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Student Empowerment and Organizing
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Overview
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The RESPECT (Raising Expectations for Student Perspectives, Experiences, Consciousness, and Traditions) Student Equity Leadership Program brings together students from PPSD middle and high schools who have been selected by their school leaders to represent their peers.
Throughout the conference series, students will develop project action plans to foster equity in their school communities, and work in partnership with adult leaders to implement their plans.
Conference Goals:
• To activate students’ minds to think creatively and make change
• To inspire each student’s will to demand change
• To motivate students to lead change
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Student Equity Projects, 2023-24
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360 High School- Mentoring Young Leaders
We believe that 360 has no major equity issues, so our plan is to implement our positive culture into other schools (we'll begin with middle schools).
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Alvarez High School- Developing Structures for Positive School Culture: Culture Builders
Currently, the students want to create a more culturally sensitive space. They noticed that there are certain flags that are missing in the lunchroom that should be there to uplift the different cultures, as well as that the walls are bare and not welcoming. They want to have a newsletter for just students, so they know what's going on and what to expect. Overall, they want better communication with students, staff, teachers and admin. They have also asked for more culturally sensitive field trips, so we are working on that now, as well as organizing speakers to come in and not just speak to the RESPECT students but the school as a whole. We also want better communication for all that are in the building.
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Central High School- Elevating Student Voice and Choice: Career-Based Course Advocacy
Central High in the 1960's,70's,80's and 90's offered their students vocational classes, because most students wanted to work instead of attending college. We think that was great, and we need it back for our current students. Our concerns are that we are a stone's throw away from both Classical (college) and PCTA (CTE) and we don't feel prepared. We are hosting a town hall with each grade. Presenting our concerns and passing a partition. We hope to get additional career-based courses here at Central High School.
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Classical High School- Strengthening School Culture: Student and Faculty Anti-Bias Training
The anti-bias training sessions will be attempting to address the school-wide incidents of biased words and behaviors on the part of both students and faculty that perpetuate the academic inequities that exist at our school. Members of REC will go through the training sessions initially beginning the week of Nov. 27th and then work to create subsequent training sessions for the faculty. Faculty anti bias workshops will begin in January and will consist of 5 sessions taking place during our mandatory PD trainings on Wednesdays.
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E-Cubed High School: Conflict Resolution and School Safety
The purpose is to prevent student conflict and promote school safety for everyone, by creating supportive, non-academic spaces for students. This includes developing social clubs to grow relationships and create lasting bonds.
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Esek Hopkins Middle School- Lifting Student Choice: Rotating Schedules & Student Choice in Electives
We will be working to rotate the schedule for 4th quarter for teachers and students. We think this will help with student behavior and student performance in school. We also want to introduce more choices for electives, so students can be exposed to other programs. We feel like students don't have a voice in course selection. We will write a proposal to admin with in action plan and present it in the new year. A survey will be given out during 4th period for student feedback.
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Gilbert Stuart Middle School- Improving School Culture: Digital Bathroom Passes
Implementing a new digital pass system for teachers is what we chose to work on for our project. We wanted to share this with teachers in our school to help decrease the amount of roaming with passes during class hours. This problem affects the majority who are actually in need of using the bathroom.
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Hope High School- Amplifying School Culture: Community Building with our Teachers
Students get to know their teachers through events and on and off campus.
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JSEC High School- Elevating School Culture: The Buddy System Project
The "Buddy System Project" for the JSEC community will allow the upper classmates to randomly select or team up with their underclassmen. The RESPECT team identified that there was lack of acknowledgment and support for the freshmen and sophomores at the beginning of the year. After Thanksgiving break, we will be holding Town Hall meetings to introduce the Buddy System Project. The goal is to develop new relationships, enhance peace between students and develop peer mentoring.
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Leviton Dual Language Elementary School- Elevating Equity at Leviton
We will form a student advisory group and meet and discuss any questions and or concerns together with the team and our Equity RESPECT students.
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Mt. Pleasant High School- Making Connections: Developing a Principal Advisory
We are doing two things for our project. The first half of the project is setting up a regular monthly Principal Advisory. The Principal Advisory is an opportunity for kids to get to know the principal and express their concerns and help change the climate of the school in positive ways. Also, we want to set up a Communication Log for the Students in the Lunchroom that will display birthdays and any announcements and information that students need.
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Nathan Bishop Middle School- Making Space for Mental Health
Establishing a dedicated mental health room in our school will provide a safe and supportive space for students grappling with mental health challenges. We plan to address this project with our principal and school board as a way for students to have a space where they feel supportive and comfortable addressing any concerns they may be facing in terms of dealing with mental health. By creating a Mental health room we plan to achieve improved positive school culture, improved mental well-being for students, academic success, school community building, and a long-term impact highlighting mental health.
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Nathanael Greene Middle School- Aura Attire, NGMS Community Wardrobe
We will develop a community closet in our school where students can come and receive any clothing that they may need, such as jackets, shirts and pants. We understand that a lot of our students may come from struggling backgrounds, and we want to have a place where students can come and get proper clothing without feeling ashamed. We see some students who don't have heavy jackets or any warm clothing, especially during the winter time. We want to help ease any clothing insecurities our students may have. We were able to come together with school staff and get donations to the school of clothes to give back to our students.
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PCTA High School- Developing School Culture
With an increase of marijuana and vaping usage on the rise in and out of school, the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. leaders thought this was an opportunity for a school wide discussion on Substance Awareness #judgementfree. This candid presentation is an interactive and engaging look at some of the myths and facts of marijuana, edibles, and vaping and a space where students will hear from their peers who will speak their truth about substances, and how they quit.
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Roger Williams Middle School- Student Voice in School Matters: Student Schedule and Academic Choices
We would like to increase course options for students and add elective classes. We want elective classes that can benefit students' futures. We plan to address this by opening up additional elective classes that provide equitable options. We want students to feel more inclusive by giving them more choices in their school schedules.
PPSD RESPECT Conference | Feb 2023 Session