Our culture is rooted in inclusivity and self-pride. Our students are proud of themselves. They are proud of each other. They are proud of their teachers. They are proud of their families and backgrounds.
As a school, we believe that our students are precious human beings; they have needs and wants beyond test scores and academic achievement. We also believe that if we do not address many of the basic needs they have, they cannot be successful in the classroom. As such, we focus on building incredible relationships with our kids, providing them the specialized support they need in interventions, and believe in trauma-informed teaching methods. We know that love is an incredibly powerful and healing thing, but we have to put concrete supports in place for our kids to flourish.
As a school, we believe that the purpose of consequences, positive and negative, are to be teachable moments that help to build character. We believe that consequences are ineffective when we focus on them as punitive measures in themselves and when they come without relationships. We believe in restorative justice and the power of communicating how behaviors hurt others – and then allowing for those who have done wrong to make amends. We believe this approach builds pride in our teams, our community, and ourselves. It also empowers all of us to own our actions and make great decisions on how to be powerful, positive forces.