At the board meeting on Tuesday the outgoing student reps, Chanse Pierson and Alyse Henkel, shared with us the reasons that teachers and students identified for why they love each other. We were particularly pleased with the outcome because the process started earlier this year in a joint student/board work study session. The document can be found towards the bottom of the high school web page.
It is also an outcome of the schools One School focus, an effort this year focused on relationships. Below is an excerpt from a communications shared with students and staff in September.
One School is many things. Originally, it was a meeting between the staff at THS and a group of 50 some students who came together to make the school a better place. Now, One School is the way that we want our school to be.
More than anything what we want, we being students and staff, is respect.
- Respect from one student to another.
- Respect from students to teachers.
- Respect from teachers to students.
This idea of respect translates into the building blocks of another main concept that both teachers and students shared interest in, relationships. Whether they are between students, or students and teachers, they create bonds that change the whole attitude of the school.
More than anything what we want, we being students and staff, is respect.
- Respect from one student to another.
- Respect from students to teachers.
- Respect from teachers to students.
This idea of respect translates into the building blocks of another main concept that both teachers and students shared interest in, relationships. Whether they are between students, or students and teachers, they create bonds that change the whole attitude of the school.
This is a worthy goal for any building. What do you think about creating a focus around One District or One Community?
2 comments:
First, I would like to say that I am well versed in the program put in place at the high school. I think that it is a quality program that is still in the development stage. I believe that this year has been a great start to the program and they have things that they can improve on to make it even better in the future. A problem I see in making it district wide is the odd structure of our middle schools and junior high. Students move through these schools quickly in a two year span, making it difficult to form lasting relationships. Another shortcoming is the fact that it doesn’t include parents or community members. For this reason, I believe that we as a district would be better off with a focus on “One Community.” We all know that we will be seeking community votes in the near future and a program that helped us to form connections would help with this. We pride ourselves on being strong communicators, but I believe that we need shift our focus to actually connecting. We need to begin forming crucial connections now, not just with those who are already in our school buildings, but with the average Maple Valley citizen. I as a teacher hardly know any community members. If we want their buy in, this needs to be fixed. We need to be deliberate in our connection. We need to be creative and find ways outside of the box to connect. We need to share our schools success with them and help them to feel that success through a connection. We need them to be a part of our future success. It is only then that we will begin to garner support from that 40% of our population who votes “No.” I believe this initiative should begin as soon as possible, for now is the time. Twain said, “I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.” Let’s not pass up this excellent idea.
Genio, could you please contact me? I would like to hear more about your One Community idea. Thank you.
Kevin Patterson
kpatters@tahomasd.us
425-413-3409
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