It is good to be back and gearing up for the 2017-18 school year. We are building our high school program on a firm foundation, thanks to the support of the board and Superintendent Gallagher’s leadership and vision. We are planning the expansion of our career and technical education programs, drop-out-prevention, and dual-credit offerings. Our freshman on track rate is close to 92 percent. Our graduation rates are steadily climbing. With Bruin Pride as our guide, our school culture is marked by the belief that all students can learn in a healthy, supportive environment and successfully complete high school ready for college, career or entrepreneurship.
One challenge we are committed to tackling this school year is cyber-bullying. Cell phones and other communication devices, while important tools for daily life, too often are a means for bullying, destructive, and demeaning communication. It is clear that most of our students do not have the tools to communicate in a healthy way through social media. Instead, social media provides them with a way to vent complicated and negative emotions in a manner that often hurts their peers. Then their peers react in a similar manner and a vicious circle is established. Friends and family, feeling helpless as they watch their student struggle with emotional pain, often get involved in a manner that perpetuates the misconduct online. All these destructive communications end up following students into the classroom.
Every negative and hurtful message sent via text or some other form of social media stops all learning in its tracks. We are bringing in the Lea Sevey, Executive Director of Oasis Shelter Home, and Keri L. Moran-Kuhn, Associate Director for the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, for our staff retreat on August 29. They will lay some foundational work for our teachers on the topics of cyber bullying, adverse childhood experiences and trauma informed practices. Our messages to families and parents in our communications home have focused on establishing a partnership between home and school to address the issues of cyber-bulling and social media. A solid partnership between home and school will provide the kind of support our students need in order to unplug and free themselves from abusive online communications and relationships.
I will keep you posted on our efforts. Sincerely,
Lisa Dion Principal
