What Works in School Culture & Climate: A Community Convening
Saturday, February 28th 9:00am – 4:00pm, Roosevelt High School
Hosted by the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, the Dignity in Schools Campaign, and City Year
Additional Support and Sponsorship from the California Endowment, the United Way, Educators for Excellence, and the Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition
Join us at Roosevelt High School for “What Works in School Culture & Climate: A Community Convening.” With plenary sessions, keynote speakers, breakout sessions and workshops, this day aims to bring together hundreds of educators, students, families, and community partners to share best practices in implementing positive behavior supports and restorative practices, celebrate and challenge policies intended to increase school safety and social-emotional learning, and make well-informed commitments to strengthen relationships, respect and responsibility among all stakeholders in our schools.
Agenda:
9:00 Registration & Breakfast [Quad]
9:30 Welcome & Opening [AUD]
10:00 Transition
10:10 Session 1 Workshops [R Building, 7 Rooms]
11:40 Transition
11:45 Lunch & Resource Fair [Quad]
12:30 Transition
12:40 Session 2 Workshops [R Building, 8 Rooms]
2:10 Transition
2:20 Voices of Our Youth Leaders & Community Commitments [AUD]
3:50 Exit Ticket & Thank You [AUD]
Welcome & Opening (9:30 am – 10:00 am)
Rob McGowan and Parent, CADRE
TBD Joan Sullivan, Partnership For LA Schools
Marc Arenas, RHS United Students Leader & BSS Ambassador
TBD Student and/or Community Member
LAUSD Board Member Mónica Garcia
TBD Planning Partner to Describe the Day (Tanya? Youth?)
Session 1 Workshops (10:10 am – 11:40 am)
- Voices from the Frontlines: Student Organizing at Roosevelt to Decriminalize/Demilitarize Our Schools and Communities [Room R210]
Facilitators: Taking Action Students, Community Rights Campaign
Speakers:
This workshop will discuss the historical and current context of student and community led organizing to build a social movement to dismantle the school-to-prison-pipeline. Roosevelt HS will be highlighted as an important site of struggle and student leadership for CRC’s Taking Action organizing on school climate demands to decriminalize truancy and tardiness, push for an Equal Protection Plan and reject militarization in our schools and communities.
- Intervention Workers and Transformative Justice at FREE LA High School [Room __]
Facilitators: Kim McGill, Youth Justice Coalition
Youth Justice Coalition operates FREE LA, an alternative high school for young people who have been incarcerated or pushed out of traditional schools. Through implementation of Transformative Justice (TJ) and Intervention Workers, FREE LA has created a welcoming and nurturing environment where students are agents in their own development through TJ. Come learn about how FREE LA challenges the school to prison pipeline every day.
- Parent, Community and Student Support of School Climate Transformation [Room __]
Facilitators: Rob McGowan, CADRE
Ruth Cusick, Public Counsel
CADRE and Public Counsel have a long standing legal-organizing collaborative where legal support is informed by Parent led monitoring and advocacy efforts. In 2010, CADRE, Public Counsel and Mental Health Advocacy Services published Redefining Dignity: SWPBIS Implementation in South LA Schools, 2007-2010. Redefining Dignity found that less than 1/3 of South LA schools were meaningfully implementing SWPBIS. Since 2010, CADRE and Public Counsel have done work on illegal suspensions in South LA and helped draft and pass the School Climate Bill of Rights with BSS. In this workshop, we’ll walk parents through our monitoring collaborative and do hands on assessment of your school’s culture and advocacy steps.
- SWPBIS & Multi-Tiered System of Behavior Support for Students with Disabilities [Room __]
Facilitators: Laura Zeff, Coordinator, Behavior Support, Special Education, LAUSD
Karla Estrada, ISIC Special Education Coordinator, LAUSD
This presentation provides a clear and practical approach to the implementation of Multi-tiered Systems of Behavior Support for students with disabilities. The presentation includes tools and strategies used to ensure effective and efficient implementation using a team approach which includes school staff, families and students.
- Elementary School Collaborations & Progress [Room __]
Facilitator: TBD, Manger of Family & Community Engagement, Partnership for LA Schools
Speakers: Melanie Edmonds, Assistant Principal, Joyner Elementary School
Shawn Peyatt, Coordinator, Figueroa Elementary School
Jess Almeda, City Year Program Director
Calvin Hamilton, Playworks, Joyner Elementary School
Over the last several years, Joyner and Figueroa Elementary Schools have implemented several successful strategies to dramatically improve school climate. This workshop will celebrate the collaborative efforts of families, staff, Playworks, and City Year and discuss former and on-going challenges to school culture improvement. Families, educators, students, and community partners working with elementary schools will learn new ideas and share strategies for their own school’s improvement.
