We are in our 1st year as a regionalized school district (Chatham & Harwich) under the roof of a beautifully built new high school. Establishing a culture of Innovation, Creativity and Excellence has been our focus. The first day I met the students of Monomoy Regional High School I promised them a voice in our school and constant communication.We started a school twitter account @Monomoyrhs, school blog "Shark Sightings" and a weekly digital newsletter "The Friday Focus"to help communicate our vision, mission and school values. Digital connections with our students, school family and community have resulted in setting a positive school culture, constant communication and has allowed us to take charge in branding our school on our terms. The missing link was in person communication with our students.
We decided that Town Hall meetings by grade level in September and January would allow us to set the tone for the beginning of the year, refocus at mid-year and allow our students opportunities to ask questions and offer feedback. The mid-year meeting is to ensure that our school continues on its path of greatness and establishes clear expectations on how we accomplish that. It affords the school community the opportunity to reflect. It is my belief that great schools, like great teams, pay close attention to the "little things" and that is what separates them from the good schools and teams. Here are some topics ("little things") we focused on at our Town Hall meetings:
- Accentuate the Positive: In September we shared all the exciting opportunities for students and encourage them to get involved. We held club sign ups during school time (Enrichment Block) and have had record breaking involvement. We discussed the new building and all it offered, the extensive program of studies, our amazing staff, 1:1 technologies, 30+ clubs and activities, Enrichment block, 8am late start time, etc. In January we shared a quick slide show of pictures taken throughout the year expressing our motto of "Work Hard, Have Fun, with Heart." View the video HERE.
- School safety: It is important students know that is our #1 priority to keep them safe. This is a good time to review rules and safety drills and protocols. We had local police and student resource officer review our lock down protocol, with an excellent Q & A with students.
· High expectations: Great time to establish specific examples of what is important academically and behaviorally at your school. It is a terrific opportunity for the principal to share his/her own personal values & core beliefs (click HERE for my message to students and school community). Students were told that we value academic effort and they are accountable for working hard to be the best they can. Our job as the adults is to continue to offer support and do whatever it takes to move all students to the next level. We specifically emphasize being a good person, good student and good school and community citizen.
· Chemical Health: Take the time to speak candidly with students and be careful not to make this a lecture. Because Town Hall meetings are grade specific you may cater your discussion as needed (we are grade 8-12). We discuss making good decisions and offer real examples of temptations, peer pressure and pressure students face. We also make it real-sharing potential consequences in life, and in school, associated with making poor decisions. We educate students on our expectations and their accountability in accordance with our handbook, school family values and the law.
· Social Media: We emphasize the importance of making good decisions on social media, facebook, Instagram, twitter, etc. We let students know that they are building a “digital footprint” with every post. We share examples of poor decisions made by high school students and the consequences. We also discuss examples of creating a positive footprint. We start our presentation with the following video "Look Up" and follow up discussion. Finally, we emphasize that college admissions and prospective employers are placing increasing emphasis on looking into applicants digital footprint. As educators we can model appropriate social media etiquette through our personal social media and school accounts.
· School Pride: We are consistently talking with students about our journey to becoming the BEST school, a GREAT school, and what that specifically looks like at MRHS. I love sharing stories and real life examples of school pride being modeled by our students and staff. My favorite line to share with students is "Enthusiasm is free and its contagious.... but so is negativity. At MRHS we will make daily conscience decisions to be enthusiastic."
· Student Survey: We shared with students HOW their voices would be heard and our plan to act on their input. We explained to them that during our Enrichment Block we would be taking an online "Student Voice" survey on survey monkey. Because we took the time to explain with students our intentional plan to use their input, our results were amazing. Students took the survey seriously. The survey was created by our staff and will be assessed by our "Culture Committee" (a committee open to ALL staff), with a plan for next steps.
* Q & A: Always find time for students to ask questions and offer feedback.
We hope this information was helpful and would appreciate feedback or possible additional topics you
may use in communication with your students.
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