eLearning Day practice on 11/1
Students will bring laptops home that night and our district is asking our families to give us feedback. How long is the battery lasting? Is the wifi still performing well? Etc. Students will return to school on 11/2 and offer feedback in their advisories. Thanks for your participation.
Halloween
We want the fun of dressing up while still making sure the experience is accessible to all. We are considering pathways that will allow students to enjoy costumes and treats. However, we need more time to make a thoughtful decision. As a result, we will likely schedule a spirit week-like event where students can still dress up but on a day outside of Halloween. In addition, there are hot button topics surging right now that’s creating some pause for us as we do not want costumes and fun to turn into big declarations, and politically polarizing conditions. It is a tough time and I want it to be as simple as “just let the kids have fun and honor tradition” but it really is more complex than that. I appreciate your understanding as we try to co-design with the community to ensure we remain a place where all have entry into the Valley View vibe.
Red-level Language
We dropped the ball in not getting messaging out to you sooner. Our handbook is part of what we weave into our orientation-like experiences, public, and our expectations were stated in assemblies in every grade-level. Still, best practice is to refresh and re-inform so everyone is on board.
Our response honors our district’s discipline handbook. Students will be dismissed for the day if using discriminatory language against a protected class. This means words that harm ANY marginalized community or historically/presently oppressed groups.
When students return to school the next day, we will enroll them in a FLEX session that will coach our students up on the impact of language. We have some excellent resources from the Anti-Defamation League and our Character Strong framework that we’ll use to coach up our young Hornets.
We deeply need you to talk to your student/child about being impeccable with their word. Words hold power and even when used playfully, those close by could be triggered by the statements. Students will have oversights and we don’t expect perfection but we must preserve our culture of unity and harmony.
We love our students and we will do everything to ensure we establish VVMS as the epicenter of the community.
The conflict in the middle east…
…is something that has impacted campuses across the nation. We are seeing such trends as “Team Israel” and “Team Palestine”. Some students are quick to wield big declarations around and in some cases, have no clue about the historical context of the statement. Full disclosure, I had the great opportunity to be educated on some of the pieces I knew nothing about. So, we have leaned on our experts to objectively deliver coaching to keep our students informed. We encourage our communities to be critical consumers of information and again, to ensure your student/child is only operating from a green-level space (compassionate, kind, respectful, etc).
Please join us in creating conditions that bring us together. Divisiveness is exhausting.
Finally, there are sites and social media outlets that are spreading misinformation about some of the decisions we’ve made. We are always open to just having an open conversation. Of course, there are pieces that we simply cannot divulge because of confidentiality, but I believe in being transparent to the degree in which I can.
For those of you who have had the chance to work with me, I hope you’ve recognized my commitment to staying true to our community. I love what I do and this is my home. I will stand for what’s right and I don’t a la carte choose when to be inclusive and equitable. Doing the right thing is always the right choice. This team will continue to do that and refine our practice when it isn’t working in alignment with our mission and vision.
Thanks for trusting our leadership and for being willing to co-construct and thought partner with us.