- Middle School Culture & Climate Best Practices [Room __]
Facilitator: Andrew Glazier, Managing Director of Impact & Strategy, City Year
Speakers: Belia Saavedra, Restorative Justice Specialist, California Conference for Equality & Justice
Marissa Jackson, Program Manager (Markham Middle), City Year
Jacqwel “Q” Brown, Site Director (Clinton Middle), Communities in Schools
Jenny Burman, Teacher & Peer Observer, Markham Middle School
Amen Rahh, Conflict Resolution Teacher, Markham Middle School
This workshop will highlight several best practices in improving middle school culture, including positive behavior supports, restorative practices, and community partnerships. For students, staff, families, and partners concerned about the middle school culture and classroom climate, this conversation will revolve around lessons learned, challenges overcome, and hopes for continued improvements and growth across the District.
- Restorative School Transformation: From the Inside Out
Facilitators: Traci Gholar, Principal
Nyoka Acevedo, Restorative Justice Coordinator
Sara Leimbach, Teacher
Learn how we, at Gompers Middle School, are implementing our collective vision and creating a trauma-sensitive environment through the use of school-wide restorative practices. We will share the multi-tiered strategies, restorative justice tools and school policies and practices that have shifted our school culture.
Lunch & Resource Fair (11:45 am – 12:30 pm)
Alma Family Services
Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition
California Conference for Equality & Justice (CCEJ)
CADRE
Children’s Defense Fund – California
City Year
Community Rights Campaign
Dignity in Schools
Educators 4 Excellence
Inner City Struggle: Familias Unidas and United Students
Partnership for LA Schools
Public Counsel
RHS Wellness Center
United Way
Youth Justice Coalition
Session 2 Workshops (12:40 pm – 1:10 pm)
- Restorative Practices (Adults): Community Building Circles – English [Room R112]
Facilitators: Michelle Ferrer, RJ Coordinator, Partnership for LA Schools
Lori Jandorf, Special Education Teacher, Roosevelt High School
For family members and community partners interested in learning about and experiencing restorative practices, this session will explain some experiences of circle with adults on a school campus and create a space for all participants to participate in a community building circle with one another.
- Prácticas Restaurativas (Adultos): Community Building Circles – Spanish [Room __]
Facilitator: Araceli Morfin, Special Education Coordinator, Roosevelt High School
For family members and community partners interested in learning about and experiencing restorative practices, this session will explain some experiences of circle with parents at Roosevelt High and create a space for all participants to participate in a community building circle with one another.
- Youth Community Building Circles [Room __]
Facilitator: Belia Saavedra, Restorative Justice Specialist, California Conference for Equality & Justice
For students 14 years old and younger, this is an opportunity to build community and participate in a foundational restorative practice – a community building circle. Both fun and informative, this experience is intended to help students think about restorative justice at their own schools.
- Youth Community Building Circles [Room __]
Facilitator: Schoene Mahmood, Restorative Justice Specialist, LMU Center for Urban Resilience
For students 14 years old and older, this is an opportunity to build community and participate in a foundational restorative practice – a community building circle. Both fun and informative, this experience is intended to help students think about restorative justice at their own schools.
- Student Advocacy for LCFF and LCAP Climate [Room __]
Facilitators: Mynor Godoy and the United Way Student Fellows
Description TBD
- Teacher Leadership in Classroom Climate [Room __]
Facilitator: Kathryn Short, Managing Director of Policy, E4E
Speakers: Jorge Lopez, Peer Observer, Roosevelt High School
TBD
Join a group of teacher leaders from across Los Angeles who are pioneering new ways for teachers to lead on improving school climate and culture at their own campus and beyond. We’ll discuss the role of both formal and informal leadership roles, as well as recommendations teachers have generated for implementing the School Climate Bill of Rights.
- Understanding Discipline Data and Making Data-based Decisions [Room __]
Facilitators: Sara Omojola, Public Counsel
Angelica Salazar, Children’s Defense Fund – California
Data-based decision making is one of the key features of School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports and is crucial to transforming school culture and shifting staff buy-in. Come learn more about your school’s discipline data and how you can connect with your school leaders about these data.
- (TBD) ICS & RJ at RHS Workshop [Room __]
Facilitator: Danae Tapia, United Students Organizer, Inner City Struggle
Description TBD
Voices of Our Youth Leaders & Community Commitments (2:20 pm – 3:50 pm)
Facilitator: TBD Youth leader, DSC/BSS
Speakers: Student leaders from DSC, Community Rights Campaign, Urban Scholars Compadres, Boyle Heights & Me, and the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools
Educational institutions exist to serve and support students, yet too often their voices are overpowered by the adults in the room. In this final plenary session of the day, youth voices will shape and guide the discussion of school culture and climate. Youth leaders will share their experiences and their perspectives on what’s working and what’s not working to address safety, peace-building, restorative justice, alternatives to traditional discipline, motivation, and leadership.
