the first real verified root.
- [ ] Only then: decide whether/what to put on a public CongoVersity surface, children fully shielded.

Companions: [CONGOVERSITY.md](CONGOVERSITY.md), [CONGOVERSITY_TRUST.md](CONGOVERSITY_TRUST.md),
[shopfront-schools-outreach-DRAFT.md](shopfront-schools-outreach-DRAFT.md),
[Different Minds](../minds/index.html), `the420code/proofs/web-of-trust/`.