On February 5, the Olympia School District board of directors had their annual meeting with the principals at Olympia’s westside schools, discussing their school improvement plans (SIP). In improving their student body’s sense of belonging, Jefferson Middle School principal Mick Hart and assistant principal Lindsay Welsh spoke to expanded library hours, a buddy reading program at LP Brown and Garfield, the school’s elementary feeders, and restorative practices.
“We have lots and lots of students who struggle with things that happen at home and around their neighborhood, and they bring that into the school. And for us, we’re that safe place for many of those students throughout the day, throughout the year. So, we try and try to create more and more opportunities so that we can reach all kids, so they can feel love, so they can feel that they belong,” said Hart. Other programs for special education students in non-integrated classrooms include partnering with the Freedom Farm and adaptive Physical Education classes.
Anthony Brock, principal at Thurgood Marshall Middle School, talked about the challenges for multilingual students feeling safe. Brock spoke about the work of the Multilingual team in helping families feel safe during Multilingual Night. “Families came out, and they’re playing board games, and building community, building a sense of belonging, and then all those kids came back to school.” Marshall also has partnered with Inspire Olympia, in order to create after school programs, free of charge to their students.
Capital High School principal Condee Wood relayed how their Native Student Alliance has brought visibility to an underreported population, and how AI has led to unique strategies, including handwritten essays. A lot of discussion around AI and cell phone usage with student representatives commenting on strategies, including incorporating phones into class projects.
In discussing community partnerships and grants, LP Brown principal Sean Shaughnessy commented, “I’ll go back to the wise words of Principal Brock. At the very beginning of our meeting, he talked about the importance of promoting the things that we do, and the things that we’re interested in, and things that we want to achieve in our schools. I have seen that when I do that in my school, it’s there. It’s out there, and there’s lots of people in our community that are looking to support the work in our schools, they just need to know that it’s going to a cause that’ll help kids.”